Providence residents want to walk and bike

Last night, Providence’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) held a public forum to establish priorities for the city’s vision for alternative transportation in 2015. More than forty members of the public were present, and about half of those offered recommendations. First, though, the forum was graced by the presence of Mayor Jorge Elorza, who delivered some introductory remarks and then remained present for a whole hour to hear the recommendations of the Providence residents who spoke. Below are my notes on what the Mayor and others said during the meeting.

Mayor Elorza’s remarks

It was an inauguration pledge of his to make Providence the most active city in New England. That means being bike- and pedestrian-friendly.
The Mayor referred to Bike to Work Week in May, and proclaimed that henceforth in Providence bike commuting would not be relegated to one week of the year, but instead every Friday will be a Bike to Work Day, and he will join residents in commuting by bike.
Providence is the perfect city for biking and walking.
He has been talking with department heads, and is charging them with integrating a complete streets design approach into their work.
He closed with two opportunities that the city will have in the next few months to take steps forward on bicycling and walking:
1. As soon as the snow allows, Mayor Elorza will sign on to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx’s Mayors’ Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets. This challenge calls for mayors to:
  - Issue a public statement about the importance of bicycle and pedestrian safety
  - Form a local action team to advance safety and accessibility goals
  - Take a Complete Streets approach
  - Identify and address barriers to make streets safe and convenient for all road users, including people of all ages and abilities and those using assistive mobility devices
  - Gather and track biking and walking data
  - Use designs that are appropriate to the context of the street and its uses
  - Take advantage of opportunities to create and complete ped-bike networks through maintenance
  - Improve walking and biking safety laws and regulations
  - Educate and enforce proper road use behavior by all
2. The League of American Bicyclists will have representatives in Providence on April 16th. They will conduct a survey to assess where Providence stands in relation to their Bicycle-Friendly Community standards, and make updated recommendations for how we can attain the next level of bicycle-friendliness. Here are the recommendations they made upon visiting in Fall 2013.

My recommendations

I wrote up a detailed report for BPAC based on those League recommendations, my own assessment of where we stand relative to the Bicycle-Friendly Community standards, new GIS spatial analysis, research on best practices around the country, and talking with members of the bicycle advocacy community in Providence. Below are those recommendations:

In the Executive Order creating BPAC, section 3f states that BPAC will “perform special studies and projects as requested by the City on bicycle and pedestrian questions, including reviewing development plans and site plans which may have significant impact on bicycle and pedestrian transportation.” The street design process should be altered so that BPAC (or the planning department) must review all plans for bicycle & pedestrian impact before they are implemented.
Update the Bike Providence plan with new priorities for improving bicycle infrastructure. See proposed prioritization below.
Adopt the recommendations from the League of American Bicyclists as a work plan for BPAC and pursue a Bronze rating as a Bicycle-Friendly Community.
Encourage the designation of existing staff member as Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator or the creation of a new position.
Commend the Mayor for his visibility commuting by bike.
Facilitate the creation of regular training sessions for
- The public, regarding safe cycling
- Planning & Public Works staff, on engineering bicycle infrastructure
- Police Officers, on a “Share the Road” message and traffic law as it applies to bicyclists and motorists.
Encourage the endorsement of NACTO guidelines by the City and the State.
Invite RIDOT and Providence Public Works to be more involved in the Commission.
Encourage Public Works and RIDOT to keep BPAC informed of street redesign project status to ensure Complete Streets features are integrated in a timely & cost effective way.

Infrastructure recommendations

Generally, buffered two-way bike lanes on one side of the street are the best balance between safety, cost, and street width. When street width allows, vertical features should be added in the buffers to further protect the safety of people cycling.

Conventional striped bike lanes should be reserved for locations in which extremely low street width does not provide space for parked cars on both sides of the street, let alone a buffered bike lane. Neither sharrows nor wayfinding signage should be considered bike facilities by themselves; they serve merely to provide additional driver awareness on streets featuring dedicated space for people biking.

