Burlington Walk Bike Council

Burlington Walk Bike Council (BWBC) September 3rd, 2025 Meeting Notes The monthly meeting took place 5:30- 7:00 pm via Zoom and at the DPW Conference Room. In-Person Attendees: Erik Brotz*, Bob Leidy, Philip Peterson (DPW), Jack Evans* (Local Motion), Jak Tiano, Jason Stuffle*, Melissa Needham (VDH) Online Attendees: none * BWBC Coordinating Committee members 1. Announcements & Updates -​ Bob -​ There is a Williston walk audit. AARP is organizing a walk audit there, Local Motion is part of it too. September 20th 10a-2p. -​ Colchester has two big projects that everyone can have an impact on. The road along Mallets Bay needs work, and Mallets Bay Avenue as well. -​ The third thing is America Walks will have a workshop on Oct 28th online event for walking in Vermont. -​ Last, AARP has grants they are looking for by Oct 3rd, $4,000 six available. -​ Jack -​ There’s an Old Spokes Home event at Zero Gravity tonight. 2. Updates on Current Demonstration Projects -​ North Ave -​ Phillip: Phase 1 application is approved at top speed, and Phase 2 is received about a week ago. We have all the vertical delineators that we’d need for the projects ready to go. -​ Jack: My main question was going to be “do we need a grant for the delineators” but it sounds like no. -​ Bike Coralls -​ Bob: Nic (from ChamplainC College) told me that he has tons of corrals, but I couldn’t find any. -​ Jason: There used to be one on cherry street that was big and shaped like a car, but it disappeared one day. -​ Overall, we’re having a hard time finding corrals to use in the bike project. -​ Jack: Does DPW have an inventory for these quick build materials? -​ Phillip: Not on the tip of my tongue, but we do have a bunch of stuff. Will look into finding the one that used to be on Cherry St. -​ Jack: Local Motion is doing a state grant right now, and we’re looking at putting it towards a lending library for quick build materials. -​ Erik: Would AARP grant for a Bike Corral?  -​ Maybe, but you’d have to prove that it benefits 65+ demographics. 3. Review takeaways from Regional Advocates Meetup -​ Jack presented - a copy of the presentation can be found here: https://burlingtonvt.portal.civicclerk.com/event/8033/overview -​ 35 Attendees from Burlington, South Burlington, Winooski, Williston, and Essex Junction -​ Bike Route Reporting Tool -​ A community led way for people to show where bike connections exist, since CCRPC data is not up to date -​ Hopefully eventually leads to a map for stress -​ CCRPC’s stress metrics are not great -​ Connectivity Maps -​ Used to identify pain points on inter-community bike routes -​ Pine Street -> Waterfront Connection is rough because the pine street path doesn’t connect well to the waterfront -​ Winooski Bridge came up a lot, and the CoBaRi intersection -​ Exit 14, including getting to the bike path, is a big pain point -​ The Spear St underpass -​ Riverside and Winooski -​ (Jason brings up Exit 15) -​ Idea boards -​ Challenges -​ Driver behavior -​ Minor network gaps -​ Cars always given priority & parking -​ “Seasonal” paint -​ Discussion about what is preventing this from happening, in that there’s not enough labor to get this work done -​ Jason asks if you could organize a neighborhood group to paint crosswalks in their neighborhood -​ Phillip - liability issues with city using volunteers to do street work, but there is money to hire people part-time. -​ Lack of protected/separated East/West connections -​ Signalized intersection times -​ Plowing -​ Big Ideas -​ College -> Downtown Connector -​ Limiting Access to Cars for Streets -​ Conversations among participants at the meetup -​ “Disappearing Bike Lanes” on White St -​ E-bike Storage in Fire Code -​ Rt 15 Network Gap in Essex Junction -​ Williston Road improvements -​ Traffic Calming policies and projects  -​ Elected Officials Ride -​ Key Takeaways -​ Focus on few protected corridors; we should identify these -​ Expand on low stress networks; we should pursue traffic calming -​ Prioritize maintenance; we should advocate for budget -​ Involve the decision makers; we should communicate more frequently with electeds 4. BWBC Priorities for coming year -​ What’s Next? -​ Host the Mayor and Council for meetings -​ Elected officials ride -​ Pilot closed streets -​ Continue to pursue and improve demonstration projects -​ Host community open houses -​ Expand Council, contacts, and connections with other groups -​ Strategize for winter plowing & spring striping -​ Collaborate on priority networks action plan -​ Comprehensive plan discussion -​ Mayors ride soon? -​ Question: what happened to the speed bumps piloted on Grove Street last year? -​ Too loud for the neighborhood. -​ What happens in the future? -​ The follow through is trying a new product to see what we’ll invest in. Pilots to see what is and isn’t working.