Bicycle and Pedestrians Advisory Committee Thu, May 15, 2025 · Bicycle and Pedestrians Advisory Committee https://santafeminutes.space/meeting/484 == Executive Summary == The Bicycle and Pedestrians Advisory Committee held a productive meeting, addressing several key initiatives and ongoing projects. Significant discussions included the successful Bike Santa Fe swap and the ongoing efforts to educate the public on the 'Idaho Stop Law.' The committee also received updates on the Metropolitan Planning Organization's (MPO) activities, including pedestrian safety improvements and the unfunded Cerrillos Road reconstruction project. A major focus was placed on the Acequia Trail expansion, with a resident highlighting safety concerns regarding its connection to San Felipe Road, leading to a commitment from MPO staff to explore a dedicated sidewalk project. The committee also delved into the development of new street design guidelines and standards for the city. While a proposal for a city-wide bicycle navigation app was discussed, concerns about funding and the prioritization of existing trail maintenance were raised. The meeting concluded with a focus on trail etiquette and safety, emphasizing the need for clear signage and respectful use of shared paths. Several action items were assigned to staff and committee members to follow up on funding, project updates, and educational initiatives. == Key Decisions == - Agenda for the meeting was approved as amended. - Minutes from the April 10th, 2025 meeting were approved as amended. - Helen Wang and Mark McConnell were appointed to the Policy Planning and Law Subcommittee. - A decision was made to remove a right-turn lane at Alameda and Old Santa Fe Trail to preserve an iconic tree. - MPO staff committed to updating the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) to include a new project for a wider sidewalk connection from the Acequia Trailhead to Airport Road. == Motions & Votes == - Motion to approve the agenda as amended — Passed (6-0, 1 absent) - Motion to approve the April 10th, 2025 minutes as amended (to include YouTube link) — Passed (5-0, 1 abstention, 1 excused) == Public Comment == Public comments included a resident, Deb, whose specific comments were not detailed in the summary. Sasha McGee, a District 3 resident, passionately advocated for prioritizing a safe pedestrian and cyclist connection from the Acequia Trail to Airport Road via San Felipe Road, highlighting current dangers. A member of the public expressed a desire to maintain the '1950 original life' of the city and praised the new traffic engineer. Ben Pingley noted that about 25% of people he spoke to at the Bike Swap were against the Idaho Stop, emphasizing the need for data-driven education. Ms. Dominguez, mentioned by a committee member, expressed concern about audible signals on bike trails and suggested signs to remind cyclists. == Topics == - Bike/Pedestrian Infrastructure Maintenance - Trail Safety & Etiquette - Henry Lynch Road & Roundabout - MPO Transportation Planning - Idaho Stop Law - Traffic Signal Optimization - Bike Santa Fe Activities - Pedestrian Safety Improvements - Road Diet Concept - Interactive Trail Map App == Full Transcript == Chair, how are you this evening? Good. Are we broadcasting live? We are. Yes. Okay, perfect. Can we go ahead and call tonight's meeting to order? Certainly, Chair. Get a roll call, please. Erica Bo is going to be late. Angela Bordigarry, excused. Judith Gabriel, here. Tony Gericks, here. Mark McConnell. Steve Piltchure is excused. Ben Pingaley, here. Gary Schiff Miller, here. Helen Wang is excused. Chair Garcia, present. You have a quorum. Perfect. Next up is the approval of the agenda. Do we have any changes from staff? We do, Chair. Okay. We have an amendment to the agenda. We would like to look at 7B. We are adding Judith Gabriel to it. She was originally not on there. We are adding her to the agenda. And then on 7F, we are, let's see, give me a second, Chair. We need to add Angela Bordigari, District 2. We need to know if they wish to serve for another term. It will be the third and final term for both Ben and Erica Bo, only second term for Angela Bordigari. And then removal of 6A, or Santa Fe Route to School. Ryan Harris cannot attend tonight. Any other changes? Nothing else. Chair, any changes from committee members? Hearing none. What's the will of the committee? Move to approve. As amended. As amended. Okay, we got a motion to approve as amended. Second. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none. Hearing none. Lucrecia, can we get a roll call vote on? Certainly. Chair, Judith Gabriel. Yes. Tony Gericks. Mark McConnell. Yes. Steve Piltchure is excused. Sorry. Ben Pingilly. Yes. Gary Schiff Miller. Yes. Chair Garcia. Yes. Motion passes. Great. Next up is the approval of the minutes. We're reviewing April 10th, 2025 minutes. Any changes from staff? Yes, Chair. Just an amendment to include the YouTube link on the top of the minutes. Okay. Any changes from committee members? Hearing none. What's the will of the committee? I move to approve the minutes. As amended. As amended. Is there a second? Second. Second. Okay, we've got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Lucrecia, can we get a roll call vote, please? Certainly. Chair, Judith Gabriel. Yes. Tony Gericks. I'll abstain since I wasn't here. Mark McConnell. Yes, but just for clarification, it's McConnell. McConnell. Sorry. It's all good. Apologies. All good. Steve is excused. Ben Pingilly. Yes. Gary Schiffmiller. Yes. Chair Garcia. Yes. Motion passes. Okay. Next up is communications from the public. Do we have any members of the public to speak tonight? Right. So, we do typical, like, governing body two minutes, but we don't have a timer. So, we'll just, yeah. So, you're good to go. [Laughter] Thank you. And just for the record, so we have it for the minutes, can you please introduce yourself? Okay, thank you, Deb. Appreciate the comments. Any other members from the public that would like to speak to the body tonight? Is there anybody on board or online? Do you see anybody online? I do not, Chair. Okay, with that, let's go and close this portion of the agenda and we'll move on to communications from other agencies. We omitted 6A, so we're going to go ahead and move on to 6B, Bike Santa Fe. Arya, floor is yours. Oh, Chairman and members of the committee. Don't have a whole lot from Bike Santa Fe. We had a very successful bike swap, which I believe is also on the agenda, but we just had a few cool numbers to share. We had about 70 sellers. 