Some corridors are more in need of dedicated bicycle facilities than others. See this map for a visual of levels of cycling traffic shown by Strava and VHB apps. These recommendations are based on that data:

Elmwood Ave and Smith Street are suggested in Bike Providence to receive striped bike lanes. These are both corridors that see high use, and the City should use protected bike lanes instead of conventional striping.
Especially Charles Street due to its level of use, but also Douglas Ave, are also recommended for bike lanes in Bike Providence. That recommendation should be implemented, using buffered bike lanes or, if space demands, conventional striped lanes.
North Main Street and Broad Street already see a lot of bicycle traffic. Due to high auto speeds and wide width, protected bike lanes should be created on these corridors.
Downtown has a high level of bicycle use, but no striped bike lanes. Streets downtown seeing the most existing bicycle traffic are Weybosset Street, Washington Street, Dorrance Street, Sabin Street, Fountain Street, Exchange Street, and Exchange Terrace. These streets should be painted with buffered bike lanes.
Cranston Street sees a high level of use for cycling despite its sometimes narrow width. For portions of the corridor where width allows, a protected of buffered bike lane should be created. In the narrowest portions south of the Armory, conventional striped lanes may be necessary.
Olney Street is a primary east-west bicycle route across the East Side, due to its relatively shallow incline. A protected bike lane would be appropriate for this wide street.
Allens Ave has a striped lane, but it is in poor condition. It should be replaced by a protected bike lane because width allows and driving speeds are high.
Olneyville Square and Plainfield Ave toward Neutaconkanut Park are dangerous places for cyclists and yet have a high level of bicycle traffic. A striped bike lane or protected bike lane should be built to improve the safety of these users.
Hope Street, Waterman Street, and Angell Street are important corridors through the East Side, and already see a high level of use for cycling. Buffered or protected bike lanes would be appropriate for street widths on all three streets.
Westminster Street west of 95 sees a high level of bicycle traffic, and is an excellent candidate for a buffered bike lane.
Point Street and Wickenden Street are used a lot by cyclists as paths between the East Side and West Side due to the gentle slope of Wickenden compared to the steep College Hill. Both streets would be strong candidates for a buffered bike lane.
Manton Avenue runs through one of the poorest parts of the city, has high levels of bicycle traffic on it, and connects to the Woonasquatucket River off-road trail. It should be a priority for a buffered lane.

Recommendations from other Members of the Public

The Dean Street bridge over the highway is a particularly bad chokepoint for sidewalk snow removal and is particularly dangerous.
Prioritize pedestrians where they are.
There should be more bike parking in commercial districts.
There should be more bike racks at the Amtrak station [BPAC chair Eric Weis commented that in the forthcoming renovation of the train station, there will be more racks].
Especially the busiest streets should be ensured of sidewalk snow removal. Especially unsafe for people to walk in the street there.
There should be quarterly BPAC forums like this, timed to coincide with the Public Works design cycle.
Bill DeSantis, author of the Bike Providence plan for consultant VHB, agreed that the plan is due for updating.
National engineering standards such as AASHTO and MUTCD are rapidly changing, with updates dramatically improving design standards for bike and walking safety coming soon.
Frank LaTorre of the Downtown Improvement District asserted his organization’s desires to be part of making Providence more bike- and pedestrian-friendly. BPAC chair Eric Weis commended the DID’s “yellow jacket” workers for an excellent job keeping downtown sidewalks clear of snow.
Joelle Kanter of the Providence Foundation drew attention to
1. the CityWalk proposal for connecting India Point Park and Roger Williams Park,
2. another forum hosted by the Providence Foundation on Monday, March 23rd at 5:30pm on Exchange Terrace, and
3. a need for cohesive pedestrian wayfinding signage throughout the city to replace and enhance current disjointed signage.
Another call for cleared sidewalks, with mention of having RIDOT clear sidewalks on bridges.
It is hard for residents to clear the hard-packed snow drifts created by plows which block sidewalks at intersections; perhaps it would be more reasonable to have a systematic approach to these locations.
While there is a maintenance contract recently established for the 25 busiest RIPTA stops, perhaps a plan could be created for maintenance of the 1000 busiest RIPTA stops.
There needs to be muscle behind walkability & snow removal.

