tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post1899850533132916904..comments2024-03-25T17:49:41.408-07:00Comments on Salem Breakfast on Bikes: State Street Study Already Hamstrung by 20th Century Mobility Standards?Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-63464907417650144432016-04-09T13:34:41.156-07:002016-04-09T13:34:41.156-07:00Over at On the Way, Bonnie Hull has a nice note ab...Over at On the Way, Bonnie Hull has <a href="https://bonniehull.net/2016/04/08/the-state-street-corridor/" rel="nofollow">a nice note about a project a generation ago</a>, circa 1990, on State Street.<br /><br />Some of the trees they planted then are at risk of being cut down now.<br /><br />It is also a sad comment on the loss of institutional memory, as she claims none of the City staffers were aware of the project.Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-63908968568112118322016-03-29T19:07:42.302-07:002016-03-29T19:07:42.302-07:00The meeting notes are posted now. I don't know...<a href="http://www.cityofsalem.net/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/Planning/StateStreetCorridorPlan/Documents/Public%20Meeting%201%20Summary%20Notes.pdf" rel="nofollow">The meeting notes are posted now</a>. I don't know how interesting they necessarily are at this point: They're scattered and not always coherent. <br /><br />For example, in one place:<br /><br />"<i>There is an excess of surface parking lots, with the excess often leased to area employers</i>."<br /><br />and in another:<br /><br />"<i>City should have a parking garage in the area for people to use</i>."<br /><br />So it will be more interesting to see how the project team adjudicates the tensions and contradictions in shaping a draft set of recommendations.Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-73241325527323923712016-03-17T08:41:26.206-07:002016-03-17T08:41:26.206-07:00Nice. I like the idea of thinking of it as a suppl...Nice. I like the idea of thinking of it as a supplement, rather than as a mandatory route.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17622513104207141519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-1718729190114073922016-03-16T19:17:40.370-07:002016-03-16T19:17:40.370-07:00Here's a cartoon for follow-up!
Maybe the be...Here's a cartoon for follow-up! <br /><br />Maybe the best way to think is that a high-quality low-traffic <i>supplement</i> to State Street would be a very nice thing. <br /><br />But a nearly mandatory low-traffic alternative route would not be very helpful.Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-5480392096714811602016-03-15T09:35:19.265-07:002016-03-15T09:35:19.265-07:00Yes, I agree about your point about the 2035 capac...Yes, I agree about your point about the 2035 capacity standards, and they should be using the revised standards and not clinging to the old to inform decision-making today.<br /><br />As for parallel bike facilities, those who advocated for them the most (at my table) were actually bicyclists, which I thought was interesting. But, I understand your point about the car-first mentality that pervades this and other street improvement studies. Actually, my first thought entering the meeting was to have bike facilities of some sort on State St. itself because it's the street that's already being used to provide that east-west connection to downtown. The bicyclists at my table, however, felt that the riding experience on either Ferry or Chemeketa would be more pleasant and safe, even after an improved State St. Perhaps their attitudes towards State St. will change as this project progresses?<br /><br />Also, I'd like to correct a mistake I made in my post above -- it was Chemeketa St. (not Court) that was identified by my table members as the northern parallel bike facility because of all the reasons you state above. Thanks for pointing that out.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17622513104207141519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-32794143627350902432016-03-14T21:10:40.100-07:002016-03-14T21:10:40.100-07:00Well, I suppose this is perhaps a bit of a disagre...Well, I suppose this is perhaps a bit of a disagreement on the edges and not on a central matter...<br /><br />Because of the constraints in right-of-way width, it seemed likely from the start that widening wasn't an important possibility.<br /><br />But the point about 2035 capacity standards is less about <i>widening</i> than it is about the ways that an attachment to some hypothetical future and to LOS analysis for cars will limit the possibilities for reshaping the roadway so it serves a larger number of people, especially those not in cars.<br /><br />The fact that you mention directing people on bike to Ferry/Court kindof proves the point. From the very start it seems we're at risk of letting auto capacity "needs" dictate an alternative that displaces people from where they actually want to be and go.<br /><br />More specifically, problems with the Ferry/Court solution:<br /><br />1) It resembles the way Saginaw functions as a displacement for people going south on Commercial Street SE between Mission and Rural. But of course all the important business destinations are on Commercial. Similarly, the destinations will be on State Street, and it is reasonable that people will want to bike on it.<br /><br />2) Because of the Court St footbridge on Mill Creek between 18th & 20th, which is better for walking than biking, because Court ends at 21st, and because Chemeketa extends all the way from 25th to Front St, Chemeketa has seemed a preferable low-traffic alternative, not Court.<br /><br />We should go ahead and plan a better bike boulevard for Chemeketa and Mill, and maybe some spot improvements for Ferry and Court - but we shouldn't use them as an excuse to not make State Street accessible for ordinary people on bike. Our solution for State Street shouldn't be a bicycle displacement system to "get them out the way."<br /><br />Anyway, it is premature to get wound up about anything just yet! But it seems like there's something to watch and perhaps be a little wary of already.Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-84996143345766630582016-03-14T12:35:54.413-07:002016-03-14T12:35:54.413-07:00When I went to the meeting last week, I was reliev...When I went to the meeting last week, I was relieved that I didn't hear a thing about widening State Street. Actually, the only "widening" I heard about was making sidewalks along State St. wider, which was refreshing. Also at the meeting, nearly every small work group that reported back to the larger group said that they wanted only 2 lanes and a center turn lane on State St., and they wanted car lanes to be narrower and the speed reduced. There was conversation around whether or not to have bike lanes on State or to direct riders to parallel bike facilities along Ferry St. (south) and Court St. (north) instead and then reconnect at State somehow west of 12th St.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17622513104207141519noreply@blogger.com