59 items were sold through consignment in three and a half hours, including 31 bikes. That's like a bike sold every seven minutes on average. And 14 bikes were donated to Free Kids for Bikes. The only other thing we have is we're wondering about the funds from the maintenance resolution that was passed last year, and we're just wondering about how they're being used and are there specific items or projects in the budget for bicycle maintenance. Just wanted to follow up on that resolution. And that's about it. I also have some flyers that we've started to try to give out about the Idaho stop law. So, if anyone would like one, and we're trying to distribute them at different events. Sorry about that. All right. I can reference the funds. So, a request that we have an update provided for next meeting. So, for some context, the governing body was given an update by the Public Works and Utilities Department, primarily that department, around what is going on for beautification Santa Fe. It was a big dog and pony show, for lack of better words, of what's going on. Included in that update was, I believe it was $150,000. I can look it up in the meeting, but it said that there was $150,000 spent on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure maintenance. And during that meeting, I asked, I want an update. How was this money spent? And I still haven't received an update. So, that reminds me, I can bring them again. And maybe we can have an update provided to this committee. That way that it allows for the committee members to have an opinion, ask questions, recommendations, et cetera. The governing body did pass our operating budget last night. I did not, the way the budget is created, it's very hard to see details in regards to specific action items. There will be action items called out that are highlighted, but it doesn't go into details for, I can quickly thumb through and say we're allocating $10,000 for this or $20,000 for that. And so I think that's where an update from staff would be helpful for this committee. Not only what was spent in the past year, but what is proposed for the next. Thank you for the recommendation. And Lucrecia, let's you and I work offline, you and Romela, to figure out if we can get that on our June agenda. Certainly, Chair. Sure. Member Gericks. Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Arya. I can't support that idea strongly enough. I get a number of questions as a member of BPAC and a member of Bike Santa Fe, what happened to that resolution? And throw up my hands and say, "Oh, no. You know, the weeds are still growing." We heard from the audience that we need signs on trails. That would certainly be maintenance and infrastructure from that resolution. But I think your idea, Chair, of regular update, we got $10,000 for this period of time and here's where it went. X this period of time and here's where it went, would be super important, super interesting, super valuable for the. Thank you. Sure. Any other comments, questions for Arya? Member Schiff Miller? I'd just like to say, I did see this Idaho stop brochure at one of the public events recently, and I'd just like to commend Bike Santa Fe. It's a really great brochure. It's very clear, concise, to the point. Mostly our communications chair, Sarah Conlin. Tony also contributed. And yeah, so thank you. Other comments, questions? Hey, thank you, Arya. Appreciate it. Next up, we have an update from Santa Fe MPO. We got Santa Fe, oh, Eric, there you are. Mr. Chair, members of the committee, it's good to see you. Believe I know everyone except for Mark. Mark, how are you? Eric, I've been with the MPO for about a decade. Mark, if I may. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yours. Committee member McConnell, are you familiar with the brief backup? So, the MPO is a result of a joint powers agreement, city, the county, the state, DOT, PBLO of Tsuzuki. We are federally funded. The joint powers agreement has a sort of list of prescriptive requirements, what we do in essence, transportation planning for these, and it can cover the gamut. Typically, there's three staff members. We're down one. Leah Ingvy is currently doing a presentation, the group in town. Anyway, Lee is doing a great presentation for that one group that does really cool work downtown. Okay. So, that's in a nutshell. You're welcome to visit with us and we can give you a more in-depth detailed briefing. I would encourage you just, or everyone, just to look at the Santa Fe MPO website. Just Google Santa Fe MPO. Most, if not all, of what we do, we try to populate on there for transparency. The MPO policy board members will be meeting next Thursday at 5 o'clock. Our offices are at the Monica Global Center, right down Aguia at 737 Aguia. It's going to be a unique meeting if you're interested in joining us. The now reappointed Transit Advisory Board reached out to us and said, "Let's have a co-meeting." So, the Transit Advisory Board and there are several members will be joining the policy board. Who's the policy board? Members of the City Council, members of the DOP, members of the elected. So, the purpose of the meeting, what I understand, is the intent is to really understand where the Transit Advisory Committee is desirously going in the near future and the far. How the MPO support the good work that you're welcome to join us. We're going to have, I want to talk a little bit about Yano and St. Mike. So, two years ago, my daughter started going to Maago meetings, and then as a result of not wanting my children to cross, I joined one of the many that will confess to hundreds of parents. I don't feel good about it, but I do it. And what I witnessed with children crossing St. Mike at any particular was pretty, the cool news, the good news for you, is the traffic engineer, Mike Gin, at the time, took a look. They went to the site, said, "Look, this is pretty." And they not only did they witness what was occurring in terms of turns and putting risk, they also witnessed a collision, wild food. The cool news was that there was some funds available. Mike Damelan took the lead in initiative using the on-call events. You get a design in hand and the project finished. If you get through that intersection, I would encourage you to go visit it. But the before and after is not saying that St. Mike's could, you know, use a less of a lanes. The cool part about the construction of that project was watching the lane reduction for about six to seven months. The lane reduction from St. Mike's and I'm sorry, from Srios and then in coming that other was remarkable during peak hours because traffic flowed well, flowed slower, but it worked. It was sort of an empirical, obvious sort of observation that a road diet won't be the end of traffic flow. It can be something fluid. So, I hope that that's a lesson learned. I'm working with the schools and safe school, maybe next week have a little celebration for those pedestrian improvements. And if you go through that