Resident urges council to prioritize safer bike routes; staff and council point to ongoing initiatives

A Moscow resident told the City Council on Aug. 4 that city streets and sidewalks are not well marked for bicyclists and urged the council to improve safe bike routes and create a citizen group to advise on non-motorized transportation.

The speaker described seeing families riding on sidewalks and said route signage and separated facilities would make cycling safer. "There are lots of bicycles out there who would love to, have a safer place to ride and just how to get around Moscow," the speaker said during public comment.

Council and staff response

Council and staff thanked the resident and noted past and ongoing efforts. A council member noted that the Transportation Commission previously produced a safe-route map and that the city has been striping bike lanes where road widths allow. Staff described the Paradise Path pedestrian/bicycle route as an existing but incomplete separated pathway and said planners incorporate non-motorized connectivity as streets are redesigned and new development occurs.

What was said about next steps

Staff recommended taking the idea to the Transportation Commission so it can be prioritized. Council members said the Transportation Commission is the appropriate starting point and that greater role for volunteers or citizen input could be brought back for consideration at a future meeting.

Speakers relevant to this article

- Resident (public commenter) identified as living at 403 East A (first-name not provided) who urged safer bike routes and formation of a citizen advisory group. - A council member and public works staff responded: Tyler Palmer and other staff said the Transportation Commission and Streets division are already working on bike-lane striping and multimodal projects.

Provenance

- topicintro: {"block_id":"seg_211.305","local_start":0,"local_end":420,"evidence_excerpt":"Evening. I'm I'm from the park. I was at 403 East A. And the last time I was here, I, talked to the council about the various, vehicles that are now on the streets and sidewalks of Moscow. And that's still an issue, but I have a slightly different tact this evening.","reason_code":"topicintro"} - topfinish: {"block_id":"seg_422.41","local_start":0,"local_end":220,"evidence_excerpt":"But we always have it on our minds. Transportation commission is a good place to start with that and, bring that up to them, which if they don't have an answer right away, it certainly puts it higher up in their minds about keeping an eye on these things and trying to provide for greater access to bike paths and especially separated from motorized vehicle traffic. So we're working on it slowly. But","reason_code":"topicfinish"}