Fwd: Clifton Bike Lanes -- Emory's Response
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Gardner Neely
Jun 27, 2016, 5:57:27 PM6/27/16
to Tom D Lancaster, Marianne Lancaster
Tom, Marianne & others; This is about Emory Uni's proposed bike path/lane upgrade proposal. Cycling buddy & history prof Tonio Andrade sent me this summary of proposed biking improvements with critique and survey.
If you have time, its due by Wed, day after tomorrow.
thanks for any help on this, or sharing with others who bike to/from Emory from this area. Gardner
--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tonio Andrade <tan...@emory.edu>
Date: Sun, Jun 26, 2016 at 4:49 PM
Subject: Clifton Bike Lanes -- Emory's Response
To: gard....@gmail.com
Dear Gardner,
Thank you for signing the Clifton Road safe bike lane petition! We quickly garnered 577 signatories and delivered it to Emory's leadership. Emory's Executive Vice-President, Mike Mandl, has already sent an initial response, and we are writing to see what you think of it.
You can read the full response below, but here are the main points:
(1) Emory promises to add a short bicycle path to the plan. It will run parallel to Clifton Road, on the west side, but it will only run for two hundred and thirty yards: from the intersection of Clifton Road/Eagle Row to Woodruff Circle.
(2) On the rest of the west side of Clifton Road, where a new turn lane for motor vehicles will be added, Emory plans to do nothing for cyclists, who will have to share lanes with buses, trucks, and cars.
(3) Emory is exploring the possibility of creating a protected bicycle lane on the east side of Clifton Road, but Mandl warns that there are special "physical challenges" that may make this unpalatable to Emory's planners.
(4) Emory will undertake a Master Bicycle Plan starting this fall.
Everyone we've spoken to so far feels this response is moderately encouraging. Certainly, the rapidity of the response suggests the attention of Emory's leaders. And they have already agreed to make a slight improvement to the plan: a short protected bike path. Equally importantly, they have promised to undertake a comprehensive bicycle master plan, something that cyclists in the Emory community have long been wanting.
But are these steps enough to protect people on bikes? The Clifton Road Plan calls for the widening of the roadway and the addition of new turn lanes. So far, most people we've spoken to believe that the plan still leaves cyclists dangerously exposed.
So we would like to hear your opinion. Will you please go to the URL below and answer four quick survey questions?
http://tinyurl.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=28e187bd546e67247bdd0b4dd&id=515dca5e8c&e=a877b96f32
The survey will stay open until Wednesday evening, but please don't let this email sink into your inbox. Click now. We will collate your response with others' responses and use them to draft a reply to Vice-President Mandl's letter.
Thank you!
Tonio Andrade
---- Emory's Response ----
June 20, 2016
Dear Mr. Andrade and Petition Signatories:
Thank you for your letter related to the bicycling infrastructure and the Clifton Road improvement project currently underway between North Decatur Road and Eagle Row. I appreciate your concerns and your advocacy on behalf of bicyclists at Emory and in the Clifton Corridor. President Wagner, Provost Sterk, and I have discussed the concerns and I offer the following as our collective response:
• First and most important, I assure you that we are all supportive of and committed to enhancing the safety for pedestrians and cyclists in and around the Emory campus. One of the tenets of the Clifton Community Partnership, which I launched back in 2005, was to enhance the streetscapes and infrastructure to support walking and biking (we even began the long-term project of purchasing homes along the north side of North Decatur Road in the hopes of one day building a multi-use off road path from Clairmont Road to Emory down North Decatur Road). We have also taken recent action to co-fund with the PATH Foundation a new bike path from within the Clairmont Campus, under Clairmont Road along the creek with significant connectivity into the Path Foundation network of paths on the east side of Clairmont Road. As someone who enjoys riding from Decatur to Stone Mountain and to downtown via the Freedom Parkway paths, I know first-hand the value of design attention geared to bikers.
• Second, Clifton Road presents several special challenges, some of which are visible and several of which are not visible but more clearly described through dialogue. To that end, I think the most productive way to share information and exchange perspectives on the Clifton Road project would be for you and a representative group of the petitioners to meet with Matthew Early, Emory’s Vice President for Campus Services, who is our point person for planning the Clifton Road improvements. Matthew is also an avid bicyclist who commuted by bicycle daily from New Jersey to Columbia University in Manhattan, then more recently for several years along Houston Mill Road to Emory’s campus. He is very aware of the need for safe routes to bicycle, and the myriad of challenges to address when designing safe and effective bicycle access in an area heavily populated with pedestrians and vehicles, including shuttle busses and a constant flow of emergency vehicles. Matthew and his team worked with external consultants and reviewed various concepts and plans for a two-way cycletrack on one side of Clifton Road, bike lanes on both sides of the road, and single bike lane/sharrow combinations. This section of Clifton Road includes numerous physical barriers that significantly affected the proposed design. I hope you and representatives from your group will meet with Matthew Early to walk this section of Clifton Road and discuss this further.