intersection or visit it, it's not just about the paint and the really cool refuge, but it's also the retiming of that signalization. The retiming and the infrastructure is a really nice, really nice improvement on the, on another good news, sort of long-term for those of you, and I may have mentioned this, committee member McConnell. The MPO commissioned a study about years ago, studied the downtown signals and asked the question using engineering protocols, are they warranted today? And the, the, I'll give you an example. The, the one, the signal that is, former, was the first signal in the city of Santa Fe installed in, I often use that as a reference as the pinnacle, sort of genesis moment of traffic engineering combined with zoning standards, parking minimum, 1950 was the starting point of the old town versus suburban new. The intersection of Sandival and Monizuma, the light went dark about what, two months ago, and it's being replaced with a stop sign. It wouldn't have been done without that study in hand. The study allows for our traffic engineers and our technocrats to test certain safety that we didn't just be sent to Harbor Fre. I was very proud to see that happen. I think it was member of O who called me or somebody and said, "Hey, have you been to the inter?" What was remarkable about knowing before where signalization would allow the low traffic sandable move at relatively high speeds and then boom, you get to red. Now everyone must use their prefrontal cortex to move out of standard operating driving mode, to think and then behave differently. It's a tremendous safety. My goal in my lifetime is to see the 1950 original life continue on this. And the good news, the new traffic engineer for the city, Jennifer, is in agreement that we just need to figure it out. So that's another good news. The MPO is updating our Metropolitan Transportation Plan. Mr. McConnell, this is a governing document the county and the city uses for projects and a lot of other good work. We have focused on Cerrillos Road this year. Every five years we update. We're closing this project up in the next six weeks. We'll have an entire chapter on an assessment of the history and what's going on with Cerrillos Road, and with some great public engagement, people's feelings about what it is and what it is. On the more technical side, we're going to be updating all the nuances of the MTP, including demographics. Well, there's just a lot to it. We're having a lot of fun actually updating this. We would invite you to review it soon. On a similar note, unfortunately, traffic engineer Wolfenberg left for DOT a couple of weeks ago. She had been with us for about two and a half years. I can't say enough about the good work we did together, her leadership. Tremendous changes in how we think about. A great loss for the city. Hopefully, now we have somebody, another person, on the inside of the DOT so we can get the skinny. It's awesome. The first skinny I heard was, unfortunately, for example, the Cerrillos Road reconstruction project was not funded by the legislature this year. Nobody knows why. It was scheduled to be funded this summer, when construction was, the goal was to begin by August. No funds available. That entire $30 million project, for those of you who know it, it's from St. Mike's to St. Francis, a complete restructuring of that roadway. We've been working with the design team for almost four years with hopes that we can get something better. I'll keep you updated if we hear why it didn't get funded and then maybe what's the next step. So, number four, we're working with the city on creating a whole set of street design guidelines and standards. We're working with a consulting team called Houston. We had another meeting today. There are about seven chapters that we hope to bring before you for your review soon. Thankfully, the city decided to fund this project. This is part and parcel of this land use code update. I want to be clear to you, under city and our leadership, it's our intent to not wait for the city's land use code to update what has been in need for decades, which is its city's own streets. Super exciting. Of course, thanks to many of you and Leah taking a leadership role this year, it's not Bike Month, nor is it Bike to Work Week, nor was it Bike to Work. It's Summer of Bike Santa Fe, and a lot of kudos to the team and Leah for kicking that off. I have a quick short story about trees, two trees downtown. For many of you who may know the tree that is at Alameda and Old Santa Fe Trail, it's on the Santa Fe MPO staff, City Public Works staff, and other staff to deal with the fact that the old tree that is iconic, it's leaning down and people sit on it. I remember coming here decades ago, sitting on that. It wasn't that long. Whatever. This is awesome. I have to tell you how much joy it brought. So, we get in the room with the technical looking at the tree. We have the arborist, the professional, saying, "Well, we probably should just remove it." And so there's, if you think about where this is, the sidewalk, which is the river trail, is very narrow, very constrained. So there's a right turn lane from Alameda onto, what's my idea, which it was, let's get rid of the right, the engineer's idea that would work. So then we looked at it from different perspectives in terms of volume, and it was agreed on by all those people to get rid of the turn lane safety. Is that not a cool white head story? I just, of all the things that we lose and fail at, I am celebrating the tree. So I love to share that story, and there was another one too that we see. There's a lot more since we haven't met, I could keep you updated on, but I wanted to know you got a busy, thanks for all you do, and it's a pleasure to meet you. I stand for questions. Thank you, Eric, for the update and sharing the story about the tree. That is pretty awesome. Questions from members? Member McConnell, is the document you referenced available now to review or to look at? That's the overall, or you're still working on a document? Oh, the street design guideline. Well, there was that, but there was another one. I think it's like a, oh, the Metropolitan Transportation. Yes. No, no, no. We're getting very close. So it's really, give us another few weeks, probably at the next meeting, either I or Leah will give more formal, but the exciting news is we're getting this, this project we started using things with transportation. One example, we're with the new Metropolitan Transportation, we're reverse engineering most of the criteria and assumptions that we've been using. I'll give you a very specific example. We're working with our travel demand model. So every MPO pretty much across the nation is prescriptively required to forecast, for good reason, what will be