Comprehensive Bicycle/Pedestrian Network?

[Ocklawaha]

Everyone knows Florida in general and Jacksonville in particular needs a comprehensive bicycle/pedestrian trail network. I'd like to toss out an idea born in yesterday's evening rush hour whilst returning to St. Augustine from the VA clinic.

Jacksonville has a pretty decent network of older, established, 4-6 lane boulevards radiating in all directions from downtown. I noted along Philips yesterday that there are sidewalks in front of certain new construction and none along the rest of the route, with the exception of older urbanized areas.

I realize that to lay out a grid overlay on a map and try and build piecemeal is exactly what we've been doing for the last 100 years. Why not set up primary targeted boulevards with a "complete streets" style improvement package, and focus those initial efforts at getting the primary avenues completed first.

I'd focus on San Jose, Philips, Southside, Beach, Atlantic, Merrill, Zoo-Hecksher, Main, Lem Turner, New Kings Road, Beaver, Blanding, Roosevelt and connector trails along University, Dunn and Edgewood, pushing at least one multi-use pathway on one side of the road, at or near the full length within the city limits. Put the other potential segments on hold until we develop a framework of a comprehensive system.

Imagine being able to ride downtown from Bayard, the Beaches, or Orange Park, without having to engage auto traffic in a game of 'dodge cars'.

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

^Check out the mobility plan.  There are a series of pedestrian and bicycle network connectivity projects it would fund as well.  It answers many of the things you bring up and even phases them.  Unfortunately, the mobility fee is needed to generate the cash and we just put it on ice.

[Dashing Dan]

It would be nice to have a safe way to get from downtown to the beaches by bicycle.  Does the mobility plan address that, or does it just talk about striping off a part of Beach Blvd.?

[thelakelander]

There's no separated multiuse path in the plan along Beach Blvd.  There is no improvement along Beach Blvd in the plan above the bike lanes being currently installed on it now.  At this point, Jacksonville does even have a connected network.  The plan places a higher priority on creating that basic network.   Most of the Southside's bike projects focus on better connecting places like Southpoint, UNF, Avenues, etc. with a continuous network of bike facilities (bike lanes, multi use paths, etc.) throughout the city.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

It would be nice to have a safe way to get from downtown to the beaches by bicycle.  Does the mobility plan address that, or does it just talk about striping off a part of Beach Blvd.?

[Dashing Dan]

That might work on Beach Blvd.! 

[Dashing Dan]

There's no separated multiuse path in the plan along Beach Blvd.  There is no improvement along Beach Blvd in the plan above the bike lanes being currently installed on it now.  At this point, Jacksonville does even have a connected network.  The plan places a higher priority on creating that basic network.   Most of the Southside's bike projects focus on better connecting places like Southpoint, UNF, Avenues, etc. with a continuous network of bike facilities (bike lanes, multi use paths, etc.) throughout the city.

So the mobility plan gets us started, but we need to go on from there? 

My suggestion for the next step would be either a countywide "complete streets" policy, and after that, a plan for separated bicycle paths across the county.

[thelakelander]

^Yes.  It's a way to help get us off the sidelines and into the game.  There's still more to do if we want the starting position.

[Jumpinjack]

My thoughts on Beach Blvd. is that putting a bike lane in is not sufficient. That is one dangerous highway, actual speeds too high, dangerous intersections, too many lanes, and lots of turns to strip centers. Dangerous by Design identified this road as one of the chief culprits in pedestrian deaths. If ever a highway needed traffic calming, landscaping, etc this is the one.

[peestandingup]

I love talking about this stuff & not to be a downer, but the voice in the back of my head reminds me that it's kinda pointless until the city actually starts sticking to the plan & stops moratoriums.

Basically they need to put up or shut up, because right now its all talk. And so far I haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe that these moratoriums won't become the norm for this city. They seem like they have real trouble sticking to long term plans & instead go for these short bursts of "fixes".

Their budget issues & mismanagement isn't going to go away, so my feeling is that the mobility fee is always going to be the cookie jar they turn to if its set up to where they can do so.

[Dashing Dan]

A good thing about a complete streets policy is that if you spend $$ on roads you have to spend money on other modes at the same time, along the same facility or corridor. 

So a complete streets policy would allow everyone to benefit from money that is going to be spent, no matter where the money comes from.

The context sensitive streets guidelines are okay but they don't apply to roads like Beach Blvd.

[thelakelander]

No, its not the best. However, with limited funds, what should be an initial priority? Retrofitting a corridor like Beach or creating new facilities in areas where there are no facilities despite them having significantly denser population bases? The mobility plan at least provided funding to get something off paper. Unfortunately, with the moratorium we can't even fund the minimum, much less big projects like a Beach retrofit. Btw, I have no problem with Complete Streets Policy, although it won't do anything to significantly improve bike conditions on Beach in the next 20 to 30 years.

[Ocklawaha]

Yes Lake, I've have the mobility plan, but I'm thinking of proposing a much different 'multi-use path' on at least one side of each of the roads mentioned. As everyone knows these roads are dangerous therefor I think it best if we pushed an agenda of a fully separate route for these trunk-line trails. You couldn't pay me to ride along in traffic in those stupid little spaces between cars turning right and cars going straight. The whole system in this part of Florida is dangerously flawed. Even if we focused only on one side of each of these boulevards, curb, barrier, or grade sepperated from auto traffic, it would give us the bones on which to add the greater system. If and when this city plans to impliment the Mobility Plan I just think it would be wise to focus on getting the frame work of a network in place first.

OCKLAWAHA

[Dashing Dan]

That picture is a dreadful sight.

[thelakelander]

Yes, the condition shown in that image is something a Complete Streets Policy would work to avoid.