Bike Walk Alliance for Missoula

Any and all interested in making Missoula and the five valley region a great place to walk and bike should plan to join BWAM for a great afternoon and evening filled with informative and inspiring information!

Friday will start with a free workshop on cutting edge bicycle facility design followed by the Annual Members Meeting complete with inspiring presentations, end-of-year review and board elections.

Friday will start with a free workshop on cutting edge bicycle facility design followed by the Annual Members Meeting complete with inspiring presentations, end-of-year review and board elections.

Both the Annual Meeting and workshop will feature Joe Gilpin of Alta Planning and Design. Alta was the lead agency for the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) Urban Bikeway Design Guide and Joe is one of Alta’s leading experts in bicycle facility design and has worked both as a project designer and as a planner analyzing network connectivity and corridor planning. He also has a past career in bicycle advocacy in California.

Workshop:  The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide – a Tour of Cutting Edge Design
Where: City Council Chambers, 140 West Pine Street
When: 2:00-4:30 pm
This workshop is free and is open to all BWAM members, city county officials, staff and all relevant organizations,  agencies, and citizens interested in making the Missoula region the best place to live! Invite your friends and associates by sending them a link to this page!

RSVP for the workshop on-line!

74 are attending the Workshop!

This presentation will introduce atendees to the ins and outs of the recently released NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, a design tool for state-of-the-art practice bikeways by and for cities throughout the United States. Participants will learn how the need for the NACTO Guide was identified, get a tour of its contents, and review further needs in design guidance for bicycle and pedestrian professionals. This overview will include a preview of enhancements and additions for the 2012 version of the Guide.

BWAM Annual Members Meeting: What does Bike Culture Look Like?
Where: Downtown Dance Collective, 121 West Main Street
When:

• 5:00 pm appetizers & beverages;
• 6:00 pm Presentation;
• 7:00 pm Board Business

The Annual Meeting is open to all BWAM members and non-members! Invite your friends and associates by sending them a link to this page!

RSVP for the Annual Meeting on-line!

59 are attending the BWAM Meeting!

This presentation will focus on what bike culture looks like and what makes a community bicycle friendly. Joe looks at top-notch bicycle friendly communities and shows what can work for cities big and small.

Here’s a unique “double your donation” Christmas gift for the biking and walking community, yourself, and a friend or family member who loves trails. BWAM member Bert Lindler recommends a tax-deductible year-end donation to the Grant Creek Trails Association, which is helping the Missoula Parks and Recreation Department develop a bicycle/pedestrian trail from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to the Snowbowl Road turnoff. Federal grants are in place that would allow construction of two miles of trail in the city during 2012.    Our task now is to raise the remaining $140,000 in matching funds. If we raise $25,000 between now and the end of the year, an anonymous donor will match up to $25,000, dollar for dollar.  HOORAY!!
To learn more about the proposed trail and to donate, visit Grant Creek Trails and scroll down to the “donate” button!

Bob does use gloves!

What better time to avoid being overheated. Missoula in the winter can be a great place to get around via active transportation. Personally I concur with Kevin Hyde that bicycling is the preferred way to go. Having been a year round commuter during my working years I became quite comfortable riding in most any weather. Finding the right streets can be a challenge but is well worth the effort to help keep the body in shape during the down winter months. What is your active method for commuting during the winter; bike, bus, walk, run? Add your comments!

Several BWAM board members recently attended a briefing by WGM Group about a Missoula Redevelopment Agency planning process on how best to spend a few million dollars in the Midtown area or sometimes referred to as URD III. Midtown is the area of Missoula that includes Brooks and Southgate Mall. It’s not common to have these kinds of funds to invest in the following, all of which can significantly increase walking and biking:

Basic Curb and Sidewalk Infrastructure Needs
These projects are recommended to improve pedestrian safety, aesthetics, property values, parking, drainage, street cleaning and maintenance. These include curbs and sidewalks that are missing or in poor condition, curb extensions, and median refuge crossings.
Transportation Network Improvements
These projects are recommended to improve connectivity and circulation within Midtown and to destinations outside the district. These include trail connections, bike routes, new traffic signals or roundabouts, street improvements, and new street connections.
Streetscape and Aesthetic Improvements
These projects are recommended to improve the identity, aesthetics, and character of Midtown. These include gateway signing, wayfinding, landscaping, and pocket parks

WGM is asking for feedback on the plan. Visit the WGM Midtown site to check out the details and consider weighing in on what you think is most important. They need to hear from you by December 2.

BWAM, of course, wants to see the city’s sidewalk system completed as quickly as possible. Probably most of you do as well. One of the best ways to increase safe and appealing walking and some rolling for everyone-toddler to senior- is a complete sidewalk system.

BWAM is pleased that the Pedestrian Connection Subcommittee of the City Council has been formed which furthers a specific priority implementation goal of Missoula’s recent Active Transportation Plan. This subcommittee is scheduled to meet two more times in December and then submit its recommendations to the Public Works Committee.

Please consider contacting the City Council subcommittee members by email or phone and expressing three things (it is great timing for them to hear briefly from you):

1) Appreciate that they are tackling the unsexy topic of sidewalks. Belief that sidewalks are important, particularly for the most vulnerable. Consider the 8 and 80 principle: how safe is it for 8 and 80 year olds to walk out on streets that you know about that don’t have complete sidewalk system?