the demographics the next years, and then how do we design our streets and roads and accommodate our network. The forecasts are designed for driving, period. So we're blowing that up. See if I get in trouble. So we're going to be asking the question and redesigning, recalibrating our model for bicycles, pedestrian, transit. And then we're going to ask the question instead of assuming X percentage of growth in vehicles over the next years, we want a target of reduction. How do we do that? So that may sound sort of rather simple, but this is cutting edge across the nation. No one's doing this. If I survive, it'll be another, that's just one example of fun work. Member Gerwitz and then Member Sheriff Miller. Thanks, Eric. I'm wondering in that document, is there an update on what's happening at with St. Mike's? If you're happy to, please. St. Mike's in terms of like the overall picture. Yes. So St. Mike's didn't make it to the cut or ICI, not for lack of trust. However, there is good news. I think, for everyone's sake, the goal has been for the city for 16 years in resolutions, all kinds of things you might find, and other leadership, knowing the condition and the speed and the crash, you know, volume bikes, and knowing that Midtown campuses be a multi-million, it's to, it's to shrink, have it more of a street and. So that's been an endeavor we've been championing. It's been detailed in our Metropolitan. Here's, there are other precedents and priorities the city. What my point is, is the good news is we're working with Mr. and a Safe Streets for All application for the underpass, which is at the rail. There's still a lot of money to be had there, needed. So, we're thinking strategically with a consultant on how to actually have a more successful application that's going to include, excuse me, other safety improvement projects on. It's not the whole problem, but it's similar to what we saw on Yucca, and the goal is then to then have completed underpass or the designs, and then leverage those projects for then bigger projects. My belief is that it's too big for the city to chop off, which is what we would be trying to do for years, is let's do this incrementally and get something done instead of another 15 years old. Other questions? Membership, could you tell me again when that Transit Advisory Committee meeting is? Yes. Thursday, May 22nd, at 5:00 p.m., and we're having snacks at 5:30. I was going to bring the beer, but they said, you know, you probably. Any other? Thank you, Eric. Appreciate the updates. That being said, let's move on to the next item, which is appointments or item 7A, appointments of BPAC members Helen Wang and Mark McConnell to Policy Planning and Law Subcommittee. So hopefully, Member McConnell, this has been brought to your attention, and the Policy Chair, Policy Subcommittee Chair, will reach out to you for meeting and coordination, et cetera. Okay. Well, good luck. Good luck on the committee. Next, move to item 7B, report on Bike Swap, April 27th, raffle draw for seven third prizes. Member Ben Pingley, John Pile, and Member Gabriel as well, correct? You got added to this. Yes, but I wasn't there. So, Ben, would you like to just talk about it and then maybe we can do the drawing? Just tell us what the BPAC table was like or whatever you would like to say. Sure. I would say that, first, I was the one that got there, and I would say that we need to show up probably an hour before next time. Because I showed up probably 15 minutes before, and I got a table that was kind of on the outskirts. So we didn't get a lot of traffic. I would say that I probably talked to 10 to 15 people the whole time. And the raffle was actually really good because it was like, sign up for this. And while they're writing their information on it, then I was able to talk to them about the Idaho Stop. And, yeah, probably, I don't know how many raffles we ended up getting, but I would say probably 20. Yes. And we're going to draw them. So, thank you, Ben, and Steve, and John Pile for staffing the table that day. So, we would like to do the drawing this evening. We have second and third place shirts from the Racing Apparel Store, and we will do those first. And we also have a $50 gift certificate to the Racing Apparel Store. This is all in the Design Center. And, Tony, you want to pick the first one? This will be for one of the shirts. Whoopsie. Not cheating, really. This will be for one of the shirts. It is Justin. Oh, I know him. Okay, Ben, you want to pick the next one? Jeez, a leaky B. How about you, Gary? MGN, as in Guilen. Okay. Yellow. Hard to read. Zach with my Santa. Excellent. I also say that whenever I was talking about the Idaho Stop, I'd say about 25% of them were like, that is a bad idea. Yeah. So explaining it to them, it didn't help that much. They had already made up their mind that it was just a blow through stop signs and stuff. I thought that at one time, and I've changed my mind. Yeah. And I was one of the people who lobbied to state senators. We were able to change a lot of minds just by citing the data. On that point, Ben and Chair, you had mentioned that there would be a video done by the city. I don't, I know we reached out to our comms team and put in the formal request to that. Bike Santa Fe. Okay. Ask them to be a formal ask to them that after our March, April meeting. So, I will be in touch with the winners, and thanks again for staffing the table, and I do think there are opportunities here to continue to promote and educate about the Idaho Stop, and I think this flyer that Bike Santa Fe made is excellent. Do you have a lot of copies of these? And I'm wondering, oh, sorry, Eric, if Bike Santa Fe needs any support for printing additional ones, if the city might be able to help with that. The answer, let me, let me think. It's a good idea. Let me confirm if we can do that. Yeah, that would be great. Thanks. And it may be for a combination. We've already, since we. Thank you, Eric. I appreciate that. Any other comments about the Bike Swap? No. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and everybody that helped keep the table occupied and educate folks, and look forward to next year's bike. Let's move on to item 7C, a request to extend the ACIA trail extension project to San Felipe to Airport Road. Sasha McGee, District 3 resident. We have Miss McGee here. Is she online possibly? Miss McGee, or can we Mike in the back? Kit, can we admit Miss McGee as an analyst? Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Perfect. Hi, thanks for having me. Sasha McGee, resident of District 3. I'm here to chat a bit about the Acequia Trail expansion. On April 2nd, I attended the public information meeting at the Southside Library, and we walked through the proposed design, which is to extend southwest down to San Felipe Road. The current design ends the trail at a parking lot that will be created as part of the extension. Currently, in that design, there's no safe way for cyclists or pedestrians to access that stretch of trail. San Felipe Road doesn't have a sidewalk or bike lane, and it also has fairly poor visibility. It kind of comes up to Airport Road via a bit of a hill. So, right now, the proposed plan expects that cyclists and pedestrians will drive their cars to the parking lot in order to access that section of the trail. There is a trail in the future plan, I believe that the MPO has, to connect it down to Airport Road, but it hasn't been prioritized. I spoke with Romela, and she let me know that it's called, I think, San Felipe Road Reconstruction, to reconstruct the roadway from Airport Road to Agua Fria Street and add bike lanes, curb, and gutter sidewalk. It is currently ranked number 29 out of 71. So, I really just wanted to connect with you all and recommend that we prioritize that section of the trail higher to make that connection between the Acequia Trail and that small section to Airport, so that individuals won't have to drive their vehicles to the trail in order to access it. It will also decrease the danger for bicyclists and pedestrians that are trying to access that section of the trail. If you don't mind, I can also share my screen if anyone's not aware of what I'm talking about. Yes, please do. Let me know when you can see my screen. We have the screen. Perfect. So, if you notice here, I am currently looking at a view of Airport Road. On this side is Country Club Road. Notice this says San Felipe. San Felipe across Airport becomes Country Club. There's actually a 10-foot trail here on Country Club where we're talking about, and where I'm talking about is right here across Airport to San Felipe. So, if I continue forward, notice that there is a sidewalk, but it stops right here. So, if I continue forward on San Felipe, we just have, I'm assuming those are Siberian elm here growing to the side. And if I continue down, this is where the proposed parking lot is expected, and then continuing forward is where that trail continues. What I'm proposing is that we either extend, essentially, the proposal in the MPO plan is to create a bike path here, and then I believe, in chatting with those designers, sorry if I don't want to confuse you, but I'm going back up to Airport Road. I believe there's an expectation that there will be a trail that cuts through here for bicyclists and pedestrians to connect to the Acequia Trail. Does that make sense? Yes. Thank you, Aisha. Yeah. Great. Yeah. I just think it's a huge miss not to prioritize this section because again, it's a blind corner here, and it's also fairly hilly. So, currently, anyone that is walking or on a bicycle that would like to access this section of the trail is in danger of being in oncoming traffic and/or will need to drive a vehicle in order to access this section. Any questions? Any comments or questions from committee members? Yes, I have a question for Lucretia. She mentioned that this is 29 of 71 projects. How can we as a committee add some urgency to elevate this? Chair, Romela recommended that BPAC needs to vote and prioritize it in the BPAC strategic plan. So, we do need to do a vote should the committee want. Correct. Yeah. Thank you for that. Any other comments, members? Mr. Johnny, I see you stepping up to the plate. Mr. Chair, members of the committee, you can hear me. I was at the April 2nd meeting. I heard the testimony. This is what our recommendation is. I talked to Romela. This is one project that I disagree with when we're at my kid, but the reconstruction of that entire roadway would be in the realm of $11 million, give or take. Probably not that much, but given the timing with inflation, it would be a good choice. My suggestion to Romela is to do a sidewalk project, a little extra wide, that connects the trailhead to which you saw road to shorten that project down to just the sidewalk connection. We will update our MTP this summer to include a new project that will be very specific. What I'm going to recommend to the city is that because, for good reason, the safety trail is being designed, and it does add some legitimate urgency and need to do this connection. That urgency and need is, let's not federalize a new project. The one I believe Romela would agree with is to look at just doing that portion of the sidewalk. My hope is the right-of-way is forgiving enough that no right-of-way takes. My cost estimate for design would be about $60,000 to $80,000 with an $800,000 to $1 million project. By looking at it through that lens, that's doable much quicker than trying to do the whole road. I would say if we did the whole road reconstruction, we're about 10. So, that's what we're going to recommend, whether the city agrees. I'm sure that is our strategy, and I appreciate the leadership here. We will be adding that to our MTP, and whether you put it in your strategic plan, that will help you. What I promise to do is to have a conversation with Romela tomorrow so that we're on the same page. I also have a strategy for funding that. So, thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the additional comments. Any other comments, questions, feedback for Sasha, given what Mr. Anie just mentioned? I didn't know if that was if you had any feedback on his recommendation. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hear it all as he stepped back and forth. The mic didn't fully pick up the whole thing, but it sounds, Mr. Anie, like you're recommending extending that sidewalk instead of taking on the full road redesign and adding that as an amendment to your plan. Is that correct? Is that what I heard? Yes. Okay. I mean, again, I think that that definitely decreases the danger to bicyclists and pedestrians trying to access that trail. And if we can extend it all the way to that parking lot, I think that that meets the need. Anybody else on the committee? Nothing. How would the committee like to move forward? Member Gabriel, I do have a question. It sounds like Eric and Romela should have a conversation about this. Is this something that we should consider after that conversation has been had and then get a report back and then possibly make a decision? That could be a question with that. We hear mentioned that BPAC could vote to accelerate something. It makes me lost. I don't know the lists, but the timeline is totally ignorant. Right. So, I think the idea of Eric. Okay. Thank you. Member Gerwitz. Yeah. We just McConnell, knowing the hierarchy of the list and the priorities, it's really difficult to evaluate whether we should elevate something else because maybe the other 28. Thank you, Fred