Asheville on Bikes encourages people to attend the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) public comment session. Please encourage design treatments that: 

• Calm vehicular traffic to 20mph
• Prioritize the safe and predictable movements of differently abled pedestrians
• A mix of bicycle facilities including bike lanes, bike boxes, sharrow marking, wayfinding, and bicycle corrals.

Meeting info here: https://www.asheville.com/news/2022/12/public-opinions-sought-for-haywood-road-improvements/

Project page and survey: https://publicinput.com/Haywood-Maintenance-Buncombe

Today’s meeting is a drop-in session from 4-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 587 Haywood Road in Asheville. Anyone can attend.

4 questions for the Haywood repaving public meeting

1. How are your 3 alternatives informed by the City of Asheville Close the GAP analysis?
   • The Close the Gap analysis by the City evaluates our pending transportation projects with important criteria not previously considered together. Among other items it analyzed: public comments; the predicted effects of projects on walking, biking, and transit of City plans; expected costs; known deficiencies in biking, walking, transit; housing and commuter patterns by income and race.
2. How does NCDOT’s Complete Streets Policy inform your designs?
   • NCDOT requires all projects to go through an evaluation process to determine the elements necessary to build a complete street. There is both an NCDOT Complete Streets policy and an implementation guide to consider. As per the guide, “All projects will be evaluated using the Complete Streets project evaluation methodology attached and referenced herein. The five-step evaluation methodology will assist project managers and engineers in identifying bicycle and pedestrian needs, selecting the appropriate facility type, and estimating added impacts to the project.”
   • We want a street design that meets those guidelines and also uses NACTO design criteria. We don’t want a complete street in name only, or a street that has elements in the design that are not practical improvements for each of the transportation modes in use on the corridor.
3. Are all of the facilities ADA compliant on all 3 alternatives presented?
   • All facilities should be ADA compliant as planned and as installed.
4. How has the Haywood bridge design in the I-26 project changed since it was last presented to the public? Please explain how the bike and pedestrian features of that proposed bridge design interact with your 3 alternatives presented for this road?
   • Links to I-26 public materials: I-26 video fly through of the entire project. Link to pdf of the bridge design: 2018 NCDOT Map of Haywood interchange. There may be a newer map featuring an updated design. If so, it should be made easier to find on the NCDOT I-26 project website.
   • The Haywood Rd repaving project bisects future I-26 the bridge replacement project. That bridge, ramps, and intersection project is planned as part of the I-26 connector and set to begin within 5 years. The design of that future bridge is critically important to the function of this corridor.
   • The last public design of the Haywood bridge showed a design that is inappropriate to the commercial nature of this corridor. The design, still published today, shows a 4 lane road in a divided highway configuration with center median, contained with a widened right of way, allowing for additional ramp space and other car-centric features.
   • Both the bridge design and the design changes made at repaving should work together to make it safer and easier to move on foot, by bike, by bus between the two sections of Haywood Rd, nearby business, and the greenway. It should not be designed with a primary focus on free-flowing auto traffic.
   • The I-26 bridge project also includes a major new greenway that connects West Asheville to downtown across the Patton bridge. One entrance to that greenway is near Haywood Rd and the Asheville City Schools property, across from B&B pharmacy, adjacent to an I-26 ramp. This will be a major source of bicycle, ebike, scooter, and pedestrian movements on the corridor.

We’ll see you at the meeting!

The post Questions to ask at the Haywood Road NCDOT meeting on 12-6-22 appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

This Thursday, March 28, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) hosts public comment regarding the Amboy & Meadow Roads widening project, STIP Number U-4739. The public meeting is hosted at Double Tree by Hilton Asheville – Biltmore (115 Hendersonville Rd) from 4PM to 7PM.

The Amboy & Meadow Road project will have a large impact on the future of Asheville’s active transportation network. AoB encourages you to participate in the drop-in sessions and follow the project closely.

A few notable items affected by this project:

• Asheville and West Asheville’s connections (car/bike/ped) to Carrier Park and the Hominy Creek Greenway;
• The future Karen Cragnolin park design and other RiverLink work;
• The safety of bicyclists, pedestrians, and low speed vehicle users moving along or near Amboy Road and Meadow Road;
• The design of the on-bridge and intersection bicycle and pedestrian treatments where Amboy joins Lyman/Meadow, connecting the RADTIP greenway and on-street bike lane along Lyman to French Broad River Park;
• The design and routing of the greenway section that remains the missing link below RADTIP, the connecting greenway from Amboy Rd to Biltmore Avenue in Biltmore Village.