• Importantly, there are two updates that Emory has developed to enhance the current Clifton Road project that I would like to share here and Matthew can provide more detail when you meet: 1.) Emory will add a bike path from the Clifton Road/Eagle Row intersection to the Woodruff Circle vicinity so that off-road access to the hospital and campus center is provided for bicyclists. This bike path will be on Emory property outside of the roadway and run parallel to Clifton Road. It will provide a continuous bike lane for a critical section of the west side of Clifton Road enabling bicyclists to access Emory University Hospital, the adjoining Emory Healthcare facilities and the existing Emory University bike lane network on campus. This new bike path will be included in the overall Clifton Streetscape project and completed in 2017. 2.) Matthew is also exploring whether a protected bike lane on the east side of Clifton Road is feasible in light of the roadway constraints.
• Finally, we plan to launch a formal bicycle master plan later this year as it is a perfect time to bring together several related activities on campus for fresh perspective and energy around the future of walking and cycling around campus. I hope to engage you and others in future bicycle master planning at Emory.
Again, thank you for your commitment to safe bicycling at Emory and I look forward to circling back with you after you have had an opportunity to exchange information with Matthew Early. I am confident that further enhancements will be discovered and all will emerge with a deeper understanding of a project that we can all take pride in. Matthew is away on vacation this coming week but will be in touch as soon as he returns to set up a time for you and your colleagues to get together with him to discuss further. Thank you and best wishes for a productive and enjoyable summer.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Mandl
Executive Vice President for Business and Administration
C: Dr. James Wagner
Dr. Claire Sterk
Mr. Matthew Early
MJM/jb
==============================================
You are receiving this email because you signed the petition to urge Emory University to include safe cycling infrastructure in its Clifton Road Streetscape Plans.
Unsubscribe gard....@gmail.com from this list:
http://tinyurl.us11.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=28e187bd546e67247bdd0b4dd&id=8a279e673f&e=a877b96f32&c=8ead4a429a
Our mailing address is:
Emory University
Bowden Hall
Atlanta, Georgia 30322
USA
Our telephone:
4047274469
Forward this email to a friend:
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From: Tonio Andrade <tan...@emory.edu>
Date: Sun, Jun 26, 2016 at 4:49 PM
Subject: Clifton Bike Lanes -- Emory's Response
To: gard....@gmail.com
Dear Gardner,
Thank you for signing the Clifton Road safe bike lane petition! We quickly garnered 577 signatories and delivered it to Emory's leadership. Emory's Executive Vice-President, Mike Mandl, has already sent an initial response, and we are writing to see what you think of it.
You can read the full response below, but here are the main points:
(1) Emory promises to add a short bicycle path to the plan. It will run parallel to Clifton Road, on the west side, but it will only run for two hundred and thirty yards: from the intersection of Clifton Road/Eagle Row to Woodruff Circle.
(2) On the rest of the west side of Clifton Road, where a new turn lane for motor vehicles will be added, Emory plans to do nothing for cyclists, who will have to share lanes with buses, trucks, and cars.
(3) Emory is exploring the possibility of creating a protected bicycle lane on the east side of Clifton Road, but Mandl warns that there are special "physical challenges" that may make this unpalatable to Emory's planners.
(4) Emory will undertake a Master Bicycle Plan starting this fall.
Everyone we've spoken to so far feels this response is moderately encouraging. Certainly, the rapidity of the response suggests the attention of Emory's leaders. And they have already agreed to make a slight improvement to the plan: a short protected bike path. Equally importantly, they have promised to undertake a comprehensive bicycle master plan, something that cyclists in the Emory community have long been wanting.
But are these steps enough to protect people on bikes? The Clifton Road Plan calls for the widening of the roadway and the addition of new turn lanes. So far, most people we've spoken to believe that the plan still leaves cyclists dangerously exposed.
So we would like to hear your opinion. Will you please go to the URL below and answer four quick survey questions?
http://tinyurl.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=28e187bd546e67247bdd0b4dd&id=515dca5e8c&e=a877b96f32
The survey will stay open until Wednesday evening, but please don't let this email sink into your inbox. Click now. We will collate your response with others' responses and use them to draft a reply to Vice-President Mandl's letter.
Thank you!