McConnell. So, I'm getting the temperature. The committee wants to wait for an update on the next meeting. No action. Okay. So, with that being said, thank you, Sasha, for bringing this to the committee's attention. Thank you, Mr. Anie, for your feedback. And we'll look forward to an update during the next meeting. Awesome. Thanks so much. Have a good one. Next up on the agenda is item 7D, a discussion of the possibility of restriping bike lanes that are adjacent to and on the driver's side of parking lanes, creating a parking-protected bike lane. Member Schiff Miller, this is your item. Yes. My thinking on this has evolved. I was going to just remove it from the agenda because I've changed my mind, but I thought it might be useful just to have a brief discussion about how my thinking has evolved and see if anybody has any comments. So, what I was thinking is there are several places in town where there's parked cars and, as it says, a bike lane adjacent to it on the driver's side, and that creates a hazard in that if a driver opens a door, the bicyclist in the bike lane can hit the door or swerve out of the way of the door into traffic that is approaching from behind. And I was thinking if we move the parked cars to where the bike lane is and move the bike lane to the passenger side of the cars, you then have a parking-protected bike lane. And some cities do this. And I was talking with Division Director Morrow, the Complete Streets Division Director, just this week, and she pointed out to me that a lot of data suggests that this is actually less safe because in this scenario, the parked cars block the view of the traffic, so that the cars in the street can't see the bicyclist if they're turning into a side street or a driveway. It's very, very similar to the situation that arises when a bicyclist is riding on the sidewalk, which is statistically the second most common reason that cars hit bicyclists because they're on the sidewalk. So, I've changed my mind, and I just was wondering if anybody had any comments or thoughts. Thank you, Member Schiff Miller. Any comments, questions from the committee? Member Gabriel. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We watched a video a while back, I think, and I forget where it was. Was it Canada? Some place in Canada. Does anybody remember? And this was partially featured, I think, in that video. And I think the conversation that was had is that it could be a useful mechanism when you don't have a lot of turnoffs. So, like St. Mike's or Cerrillos would be a very bad idea. But if there's a straightaway that it could possibly work, and I don't know how many situations we have in Santa Fe that would be aligned with that, or if it was even possible, but I know we talked about it, and I cannot remember what we decided or if we just decided not to address the potential situation at this time. Do you remember, Tony? I do. Schiff Miller, that the tone of and the resolution of that video was supporting your idea of not that reason. I don't know where it was. I think it was US. And I think that BPAC, if you went back into the minutes, decided not to pursue it. Remember, I do remember we were reviewing a plan, and they did have parking-protected bike lanes, and we actually told them to change it. I forget whose idea it was, but yes, we went against it previously. So, comments, Miller, anything else on this item? Not really. I guess my motivation was that I would really like to see at some point in Santa Fe protected bike lanes, and I thought this might be an easy way to do it, but I it's not the best way to go about it, but I would still like to pursue at some point protected bike lanes where they're appropriate. I think the solution is obvious, and it's to replace the parking with a bike lane, but I'm not sure what level of support that would get. Any other comments? Thank you. No support from businesses that are adjacent, but certainly from the side. Thank you, Member Schiff Miller, for bringing this item forward. With that, let's go ahead and move on to the next item, which is 7E, a discussion on creating a bike app similar to B in the Netherlands, showing pathways such as trails that are connected to a node such as a bus stop or a place like a grocery store. Member McC. Thank you. I'll preface this discussion with, there are real problems in the world, and this isn't one of them. It's just an idea. When I was traveling in the Netherlands, it's called Fietsnetwerk. I don't know if I pronounce it right either, but basically all of their interconnected trail system has a numbered node. And so if you pull up the app, you can touch whatever the closest node is and then look up where you want to go and touch another one, and it will do the routing for you between the nodes and keep you on the safest bike pathway possible. Obviously, there's not connectivity to everything. And part of, I would have done a more robust presentation, but the first thing I think I need to find out is where would budget for something like this come from. In addition, what I would say is the advantages to this kind of system over a paper map or something is for residents and for visitors, is once it gets out that, through bike stores and other places, you can just download the app and utilize it. There's no charge for it. At least there, I looked on their app, the only thing they charge for is if you have a lot of routes and you want to save more than three. So I don't know if the app could actually generate any revenue as a source. There's a lot of research that would have to be done. But basically, I think the other part of the safety component is that as people got used to it, you would utilize, I can see all the blue, the bike lanes, all the green, the trails. Trying to promote putting people on the safest bike pathway possible is better for the motorist as well because you're keeping them off of all the other motored streets that maybe are inappropriate because there is no bike lane and it isn't even striped with the symbol that says you can take the lane. I don't think you need the symbol to take the lane, you can do it anyway. But this is my idea. My thought was maybe it should be larger than just the city of Santa Fe. Maybe it's the whole county. I'm not sure how far connected trails. I know I've ridden out Las Campanas and stuff and you see the gravel trails out there. Anyway, this is a concept and I haven't done enough research to know what the development cost is and anything that's an application would also require maintenance. So, there would be some kind of budget expended annually, monthly, just to maintain it. I mean, the thing has to sit somewhere on a server. It's going to take updating as new infrastructure is developed like the trails we've been talking about