Members of the GCC,

The Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization held a public
workshop this evening as part of the ongoing Year 2035 Long Range
Transportation Plan.  This was a small portion of the larger MTPO
project, whose activities, publications, and meeting schedule can be
found at http://ncfrpc.org/mtpo/index.html.  In my opinion, the MTPO
will have more impact on our lives than any other local agency in the
next two decades, as they are redesigning the fundamental
infrastructure of our town.

(Through no fault of the MTPO or Renaissance Planning Group--the
outside consulting firm on this project--I found out literally five
minutes beforehand about this meeting, so forgive my not inviting you
all.)

The group met downtown at the GRU building, was given an overview of
the suggested improvements that consultants, the public, and various
planning and policy agencies (such as the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory
Board) have come up with.  The most relevant?  In my opinion they
are--

1.  Redevelopment/modernization of a motorized transportation "spine"
from Waldo Rd./Airport through Midtown, along Archer Road towards 34th
Street, and back up along a Northwest Route towards Santa Fe.  Think
of a boomerang with its right tip at the Airport, left tip at Santa Fe
and its leading edge at Archer and 34th.  This is the "most bang for
your buck" corridor in traffic problems solved per dollar spent.
Taking cars out of the "mix" at the midtown/dowtown core and putting
them along this spine frees up space for multimodal transportation
where we need it, thus "killing two cars with one bike" (if I may).

2.  Multimodal (car, trolley, bike, pedestrian) redevelopment of the
"cultural/economic core" (my words) along University Ave from West
Gainesville to the East Side (E-W axis), and all along West 13th
Street (N-S axis).  Again, this is possible and affordable because of
the "spine" deflecting core automobile and truck traffic away from the
new multimodal lanes.

3.  Expanding the web or "braid" (MTPO's word) of ridable side streets
and thruways to connect extant bike lanes, bus lines, and ped-friendly
streets.  The maps as shown at the meeting formalize, or will improve
by replacing, a lot of "back street" thruways that I and other
commuters currently use.  Think of the Second Ave. corridor, recently
described in my BikeGainesville post at
http://www.bikegainesville.org/index.php/examples/articles/taking-it-through-the-streets/

What I like about these and other MTPO plans are:

1.  An understanding that "roadway" funds, the majority of earmarked
state and county monies, are best utilized to retool in a multimodal
fashion, not to just widen streets or add bike lanes.  As an example,
the only pure "widening" projects are on the periphery of the
Gainesville Urban Area--few auto-only improvements exist in the whole
plan.

2.  The planning process is open, almost uncomfortably so.  I
literally walked in off the street and immediately felt at home with
people entrenched in the process (not to be confused with the 23rd Ave
bike lane project that club members are involved in, a mere drop in
the ocean of the MTPO master plan).  The consulting group and local
government are all ears on anything we have to offer.  We have no
excuse if this one goes a way we don't like!

My dislikes included:

1.  Bicycles and pedestrians get lumped together in the language and
planning concepts.  Mrs. Carver convinced me that this was a language
problem more than a part of the plan, but I think we have some
concrete multimodal hurdles to jump over as the MTPO evolves and work
gets under way.  The brass tacks are that bike commuters are part of
the vehicular traffic, but outside the airy quarters of committee
meetings, they continue to be built into the pedestrian environment
("ridable" sidewalks are a dangerous and prevalent example).  How we
go about parsing ourselves from pedestrians while maintaining their
political alliance (if in fact we have it) may be something the
Commuter Group can hash out.

2.  The MTPO is not overtly concerned with education, multi-modal
acculturation, and marketing.  I'm not talking about "selling" the
plan to the public, which is a cynical concept.  I'm talking about
creating real mechanisms for helping drivers, trolley riders,
cyclists, and pedestrians talk to each other about the inevitable
power shifts in their relationship as the environment and economy
force us out of our cars.  It is the Great White Elephant sneering
down at all those pretty maps and color-coded dreams of the future.
Is this "good" propaganda effort a task for devoted Commuter Group
members?  Something to think about.

Keep in mind these are aspects of the plan I brought to the foreground
based on my perception of GCC interests.  The plan in whole is at
http://ncfrpc.org/mtpo/index.html.  I spoke at length after the
meeting with Jennifer Carver, Senior Planner and Project Manager for
Renaissance Planning Group.  I am impressed with her and her
colleagues' grasp of advanced vehicular cycling concepts and how they
related to planning.  The consultants are actually riding our streets
on their bikes to get the lay of the land.  Pretty cool stuff.

Regards,

James Thompson
Advocacy Director
GCC
jtexconsult@xxxxxxxxx

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