Bike Path Design
The design for Bike Lanes and multi-use paths is well documented on the Internet. The primary authority is the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The Greenways Committee supports those recommendations and repeatedly petitions city staff to adopt these expert engineering standards. These designs aim at the safety of both pedestrians and cyclists and are readily adopted by traffic engineers in nearly every community. These designs were duplicated in Hendersonville's Bike/Pedestrian Master Plan.
Although the AASHTO Design Manuals require purchase, the details as they relate to bike and pedestrian routes are summarized on the BicycleInfo.com Web site, The Chicago Web Site, City of Austin Texas Web Site, Virginia VDOT, etc. No reason exists for any community not adhering to expert opinion and thereby create unnecessary legal liability for injuries. The Greenways Committee is active in helping City Planners and Staff understand these guidelines:
- Presentation to Planning Commission (2/21/06) (Bruce Day & David Hardin)
- Proposal for Road Shoulders (7/13/06) (Frank Bowyer & David Hardin)
Accommodating Bicycle and Pedestrian Travel is a policy of the United States Department of Transportation. USDOT hopes that public agencies, professional associations, advocacy groups, and others adopt this approach as a way of committing themselves to integrating bicycling and walking into the transportation mainstream. Furthermore it is the intent of the Tennessee Department of Transportation to promote and facilitate the increased use of non-motorized modes of transportation, including developing facilities for use of pedestrians and bicyclists and promoting public education, and safety programs for using such facitlities.
- TDOT Long Range Transportation Plan (note the Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan as one of the plan elements)
What are the Costs and Benefits of trails? The folllowing Web Site provides the tools for that analysis:
BUDGETING for a 10-foot multi-use Greenway Trail? Estimate at $750,000 / mile (plus any land procurement costs)
Need images to include in a Power Point Presentation or Newsletter, the following Web Site is an image library that offer pictures for your use - Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