earlier this evening. So, I guess my real question to the committee is, is there interest in, beyond interest, is there will, interest, and is there a financial pathway to develop something? We want to cut you off before I go to committee members. Good. Okay. Thank you, Member McConnell. Any questions, comments from Member Gerletz? Thanks, Mark. Do you know if this is being used in any US cities currently we could learn from? I will have to do some research on whether or not there are similar apps. I mean, there are an awful lot of GPS apps. There's Ride with GPS, there's Komoot, there's a lot of these, but what I was thinking about was it's more generic and not specific to one particular app. It's, and it might help with tourism. So, I don't know. To answer your question, frankly, don't know at this point. I need to do more research. But I would say in Los Alamos County, they do have an app for all the trails. And it's quite a nice app. I can share it with the group so that you could check it out. But my thought was it would be, maybe it could be robust. It could be hiking and biking all in one application and the one that's in the Netherlands does have that kind of connectivity. Thank you very much. Hi, I'm Eric. And so I'm not sure about budget, but I think that's, it seems to me that it's kind of a stretch. And I just wanted to tell folks the no-cost thing that I do. I've got a little phone holder on my bike, and I open Google Maps when I'm going to be going somewhere and I ask it for the route and then I ride the way I would ride and I correct it at the end. It is a, "How was your ride? It was safe," or whatever, and you can put comments in. And so it's a small incremental step towards improving the system that Google maintains and serves. But I tend to think it does something. I've seen marked improvements. I think there are a number of Googlers who bicycle. And so it's kind of a crowdsourcing idea to the big machine. So that might, there's also, Santa Fe County also has an interactive trail map you might want to look at. And I just, I remembered it was there, so I looked it up, but I don't remember what it is. But that's just, that's my thought. But in terms of the budget, I don't really know if there is a budget or interest on the city's. Thanks, Member Gabriel. I think it's an intriguing idea and would be really cool. Since it seems like our budget is limited for bike and pedestrian infrastructure, I would say a more important priority would be to maintain the trails and put money towards our maintenance resolution. And I like the idea and I think it may be worth exploring at some point and we always have competing budget priorities and the state of the trails really needs attention in my opinion. Thanks for the presentation. You're welcome. Member Pingley. So I actually develop apps for a living and to do something like that would be around $200,000 to $300,000. Yeah, I'll do it for $200. Any other comments, questions from the committee? Well, thank you, Member McConnell, for bringing forward this and as you continue to look into this, feel free to bring this item back to the committee for the discussion. Thank you. Really appreciate that. You're welcome. Let's go to move on to item 7F, EPAC membership renewals. Ben, Eric, and Angela, it seems your membership is up soon. So, I would say just reach out to Romela and let Romela know if you would like to continue to serve. We don't have to have a decision. If not, that way Romela can begin to take the necessary steps recruitment. But a nudge for me, hopefully continue to continue to serve. Let's go to move on to item eight, subcommittee communications. We only have one this meeting, technical review. Member: Thanks very much. The technical review group has met a few times. And one of the items that we've been discussing a lot is the Henry Lynch Road and the roundabout on Agua Fria and Henry Lynch. Evidently a new design contractor has been hired. It's a joint city-county thing because that's right on the border and the city is paying for 71% of the road and the county is paying for 29% or something like that for the road and I believe the county is supporting all of the roundabout construction. And so a new design engineer has been brought in really to try and take the roadway plans which are at 60% complete and the roundabout design which is much less, it's not yet at 30% I believe, and trying to harmonize those. So, there's a meeting, I believe, on the 18th. Is that the public meeting? Yeah. So, it's going to be at the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center, which is if you go on, go down Agua Fria and take a right on Caja del Oro Road. It's right back there across from the fire station. So, the design team was really looking at what kind of, in addition to trying to make sure that it integrated with the connection to the river trail, they're kind of looking at what is appropriate for the roundabout. The traditional community has relatively specific interests in any development there. And my not quite snarky comment was that it, you know, they, if they, if there was something they wanted to be Adobe because they really would prefer it to be reflective of the traditional community. I've been unable to attend. They're holding bi-weeklies. I've been unable to attend and I'm not sure Gary if you had or Ben if you had and if you want to talk any more about this. I've attended the bi-weekly meetings. There was some talk about landscaping or artwork in the center of the roundabout and there is some concerns about the sightlines about drivers being able to see traffic on the other side of the roundabout or pedestrians crossing in the crosswalks. And so they are taking these things into consideration and we'll see what they come up with. I saw in the email, push buttons for bikes. Did that come up as a discussion? They didn't discuss it too much this last meeting. I don't know what they're going to do about that if they're going to implement that or not. I don't think it's been decided. Okay. And Ben, if I, so, doesn't Idaho stop kind of make that moot? Or is it like a hawk type thing where it's like, I'm not really sure. I just saw a push button for bikes and didn't really know what it meant. I think they're talking about a user-actuated signal to alert drivers that someone's trying to cross. So, the Idaho stop wouldn't apply. It's not a signalized intersection. Yeah. So, push button to do what? Yes. I, yeah, I'm not sure what they were. We'll have to, we'll have to respond to that because I, I did see it in the most recent email, but don't know what it refers to. I think it might have something to do with the crosswalks that are before and after the roundabout. Okay. Thanks. Thanks, K. Anything else? I, I've been relatively busy