A report issued Tuesday challenges Little Rock to continue to expand walking- and bicycle-friendly transportation choices and to build on recent developments like the River Trail and pedestrian bridges.
The recommendations of the “On the Right Track” report from a student team at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service include Little Rock adopting the view of bicycling as transportation instead of recreation, increasing community involvemen tin project designs, creating more collaborative networks within city government to plan projects, considering alternative sources of funding and improving education and outreach.
The student team said at a presentation of the report Tuesday that bicycle and pedestrian opportunities are increasingly seen as a way to help encourage economic development.
“Active transportation is one key aspect of increasing the city’s appeal,” the report said.
The city’s strengths, the report said, include the River Trail, its three pedestrian bridges and a vocal bicycling community. But the report said challenges remain: the lack of connected infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians, insufficient education, few incentives to encourage residents to ride a bicycle or walk, and lack of funding.
City officials, according to the report, aim to increase connections, complete a master bicycle plan, complete the Arkansas River Trail loop, enact a Complete Street city ordinance and increase community involvement.
The authors of the report, Brandon Mathews of Fort Smith, Tatiana Riddle of Guy and Rebecca Zimmermann of Little Rock, students at the Clinton School, spent eight months working on it, including interviewing more than a dozen Little Rock city officials and visiting Fayetteville; Austin, Texas; Memphis; and Chattanooga, Tenn., as part of an effort to establish “best practices” in developing pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly projects and policies.
Among the report’s findings:
Chattanooga developed an aggressive bicycle share program that has a fleet of 300 bicycles and 31 docking stations, making it the largest bicycle share program in the nation on a per-capita basis.
Collaboration among city departments has helped Fayetteville develop an extensive trail system connecting major hubs, such as UA, the Northwest Regional Mall, neighborhoods and parks.
Memphis is on track to complete 45 miles of bicycle and pedestrian facilities four years after being named one of the least bicycle-friendly cities by Bicycling magazine. The city has used repaving projects to add bicycle lanes where it is able, which allows the addition of bicycle infrastructure without additional cost.
Austin includes a monthly transportation-user fee of about $6 on the utility bill for each household to help pay for its pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, which is now a 1,451-mile network. Of that, nearly 38 miles were added in 2013.
About 70 people, including Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola and a large number of city officials and members of the bicycling community, attended the presentation.
Stodola said he thinks city staff members have been increasingly creative in terms of bicycle and pedestrian facilities, most notably in the increased use of “sharrows,” a pavement marking designed to alert motorists that bicyclists may be on the road and to signal to bicyclists their proper place on the road.
He also cited the city’s promotion of bicycling and walking, including his annual car-free challenge in which residents are encouraged to commute without their private vehicle for a week, an annual Bike to Work Day and the annual Ditch the Keys program.
“We are working hard to deal with this connectivity issue,” Stodola said. “I’ve been working hard on the River Trail connection for about seven years.”
Assistant City Manager Bryan Day said his office is open to the possibility of making the city’s bicycle-pedestrian coordinator a full-time position, as the report recommended, adding that all the recommendations deserve consideration.
“The city did hire a bike-ped coordinator as a part-time position because we realized it was an important element of creating a livable community,” he said. “As the job responsibilities grow for the bike-ped coordinator’s position, the city will need to revisit the part-time status.”
The city also is actively developing a Complete Street ordinance. Complete Street ordinances require development of city streets to take into account all forms of transportation to make it easier for all users - pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities - to cross the streets, walk and bike and ensure transit systems run on time.
The report also left some of the onus on the bicycling community. The report noted the Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks developed a school-based bicycle-education program that includes a curriculum and free helmets for its participants.
Judy Lansky, past president of the Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas, said her organization participates in community and school events as part of its education and outreach, but unlike the Northwest Arkansas organization it doesn’t have a full-time staff member.
Still, she welcomed the report and the attention it received Tuesday.
“It was a very good report, good recommendations and I was pleased to see city officials and department heads were here to see what is possible,” Lansky said.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/23/2014