Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES TAB Task Force 2021-02-15 Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, February 15, 2021 Minutes of a scheduled meeting of the Sidewalk & Trail Needs Task Force of the Trans- portation Advisory Board of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held virtually on the 15th day of February, 2021 Task Force: Belle Morris, Ann Finley, Larry Gamble, Linda Hanick, Scott Moulton Attending: Chair Belle Morris, Larry Gamble, Linda Hanick, Ann Finley, Public Works Di- rector Greg Muhonen, Absent: Scott Moulton Chair Morris called the meeting to order at 12:06 p.m. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT The Task Force Meeting was advertised and a link to the virtual meeting was provided. No members of the public participated in the meeting other than Blake Robertson. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made and seconded (Hanick/Morris) to approve the February 8 meeting minutes and all were in favor. NEW BUSINESS The Task Force conducted a review of the Graves Avenue audit that was done on Feb- ruary 11. Chair Morris announced the resignation of Christy DeLorme due to lack of time availability. She appreciated her time working with the Task Force on SRTS and multi-modal connectivity. Chair Morris expressed her excitement that so many Task Force members participated in the Graves Avenue audit. She thanked Director Muhonen for his participation and the education he provided while conducting the audit. Hanick pointed out that the Task Force must decide if future audits are going to include both sides of a street. Even though there was some sidewalk running along the north side of Graves Avenue, she believes the south side of the street is even more condu- cive for a sidewalk. In her opinion, collecting data using the current checklist would be tedious. She wondered if the tread plates for sight impaired users were going to be re- placed since many of them are not oriented correctly. Director Muhonen stated that Federal law does require that standards be met and the town is looking to bring streets and sidewalks into compliance. However, it will likely take decades to achieve. Hanick went on to say that the field work was a valuable exercise to help the team to understand what the surveys will entail. We have a better understanding about what makes a safe sidewalk. Chair Morris also thought the field exercise was important in order to see what is in- volved in conducting an audit. She experienced it as, “A walk back in time,” to see how things were constructed in the past. She appreciated the education the group received on accessible ramps, connectivity, etc. Chair Morris was concerned about the extreme details the current audit form asked of surveyors. The information captured would take too long and likely not helpful for any higher level planning. Gamble stated that the audit checklist has morphed since its inception, and he wanted the focus to be on just what Public Works needs in order to prioritize future projects and secure funding. He asked Director Muhonen to share what data Public Works needs most. Director Muhonen pointed out that the Task Force learned from each other during the field exercise. After the Graves Avenue audit he and Chair Morris met to discuss a revi- sion of the Audit and the Task Force product outcome. They took a step back for the purpose of understanding what the goal of the pathway audit should be. Chair Morris asked Director Muhonen to share with the Task Force their suggestions as well as his final suggestions on how to proceed. Director Muhonen asked the Task Force to harken back to a TAB discussion several months ago about a missing crosswalk at a street intersection on West Elkhorn Avenue, and issues with driveway intersections with the West Elkhorn Avenue sidewalk. From that initial discussion Moulton created a spreadsheet in order to capture those deficiencies. From that point forward, each step the Task Force has taken has helped to gain focus. He stated that in his opinion it is not a good use of time for Task Force members to collect minutiae because it could be diffi- cult to turn into useful information. He believes it would be better to simplify the data col- lection and look at a “higher level.” The two broad categories he would like to see are: 1. Is there a safety issue? 2. Are there gaps in the pathway system? The end product should not be so unwieldy, and the approach simplified. The design of the audit form to be used in the field should be easily entered into a spreadsheet, or captured directly in a spreadsheet on a handheld tablet. Once the data has been col- lected, the needs can be prioritized and used to refine and update the Master Trails Plan (which already contains a prioritized list). Detailed information would then be col- lected on a project-by-project basis. Because cash flow will not keep up with all the needs it could easily be 20+ years to address all the deficiencies. He also wanted the data to be useful for future town staff to locate and use. He recommended that the data collection proceed in three phases: 1-mile radius from the school campus, 2-mile radius, and then the rest of the Estes Valley. Eventually the data would be used to put together a composite map showing priorities as well as reside in a spreadsheet. The next step would be to identify key routes to survey and then use the new audit spreadsheet to conduct the audits. He went on to say that he doesn’t believe it is necessary to have a pedestrian/bike route on every street. The distilled list of items to be assessed is: 1. Pathway continuous (Yes/No) 2. Width sufficient for pedestrians and bicycles (Yes/No) 3. Surface Condition (Good/Fair/Poor) 4. Driveway conflicts (Yes/No) 5. Missing crosswalks at street intersections (Yes/No) These would be column headings in a spreadsheet, and each row in the spreadsheet would be a street (or a street segment) Note: The above list was generated after review and discussion among Task Force members and Director Muhonen. It was agreed that eventually a design team would look at correcting the deficiencies and would collect more detailed information prior to design. Ultimately the streets and their data would be further compared and ranked using the “High, Medium, and Low” categories for pathway importance developed previously by the Task Force (refer to the minutes from the February 8, 2021 Task Force meeting). Everyone acknowledged that even with high rankings that does not mean that specific streets or pathways will receive funding anytime soon. At the last Task Force meeting members were asked to identify their “High, Medium, and Low” streets and pathways by marking up the 1-mile radius map with the agreed upon colors: Green = High, Yellow = Medium, Pink = Low. Chair Morris shared her map, and discussion then ensued among the Task Force mem- bers to further refine the routes on the map. Hanick asked if the Fish Creek Trail and Lake Estes Trail should be included in the as- sessment since they are maintained by the Estes Valley Recreation and Park District. Director Muhonen responded that the Estes Valley should be assessed as a whole. Chair Morris pointed out that Raven Avenue north of U.S. Highway 34 could also be in- cluded in the assessment as “Yellow” route Finley noted that there is a lot of pedestrian traffic in the vicinity of High Street and that should also be assessed. Chair Morris agreed that there are safety issues in that neigh- borhood. She also wondered if the audit should capture lighting deficiencies. It was agreed that lighting information would not be captured at this time. Gamble recommended that a simple spreadsheet could be loaded on a tablet which could be used to capture data in the field. Some Task Force members own tablets that could be used. A summary of the Task Force’s efforts will be provided at the upcoming TAB meeting, and the minutes of recent Task Force meetings will be included in the TAB packet. Action Items 1. Muhonen to convey the audit spreadsheet questions and design to Scott Moulton 2. Moulton to finalize the spreadsheet so it can be presented at the February 22 Task Force meeting 3. Morris to scan and send the hierarchy street map she marked up to the Task Force members Meeting adjourned at 1:14 p.m.