at work and so have there been any other technical review things that you two have been involved in? No. Okay. So, that concludes item AA. Thank you. Thank you, member. Let's go to move on to the next item which is nine matters from staff. Have anything for us tonight? We, I do not, Chair. Okay. How about matters from the committee? We'll just go left to right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to acknowledge Gary for participating in the bike fiesta and bike parade. I was there as well. It was really fun and very festive and we got a little rained on, but it was, it was, I think a great first effort and I think Ryan was very pleased with it. The other thing I just wanted to mention is we had this list of subcommittee appointments and for the promotion, education, and communication subcommittee, Kemp Jackson has not been on the committee for some time, excuse me, and Randy Murker has been on. So that just needs to be corrected. And that is all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Member Gabriel. Anything from Member Gerletz? Member Schiff Miller? I would like to respond to, I don't remember her name, but at the beginning of tonight's meeting, someone was concerned about, oh, Ms. Dominguez, audible signals on bike trails. And I just, you know, want to sympathize with her concerns. And she talked about having signs. And we've, we've talked a little bit about having signs on bike trails. I don't think we discussed the possibility of the signs indicating use audible signals when passing pedestrians. It's not a bad idea. If we ever do get around to putting signs on bike trails, I would support something like that. It is a New Mexican statute. Yes, it is. It is. You have to have audible signal. You also have to have lights and a lot of people don't know that. I think we have discussed in the past the possibility of signs that might suggest a speed limit. And I don't know what the legal ramifications of that may be. I don't know if we have the legal right to, to enforce a speed limit or even suggest a speed limit, but I think that's something that we might want to look into. I also think any signs on the trails, there should be signs at every access point that say no motorized vehicles allowed because I have seen motorized vehicles on several of the trails. Oh, and one other thing I want to point out is we had talked in the past about bollards on that one little part of the Acequia Trail between La Cieneguilla and Harrison Road. The bollards are up. There's a bollard on either end now. So, I'm going to remember Gerlett and member Gibble. Yeah, thank you, Gary, for reminding me that we had a presentation outside. MLA had put together a panoply of different designs, and again, the question is, where does that go? I mean, we had a complaint prior to this one about somebody getting hit by a speeding bicyclist on the River Trail. We thought about, is it more beneficial to stripe the thing? And we all came to the conclusion that a good sign is an inexpensive way of getting that message out. And now we hear this thing burning as well. And now we hear, sure, there's one sign that says this is New Mexico law, sound, lights. This is a pedestrian path as well. Decide what signs. Gabriel: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Gary. I felt like I wanted to respond as well, and I kind of forgot, but I've mentioned this before, my husband is hard of hearing. He does not hear bells on the trail, and I do think we should be open to, I'm one of those people that yells maybe inaudibly, "On your left." I think we should be open to any kind of signal that appropriately notifies people that they're being passed. And I totally get that about the dogs. I'm in the same situation. So, I do think we need to do something. And we have talked about the signs, and I feel like we got to do something instead of keep talking about having signs. And as far as the speed limit, when we did the e-bike resolution, which really is pertinent to both regular bikes and e-bikes, I think we got legal advice not to say a speed limit, and the wording is something like, "at a speed which most people would consider reasonable," or something like that. So, I do, and I think part of that is how do you enforce it on the trails? But I do think that could be part of a signage system about courtesy and safety. And we really, I would really like to see us move forward with some types of signs about how to operate on the trails, whether you're walking or riding or rolling, whatever. Thank you. Go down this way. Member Bo, member Pingley. No. Member McConnell. Yes. On the trails and bells or on your left. The other thing that comes up, and not in the case that was presented tonight, very valid concern, a lot of people are wearing headphones. They've got things in their ears. I don't care if you have a bell. I don't care if you yell as loud as you can, "On your left, on your right." They don't even know you're there. So, I think some education in general of trail behavior, whether that's a sign, and it applies to the cyclist and to the pedestrian as well. That's it. Thanks. I would just like to respond to that. I agree with you. I've had the situation where I use my bell and there's no response. So, what I have on my bike is a battery-operated audible signal that's about 10 times louder than a bell, and it's pretty effective. Sometimes people jump, but you know, if they're going to wear earbuds and not be aware of their surroundings, then that's the result. And of course, we can't mandate that, but I just thought I'd mention it. You know, these things exist, and you can use them. I think it just comes down to general respect. And that's, you could have a little graphic thing for pedestrians that have buds or part of the signage. I'll just reiterate that having a bell and light is a statute. It's not illegal to have headphones and stuff. So, just reminding bicyclists about their bells, I think, would make a huge impact. Some people might not hear bells, but it's a very high percentage that do. I have a bell on my bike, and it's not incredibly loud. Any other comments from the committee? Seeing none, the only matter from the chair is, thank you all for everybody participating in Bike Month activities. I'll come back with some updates, whether it's on the resolution funding, how the comms team is moving forward with the Idaho Stop production video we've requested, as well as requesting for staff to give a presentation just in general. And I think that's a good opportunity for us to also ask staff about signs, how we can begin to get signs implemented. With that, our next meeting is, there's not a date down here, but it's in June. So, see everybody then. Have a great rest of your evening, everybody. Be safe. We're adjourned.