Tonio Andrade
---- Emory's Response ----
June 20, 2016
Dear Mr. Andrade and Petition Signatories:
Thank you for your letter related to the bicycling infrastructure and the Clifton Road improvement project currently underway between North Decatur Road and Eagle Row. I appreciate your concerns and your advocacy on behalf of bicyclists at Emory and in the Clifton Corridor. President Wagner, Provost Sterk, and I have discussed the concerns and I offer the following as our collective response:
• First and most important, I assure you that we are all supportive of and committed to enhancing the safety for pedestrians and cyclists in and around the Emory campus. One of the tenets of the Clifton Community Partnership, which I launched back in 2005, was to enhance the streetscapes and infrastructure to support walking and biking (we even began the long-term project of purchasing homes along the north side of North Decatur Road in the hopes of one day building a multi-use off road path from Clairmont Road to Emory down North Decatur Road). We have also taken recent action to co-fund with the PATH Foundation a new bike path from within the Clairmont Campus, under Clairmont Road along the creek with significant connectivity into the Path Foundation network of paths on the east side of Clairmont Road. As someone who enjoys riding from Decatur to Stone Mountain and to downtown via the Freedom Parkway paths, I know first-hand the value of design attention geared to bikers.
• Second, Clifton Road presents several special challenges, some of which are visible and several of which are not visible but more clearly described through dialogue. To that end, I think the most productive way to share information and exchange perspectives on the Clifton Road project would be for you and a representative group of the petitioners to meet with Matthew Early, Emory’s Vice President for Campus Services, who is our point person for planning the Clifton Road improvements. Matthew is also an avid bicyclist who commuted by bicycle daily from New Jersey to Columbia University in Manhattan, then more recently for several years along Houston Mill Road to Emory’s campus. He is very aware of the need for safe routes to bicycle, and the myriad of challenges to address when designing safe and effective bicycle access in an area heavily populated with pedestrians and vehicles, including shuttle busses and a constant flow of emergency vehicles. Matthew and his team worked with external consultants and reviewed various concepts and plans for a two-way cycletrack on one side of Clifton Road, bike lanes on both sides of the road, and single bike lane/sharrow combinations. This section of Clifton Road includes numerous physical barriers that significantly affected the proposed design. I hope you and representatives from your group will meet with Matthew Early to walk this section of Clifton Road and discuss this further.
• Importantly, there are two updates that Emory has developed to enhance the current Clifton Road project that I would like to share here and Matthew can provide more detail when you meet: 1.) Emory will add a bike path from the Clifton Road/Eagle Row intersection to the Woodruff Circle vicinity so that off-road access to the hospital and campus center is provided for bicyclists. This bike path will be on Emory property outside of the roadway and run parallel to Clifton Road. It will provide a continuous bike lane for a critical section of the west side of Clifton Road enabling bicyclists to access Emory University Hospital, the adjoining Emory Healthcare facilities and the existing Emory University bike lane network on campus. This new bike path will be included in the overall Clifton Streetscape project and completed in 2017. 2.) Matthew is also exploring whether a protected bike lane on the east side of Clifton Road is feasible in light of the roadway constraints.
• Finally, we plan to launch a formal bicycle master plan later this year as it is a perfect time to bring together several related activities on campus for fresh perspective and energy around the future of walking and cycling around campus. I hope to engage you and others in future bicycle master planning at Emory.
Again, thank you for your commitment to safe bicycling at Emory and I look forward to circling back with you after you have had an opportunity to exchange information with Matthew Early. I am confident that further enhancements will be discovered and all will emerge with a deeper understanding of a project that we can all take pride in. Matthew is away on vacation this coming week but will be in touch as soon as he returns to set up a time for you and your colleagues to get together with him to discuss further. Thank you and best wishes for a productive and enjoyable summer.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Mandl
Executive Vice President for Business and Administration
C: Dr. James Wagner
Dr. Claire Sterk
Mr. Matthew Early
MJM/jb
==============================================
You are receiving this email because you signed the petition to urge Emory University to include safe cycling infrastructure in its Clifton Road Streetscape Plans.
Unsubscribe gard....@gmail.com from this list:
http://tinyurl.us11.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=28e187bd546e67247bdd0b4dd&id=8a279e673f&e=a877b96f32&c=8ead4a429a
Our mailing address is:
Emory University
Bowden Hall
Atlanta, Georgia 30322
USA
Our telephone:
4047274469
Forward this email to a friend:
http://us11.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=28e187bd546e67247bdd0b4dd&id=8ead4a429a&e=a877b96f32
Update your profile:
http://tinyurl.us11.list-manage2.com/profile?u=28e187bd546e67247bdd0b4dd&id=8a279e673f&e=a877b96f32
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