Article Contributed on: 10/2/2009 8:12:18 AM
The pedestrian and bicycle access plan for three future Gold Line transit stations in Arvada is roughly 90 percent complete according to Mike Lee, manager of park and urban design for the city.
A draft document was presented to the planning commission Sept. 22. Lee said review comments from the traffic department, which will look at street cross sections, would be incorporated into the study before it goes to the city council on Oct. 12.
"The goal was to have a plan for all three transit station sites," Lee said.
The sites include Sheridan Ridge, Olde Town and Arvada Ridge, all of which follow the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe rail line, which runs in an east-west direction.
Lee said because the stations are in high density areas, parking will be a problem.
"We realized if we can make the bide-pedestrian access better to and from these transit site, we may not need as much parking, so it made all the sense in the world to follow up with a pedestrian and bike study," Lee said.
He explained that the consultant, Charlier Associates in Boulder, looked in detail at a half-mile radius from the center of each site. After examining existing routes and considering north, south, east and west connections, Charlier came up with suggestions of how some streets and intersections might be reconfigured to accommodate foot and bike travel.
"We had $30k to do the study. If you consider the amount of area we had to look at, it was a fairly daunting task. Charlier was effective in meeting with interest groups, RTD and cycling groups to assemble the information," Lee said.
Terri Musser, a senior transportation planner with Charlier Associates, said the goal was to make a connection with Ralston Creek Greenway, the Clear Creek Trail in Wheat Ridge and the Van Bibber River on the western edge of the city.
"We wanted to come up with a complete connectivity system, because if there are barriers to bicycle or pedestrian travel that are within even less than a half mile of the transit station, you still have to get around them. A lot of what our plan recommends is reallocating space within existing street right-of ways," Musser said.
The corridor planning approach used by Charlier will potentially allow a cyclist or pedestrian safe and convenient routes of uninterrupted travel.
"It's a continuous corridor people can move through," Musser said.
In addition to mapping out potential parking structures in Olde Town, an existing citywide bicycle system map is part of the access plan document.
According to the plan, in order to implement recommendations along primary routes, some bicycle lanes will be widened and sidewalks improved.
The use of sharrrows, or directional painting on the street pavement to direct bicycles, will serve as a guide for cyclists so they don't collide with people opening car doors.
Lee said implementing a safe walking environment and safe biking was part of developing and locating transit stations.
"It all has to do with the three stations and how we can better improve access," said Lee.
To view the pedestrian and bicycle access plan online, visit http://arvada.org/arts-and-recreation/park-and-urban-design-division/.