Here are some questions to ask at the meeting:

1. How has NCDOT looked at population demographics related to income, race and disability status in the design of this project and linkages across it, especially with regard to access to the park and riverfront? What types of pedestrian and bicycling crossings will be incorporated into this project to provide safe crossing from West Asheville neighborhoods to adjacent parks? Are raised crosswalks or speed tables, curb extensions, and / or refuge islands being considered?
2. How will NCDOT incorporate a “target speed” approach as identified in the AASHTO Green Book? What is the proposed design speed for this project? How was the design speed determined? Is the design speed determined or is it still being evaluated? What is the projected posted speed limit?
3. What is the width of the vehicular travel lanes? Does the width exceed AASHTO guidance for a road of this classification?
4. Are protected bicycle facilities included to separate bicyclists from moving vehicles? How does the current plan align with current FHWA guidance? (esp page 23) Does the plan align with FHWA guidance allowing flexibility for choosing standards for bike/ped facilities, which permits NCDOT to implement designs like the ones listed here:  Designing for All Ages and Abilities (esp page 4), even without a formal adoption by NCDOT?
5. What is the width of the proposed bicycle and pedestrian facilities? Do the widths align with AASHTO guidance?
6. How has NCDOT’s Complete Street policy informed the design of this project?
7. Will traffic calming facilities be incorporated into the project to maintain safe travel speeds for people walking and biking?
8. How was pedestrian and bicyclist level of service (LOS) evaluated? What methodology was used? Is the evaluation published? (NCDOT Complete Streets Evaluation, p. 33)
9. How will the design aim to incorporate trees to provide additional buffer (real and perceived) from cars? (As well as to provide the many other benefits from urban tree canopy?)
10. How will the proposal connect to other city bike/ped infrastructure, especially where Meadow Road interacts with the proposed greenway as it approaches Biltmore Ave?  (RADTIP/Wilma Dykeman RiverWay Plan/Swannanoa Greenway, especially the section between Amboy and Biltmore Ave)?
11. How is NCDOT incorporating its Vision Zero policy into the engineering of this project?

See you on Thursday!

Print version.

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Who: The Asheville Street Tweaks Team is a group effort between AoB, Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, and Asheville’s AARP, working together to deliver this project.

What: Design, install, and track months-long experimental changes to Coxe Ave, to test street design ideas, using a community-driven process for both planning and building.

Where: Coxe Avenue from Hilliard going south to Southside. Here is the Google Maps link.

When: First meeting is the June 21st workshop – RSVP here. Project to be installed Fall 2018

How: By rallying the community to design and install a test of better infrastructure, installed with proper permissions from the City. Street Plans and Tony Garcia have been hired to help run this project. They are famously good.

Why: Because if we test incremental changes to our streets, we can save money as a city and have better streets that serve all people. We want to demonstrate a fiscally responsible test→evaluate→build approach to street design. We are coordinating with the City of Asheville, and our test results will directly inform the pending redesign of Coxe Avenue, which is planned in the near future.

Important date: Our tactical urbanism street design project begins in Asheville with June 21 public workshop. Please attend. The Workshop is June 21, 6 – 8 PM at 207 Coxe Ave, Asheville Area Arts Council. Please RSVP here. Light refreshments will be served.

“The tactical urbanism approach invites participation from all community members through every step of the process,” said Mike Sule, Executive Director of Asheville on Bikes, describing the process of this project. “Not only do citizens provide input on design, they also show up to build it. The process works to empower community to revision and rebuild their infrastructure. It’s an inclusive process that is proven to yield inclusive results. The street transforms to reflect the needs and values of the community.” You can read more from this blog post, What the heck is tactical urbanism?

Come to the June 21st workshop and participate in a historic moment in our city. This project represents a number of firsts for Asheville:

• It is the first time the City of Asheville has considered working with community groups to design a long term test of actual infrastructure, outside the scope of their normal street design process.
• It is the first time Street Plans and Tony Garcia  have been hired to work in Asheville. If we listed the top 10 urban design firms in the world, they would be at the top.
• It is the first time a large section of a City street will be altered for the purpose of gathering data that is then incorporated into a design for the future street.
• It is the largest project budget-wise that Asheville on Bikes has spun up to date. We are making a big commitment and we are determined to help our City use the process of test/evaluate/build. We are putting our money where our mouth goes, so to speak!