[The mayor left at this point]

Reiteration of the especially bad Dean/Atwells intersection area.
Crossing the highways is especially tough.
Signals downtown are not very functional for people walking, also on the West Side. The city should create a plan to deal with obstacles such as these.
Bicycling and walking are part of the city’s sustainability, and should be included in policy in that area.
Bicycling and walking are “the sinews of connectivity” in the city.
Integration between RIDOT and the City is very important.
The train station needs work. The speaker’s bike had been vandalized or stolen at the train station on numerous occasions.
The walk from College Hill to the train station is not easy.
Snow is hard for families with kids.
The sidewalk network is only as strong as its weakest point; if one person hasn’t shoveled in front of their house, parents with young children have to go back home and drive instead.
“It will never be easy to own & drive a car in this city, and that’s okay, but it then must be easy to walk.”
Why are there no entrepreneurial kids out there doing snow removal? Perhaps there is concern about liability that the City can help alleviate.
Slower traffic makes a safer environment for everyone. Consider a 15-20mph speed limit citywide.
Overnight on-street parking for residents is great, but where do residential permit holders go in the case of a snow emergency parking ban? In Cambridge, MA, the speaker recalled designated commercial lots that became open to the public at such times.
While it is good the city lowered parking minimums in the new zoning code, parking minimums should be eliminated altogether.
We have a problem with too many surface parking lots in the city. They should be taxed to disincentivize use of property for commercial parking enterprises.
All parking in the city should be metered to distribute demand better.
Crosswalks are not always in places that make sense; they should be restriped in places that do. Residents may be able to provide good recommendations on the most logical places for them.
It is good that they mayor is encouraging sidewalk snow removal by residents and suggesting that fines may be issued for noncompliance. In North Providence, where the speaker lives, the mayor indicated that there would not be fines, and the speaker has noticed a significant difference in the number of sidewalks cleared in the two cities, approximately 2/3 clear in Providence and approximately 1/3 clear in North Providence.
RIDOT should clear bridge sidewalks.
Crosswalks should be close to RIPTA stops; too often they are not and that just doesn’t make sense.
The bike network is regional, so we should work with other cities to ensure that it is robust.
Enforcement of traffic rules is good for safety and should be encouraged.
Too often institutions encourage employees and students to drive by subsidizing free parking. The City should encourage its institutions to minimize this practice.
The most vulnerable road users should be prioritized in all streets policy.
Beyond merely bike racks, the train station renovation should incorporate bike cages.
It is important to consider access to grocery stores and other necessities when talking about car and bike usage. We should encourage the location of these facilities in such places that residents who don’t want to or can’t afford a car are able to access them.
Another comment about the danger of Dean Street, especially between Kinsley and Atwells.
The curve of Wickenden Street was also cited as being dangerous for people walking.
Another comment about the difficulty of crossing highways, reference to 95 as “the moat”.
“Gotta let a city breathe.” So there should be more porous connections over highways for people walking and bicycling.
BPAC Commissioner Jenn Steinfeld made the important point that most of the faces in the room that night were white, and that is often the case with the audience for this commission, despite perhaps a majority of carless households being made up of people of color. How can we change this? We have to hold ourselves accountable to address this misrepresentation. [Someone shouted from the audience “hold meetings outside of working hours!”]
Getting young people on bikes is a way to reach their parents who might not otherwise be interested.

And that was it! It lasted about an hour and a half, with the Mayor present for the first hour of that. Also in attendance were Director of Planning Bonnie Nickerson, Deputy Director of Planning Bob Azar, Acting Superintendent of Public Works Bill Bombard, and Director of Policy Sheila Dormody. The official list of recommendations was taken down at the meeting by the planning department’s Associate Director for Special Projects Martina Haggerty, who can be reached at mhaggerty@providenceri.com.