2) Support for revamping how we fund sidewalks so that there is much less of a burden on individual property owners. Bob Jaffe is leading the charge with a good new approach that is like health insurance, with the city as a whole paying the bulk of the costs.

3) Support for going beyond the status quo of what is currently invested annually in sidewalks to generating additional funds. We need to complete the sidewalk system sooner than in one hundred years. This could be done with Jaffe’s model and it could be done by aggressively pursuing some other promising funding ideas as well.
• Marilyn Marler (chair)
• Cynthia Wolken
• Dick Haines
• Bob Jaffe
• Pam Walzer
• Ed Childers

Here’s some more bad news regarding the bill that was released by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday. There is a section of the bill that will create a mandatory side-path law on federal lands. The next actual vote or action on the bill may not be for several weeks when it reaches the Senate floor – so an on-line petition has been set up by the League of American Bicyclists to show outrage to this potential law.  A petition gives America Bikes Coalition the flexibility to “deliver” it at the most opportune moment. More action on other parts of the bill will also follow.

Read the League’s blog post about why the side-path law is a terrible step backwards for cyclist’s rights and then sign the petition. It’s fast and easy.

One of the best ways to increase safe and appealing walking and some rolling for everyone-toddler to senior- is a complete sidewalk system. Over the last few years, many Missoulians have recognized the need to find more effective ways to fund the replacement and addition of sidewalks in the city and to fill the many gaps more quickly. This has been a longstanding BWAM priority and there is an encouraging new development. The Pedestrian Connection Subcommittee of the Missoula City Council is currently meeting to address these concerns. The next meeting is November 16 in the Council Chambers and the discussion has been promising to date. Greg Oliver will be attending as the BWAM representative and will provide updates and more during the next few weeks. Please consider attending this meeting and expressing your support for making the completion of our sidewalk network a priority and finding better ways to equitably cover the costs. Contact Greg Oliver at 396-4805 or click here to e-mail Greg if you have questions or suggestions about this matter.

Late on Friday, November 4, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) published its proposal for the next federal transportation bill, called MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century). The 600-page bill will be marked-up in committee on Wednesday, November 9. The proposed legislation makes significant changes to the core, dedicated funding programs for bicycling and walking activities.

• The current dedicated funding programs for bicycling and walking (Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School and the Recreational Trails program) are combined into one program, with significantly less funding.
• An expanded list of eligible activities are added to this smaller funding pot, including such big-ticket items as NEPA compliance and land acquisition for wetland mitigation.
• The proposed bill effectively allows states to completely opt out of the program and would allow all this money to be redirected to highway construction.

Originally, the bill also lumped highway and street construction projects, including high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, as part of the expanded eligible activities. On Tuesday, Senator Boxer received bipartisan support for an amendment that will remove all but one of the road uses (NEPA & wetlands).   While this is a positive step, there is still a lot of work to do. The America Bikes Coalition hopes to continue to make changes by working with Boxer and EPW staff to restore dedicated funding in the bill.

Please read America Bike Response to the MAP 21 bill. Click Here to Continue Reading

Now is your opportunity to comment on what you think Missoula needs in the way of bus service. I just attended the first of 3 public workshops by Mountain Line. The next two are Wednesday 10/26/11 at 6:00pm in the Southgate Mall Community Room and on Thursday 10/27/11 at 6:00pm in the Holiday Inn Downtown Ballroom. During today’s 12 noon meeting we were informed that Mountain Line has also created an OnLine Survey to reach out to those who may not currently ride the buses. Follow this link to the Mountain Line website to take the survey and let them know what would encourage you to use the bus or use the bus more.

Lots of great suggestions as well as positive affirmation of the successes of Mountain Line in Missoula. This is the data gathering phase leading to a report by the consultant in six to eight months on both short term and long term transit issues for Missoula. Contact them now to help make Missoula’s transit the best it can be.

MISSOULA, MONTANA (October 21, 2011) — U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced this week that Mountain Line has been awarded a $133,744 livability grant that will enable the agency to purchase 3-slot bike racks for all Mountain Line buses, install bike racks at 36 bus stop locations, and construct a unique bike station at the Mountain Line Downtown Transfer Center.  The bike station will feature covered, secure parking for bicycles, day use lockers, a self-serve bike repair station, and display cases for maps featuring bike trails, bike lanes, and other helpful information.

“Through the first two months of this fiscal year we have carried 1,170 more bicycles on Mountain Line than over the same period of time the previous year,” says Mountain Line General Manager Michael Tree. “Recognizing the need for a better bicycle facility at the Downtown Transfer Center, the architectural firm of MacArthur, Means, & Wells designed at no cost to the agency a unique bike station that will be a perfect addition to the downtown area.”

Preliminary Design Bike Shelter 2011

Other recent enhancements to Mountain Line include free Wi-Fi on all buses by Community Medical Center and BusTracker technology that allows customers to interact with their bus in real time on their computers and smartphones.  Looking to the near future, the agency will be conducting a Comprehensive Operational Analysis of its services and creating a Long Range Plan, with three initial public workshops scheduled for October 26^th and October 27^th.

Mountain Line carried a record 865,601 riders last year, which represents a 9% increase, or 73,948 additional rides over the previous year.  For more information, residents are encouraged to visit the agency’s web-site at www.mountainline.com.