Much progress is evident in the development of a Master Plan for Pedestrian and Bicycle Traffic in the greater Brockport area (Brockport, Town of Sweden and Town of Clarkson), according to Ray Duncan. Duncan is the chairperson of the Walk! Bike! Brockport! group sponsoring the project to achieve safe and environmentally attractive walking and biking trails in the Brockport area. The group, together with the Village of Brockport Mayor Blackman, wrote and received a $50,000 grant from the Genesee Transportation Council to develop the master plan.
On Wednesday, December 17, Duncan met with Tom Robinson and Sam Tanner. Tanner is a College at Brockport student intern from the Department of Political Science, interested in public policy. Duncan and Tanner were briefed by Robinson who is the project director from Barton & Loguidice. His firm specializes in designing active transportation plans and won the competitive bidding for the grant to develop the master plan.
In the meeting, “We had a briefing from Tom on how the project is going. He showed us detailed maps thus far generated on accident locations, intersection problems that need fixing and ranking of roads in terms of safety, ease of use, etc. for pedestrians and bikers,” Duncan said. “The meeting went extremely well. It was very informative and enlightening. We are right on track as the project due dates have been laid out, from August 2014 to August 2015.”
Duncan also said that members from the local steering committee have held one meeting, conducted a bicycle tour of the greater Brockport area, and conducted a pedestrian tour as well. “These tours and more additional information will identify how and in what ways bicycle and pedestrian traffic can be improved in terms of safety, ease of use and sensible flow,” Duncan said. “This means building shared lanes, as in New Campus Drive out to Redman Road, making major intersections safer for foot and bike traffic. A public meeting on this will be held in late March 2015.”
The meeting was followed by a second meeting which Duncan and Mayor Blackman set up with college officials to start a committee to promote the College at Brockport becoming a “Cycling Friendly University,” According to Duncan, the meeting was prompted by a bicycling tour through the campus when Tom Robinson stated, “This campus is set up perfectly to become a Cycling Friendly University.” If the committee is successful, it would make The College at Brockport the seventh such designated university campus in New York State, Duncan said, adding that it is an unforeseen bonus to the Walk Bike Brockport Master Plan.
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