HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-20-2018 ATC Correspondence - Orvis1
Sheffield, Alexis
From:Sierra Orvis <
Sent:Wednesday, September 19, 2018 8:01 PM
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:BAC communication
ATC,
My reason for writing you today is to voice my support for the Penny Lane pedestrian bridge project and urge
you to continue to make it a city goal moving forward.
I first heard about the project a couple years ago and originally thought it would be a nice addition to town, but
seemed like an expensive project for the benefit it could provide. I would have assumed pedestrians and bikers
could simply ride out to Johnson and only slightly increase there ride effort/time. Since then, I moved to Breck
St (one block from the proposed project) and I have had the chance to see the logic and potential benefits the
original bike plan creators were trying to achieve with their master plan.
1. Vehicle traffic on Johnson at Breck is dangerous. I cannot stress this enough. Vehicles traveling toward
downtown along Johnson are almost always speeding, on a downhill making it hard to brake, and generally
focused on merging and rounding the turn under the railroad bridge, not on cyclists trying to turn off of Breck
St. Vehicles traveling up Johnson toward French hospital are hidden by the bend in the road just a short
distance away. The situation is made worse by the number of inexperienced high school drivers in route to the
high school. There is no stop light at this intersection so cyclists never have a protected turn. When I try to
make the turn during peak travel times, I usually have to ride up to the stoplight at Lizzie. I often see people
ride illegally backwards down the close bike lane to avoid crossing Johnson. It’s really a dangerous intersection
and right now without the bridge, it is the current end of the bike path from French Hospital.
2. A significant amount of cyclists commute along this route. It doesn’t seem like there would be much
bicycle traffic along Breck, but it’s not uncommon to see packs of both commuters and recreational riders pop
out of the freshly installed bike path from the hospital. I don’t have any numbers to quantify it (I am sure a
preliminary study could quantify the current amount), but there are more people than I could have ever
guessed. I’m confident bike and pedestrian traffic would increase if a bridge were installed as well.
3. The proposed bridge site should make construction cost effective. It’s my understanding there used to be
a bridge in this area. The location of the existing abutments and topography make it a simple straight shot over
the RR. This means there should be minimal earthwork and construction complexity. No bridge is cheap, and
I’m sure there are a myriad of planning and coordination issues, but from a design and construction perspective,
this bridge should be relatively cost effective.
4. Helps complete another leg of the bike path.
5. A bridge would cut down on illegal RR crossings . There is a well defined walking path that crosses the
RR at this location already. A bridge would create a safe, legal route.
6. Provide a direct pedestrian link to downtown from a high density R3 zoned area. You’ve probably
heard this a million times, but more trips to downtown by bike and foot cut down on congestion and
parking. The bridge would connect a pocket of R3 zoned area along Breck and Fairview.
2
Thanks for your time and understanding,
Sierra Layous