City of Houston Bicycle Advisory Committee met July 27

City of Houston Bicycle Advisory Committee met July 27.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Call to Order. Chair Tom Compson called the meeting to order at 2:30pm.

Roll Call:

Tom Compson, Chair (P)

Alejandro Perez, Vice Chair (A)

Tracy Alexander (A)

Leah Chambers (A)

Adam J. Williams (A)

Carl B. Salazar (P)

Com. Kristine Anthony-Miller (P)

Beth Martin (A)

Lisa Graiff (P)

Trevor Reichman (P)

Jessica Wiggins (P)

Yuhayna Mahmud (P)

Nick Hellyar (A)

Judith Villarreal (A)

Amar Mohite (A)

Mike VanDusen (P)

Ana Ramirez Huerta (A)

Nikki Knight (A)

Robin Holzer (P)

Veon McReynolds (P)

Ex-Officio Members:

David Fields (P)

Ian Hlavacek (A)

Juvenal Robles (P)

1) Director’s Report. David Fields gave the Director’s Report.

• Introducing Muxian Fang as a new member of the Transportation Planning Team.

• We are starting Bicycle Friendly Communities application. We are striving to get to sliver status this year. We are looking forward to working with the BAC and cycling partners to complete the application. Application is due September 27, 2022.

• Annual Complete Streets and Vision Zero reports have been released. The work we do between the BAC and Vision Zero is important to achieving a safer accessible city.

• Big thank you to TxDOT for donating bicycle helmets for 200 children, 200 adults and 200 bike lights. These items will be given out as the city host various Vision Zero event throughout the year.

2) Chair’s Report. Chair Compson gave the Chair’s Report:

• Chair Compson stated that the Directors report gives him and the BAC hope with the exciting stuff that are coming up like the addition of milage and maintaining it.

• Chair reiterated Director Fields comments that Bicycle Communities Application is a big deal and hopes that we can obtain silver status.

3) Approval of April Minutes. Motion: Compson. Second: McReynolds. Vote: Unanimous.

4) Public Comment:

• Radu Tutos - A plea for a Mandell St. bicycle transportation corridor. He spoke about having dedicated bike lanes on Mandell Street between Richmond Ave and Westheimer Rd would to be protected by a physical buffer.

o Director David Fields responded

• Brian DonCarlos – emailed about Jackson Hill Bike Lanes. He does not understand why Jackson Hill needs two separate dedicated bike lanes. He strongly urges the program to rethink this portion of the plan. Why does Patterson get the shared lanes but not Jackson Hill?

o Director David Fields responded

• Dougie Steinbock – A graduate Student at Rice University that would like a dedicated protected bike lane on Mandell Street between Richmond Ave and Westheimer Rd.

o Director David Fields responded

5) Bikeway Fatalities and Serious Injuries: End of the Year Report and Year to Date Report. Commander Kristine Anthony Miller presented updated statistics on traffic crashes involving bicyclists.

• As of 7/11/22:

o 198 crashes involved bicyclists

o 9 bicycle fatalities: 2 daytime, 7 nighttime

6) Quarterly Updates. Brandon Mosley gave updates on ongoing bikeway projects and initiatives.

• Bikeways (notable updates)

o City of Houston

a. Shepherd – Durham, and Lawndale project design are complete and moved to construction

b. High Star, Hillcroft, and Westward are all complete

o PCT 1 updates will be in the bikeway updates going forward

a. Almeda Shared path, El Rio, and Trail Fondren Diversion Channel has moved to construction phases.

b. Blodgett / Tierwester moved to construction

c. Austin / LaBranch – HCC realignment design is complete

o PCT 2 updates will be in the bikeway updates going forward

a. Doubled total milage to 24.8 by adding Fairmount Parkways Phase II and Bay Area Boulevard. Both are in design phases

o Houston Parks Board

a. Buffalo Bayou, Austin to McKee, and Fannin to Austin has not started construction yet because HPB is working with COH on a temporary reroute due to slope failures and contamination along the originally planned route.

o METRO

a. Quitman has moved to 100% designed

b. Mainer has moved from 60% designed to 90%.

o Management Districts

a. Westchase – Walnut Bend is expected to be completed by October 2022

o TIRZ

a. No significant updates given

• No Parking in the Bike Lane (as of 7/22/2022)

o 135 citations issued

o $9,045 in fees collected

o 14 completed Bicycle Friendly Driver training in lieu of fee

• Maintenance Update

o City Council approved in this yea budget for a sweeper that can be used on the bike lanes

o Expectation to receive the sweeper is end of the year

o Once the sweeper arrives, we will have to do a few test runs to see how fast it goes and then we can build out a cleaning schedule.

o We have been asked to host a naming competition when the machine arrives. The naming event is TBA

7) Strategic Bikeways Investment Presentation by David Fields

• Issue: Bikeway funds currently use 100% for Prioritized Projects, which tend to be major investments. This leaves no opportunity to fund strategic opportunities.

• Proposal: 10% of every year’s Bikeway funds be held separate from priority projects.

• Funds to be used for:

o Spot safety improvements

o Low-cost improvements to bring a facility up to Bike Plan standard (LC to HC)

o Not required to be highest priority per the prioritization exercise

o Larger projects funds should be used as a match for other contributions and not to fund the whole project.

• As strategic opportunities are identified, the project concept will be presented to the BAC for guidance and confirmation. If BAC supports, that will be staff’s direction to implement. Once that year’s funds are spent, additional proposals will be held until the following fiscal year.

• A vote call called to adopt policy:

o Motion: Compson. Second: Wiggins. Vote: Unanimous.

8) Open Forum

• Jessica Wiggin shared with the BAC topics of discussion during the Education Subcommittee in May and the opportunities there are for educating the public on bike safety and education.

9) Announcements

• Sampling the City Gulfton Bike event, July 30

o Gulfton Super Neighborhood Council, Air Alliance Houston, and other partners we would like to invite the cycling community to Sampling the City Gulfton Bike event

o Sat July 30, 8:00am-10:00am

o Burnett Bayland Park, 6000 Chimney Rock Road, Houston, 77081 o More info and registration at tinyurl.com/STCgulfton

• Next BAC meetings:

o Infrastructure Subcommittee: August 24, 2:30-4:30pm; John B. Raia Conference Room/Microsoft Teams

o Education Subcommittee: September 28, 2:30-4:30pm; John B. Raia Conference Room/Microsoft Teams

o Bicycle Advisory Committee: October 27, 2:30-4:30pm:

Council Chambers/Microsoft Teams

Meeting Adjourned at 3:26pm.

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