This project is a combined effort from AoB, Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, and AARP.

We are happy to introduce you to the Asheville Street Tweaks Team and very thankful to be part of a group that is bringing this project to life. We could not deliver this work without the help of Blue Ridge Bicycle Club and Asheville’s AARP – and the combined supporters of all three non-profits. Thank you!

Because this project is bigger than Asheville on Bikes, we have created a new entity to describe our group. The “Asheville Street Tweaks Team” is Asheville on Bikes, BRBC, and AARP working together with an outside consultant, Street Plans. This project is not about bikes, per se – it is about getting a good street design from a community-driven process and testing that design before committing to more permanent infrastructure. Come to our first meeting, participate, and you will see your ideas built during this project!

About Street Plans and Tony Garcia

We are very excited to have hired a team of outside experts, the Street Plans Collaborative, led by Tony Garcia. Their expertise is vast and on point. By delivering this test project, our partnership is bringing extraordinary resources to Asheville. The Street Plans team will run our June 21st meeting and assist throughout the project.

How good are they? Tony Garcia co-authored the book Tactical Urbanism and, with his team at Street Plans, has successfully completed over 100 tactical urbanism projects and assisted in the transformation of more than 50 cities, including his native Miami. Tony’s business partner at Street Plans and book co-author, Mike Lydon, is listed as one of the top 100 urbanists of all time, along with Frederick Law Olmstead and other names you will recognize. Tony spoke in December 2017 at the Building Our City lecture series, sponsored by the Asheville Downtown Association and several other local groups. Mike delivered the keynote talk for the September 2016 Bike Walk Summit, held at UNCA.

Asheville on Bikes is determined to learn from the best in the world and we are demonstrating that resolve by working with this wonderful team.

Why Coxe Avenue?

When we evaluated locations for our first tactical urbanism project, we approached City staff with our ideas at the very beginning of the project. Our conversations with City staff highlighted Coxe Avenue because of several time-based factors that are unique to it, when compared with the other locations we considered.

• Coxe Avenue is in the middle of a larger planning area, the South Slope, and the Asheville community is already providing feedback to the City for changing the street designs in this area. We benefit by listening to that feedback and coming alongside that process with our test.
• The City of Asheville Transportation Department has already secured funding for redesigning Coxe Avenue and changes to this street are coming down the pipe. By selecting Coxe for our first project, we get to test ideas that come from the community and feed those test results directly to the City staff who are about to rebuild the street. This means our test can directly affect a street rebuild.
• Coxe Avenue is in transition to a multi-modal environment. With more residential uses on the South Slope than ever, and more on the way, it is clear that Coxe Avenue is already changing from “Asheville’s first motor mile,” to a more multi-modal environment where people walk, bike, or drive to the businesses on the South Slope. We want to test and find out the best ways to make that easier. You can read more about the history of the South Slope and Coxe Avenue in Pack Library content, “Asheville’s First Motor Mile,” or in the South Slope Visioning website and South Slope survey results.

How is the City of Asheville involved? Is this a guerilla project?

The City of Asheville is involved in our planning process and has been from the beginning – this is not a guerilla project that is going to pop up in the middle of the night. In fact, as we go through our own planning process, this effort will rise to the level of a City Council vote, where council decides to formally allow our test on Coxe Avenue [Edit: Council voted unanimously in favor on Oct 9, 2018]. At that point the project, if the vote is in favor, will become the first time the City has authorized an outside group to help design and run an ongoing test of an actual changes to a City street!

What does this project need in order to be a success?

Here is our list of needed items in order to deliver a successful project:

1. Budget and resources from multiple non-profit and community stakeholders (done)
2. A good, meaningful location to test (done)
3. World class outside experts to assist us (done)
4. Ongoing collaboration with the City and a clear path to eventual City approval (done)
5. You! RSVP for the workshop here.

Conclusion: Why is this a good idea?

The process of tactical urbanism enables our city to implement innovative street treatments in a cost effective way while empowering the community to play an active role in transforming the streetscape. Our city is ripe for a tactical urbanism approach.

Content you may also enjoy, about this topic:

1. What the heck is tactical urbanism?
2. The Street Tweaks home page
3. Open letter to City Council about Street Tweaks
4. Announcement of 2nd public meeting about the project

The post June 21 Kickoff Workshop for Coxe Ave Tactical Urbanism Project appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.