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Bedford Bicycle Advisory Committee

(approved 12 May 2004)

Apr. 14, 2004

Present: Bob Sawyer, Charlie Webster, Bob Evans, Charlie Schwerin, Joel Parks, Don Blake, Holly Webster, Ray Reutenik, George Dalrymple, Jim Nevins, Jean Hammond, Steve Williams, Jerry Van Hook, Bill Haynes, Arline Deardorff, Peggy Hannon-Rizza, John Fryer, and Marita Hartshorn, (18 in all).

7:30 pm. Approval of the March minutes.

Reports:

There were no accidents in Bedford in the past month. There was a small mention of the fatal accident at the crossing of Bedford Street and the MMB. A program, “Wait for the Wave”, was started by a woman in Texas whose son was killed. Joel feels riders are getting too used to having motorists stop at street crossings.

Next meeting - May 12, 7:30pm, Town Hall

Meeting adjourned

Bedford Friends of the Minuteman Bikeway

Approval of the March minutes.

Ray reported that we had had 12 meetings this year.

Don reported that in 2004 we have had income of $130 from membership renewals and $3.70 from bank interest. Our expenses have been $30 for room rental and also an unknown amount for the last newsletter, making a current balance of $714.20.

We had a brief unanimous reelection of our board of directors and our current slate.

Directors (term expires)

• Don Blake (2007)
• Ray Ruetenik (2007)

Officers (1-year terms)

• President: Ray Ruetenik
• Vice-President: Bob Evans
• Secretary: Holly Webster
• Treasurer: Don Blake

Note that remaining directors Joel Parks (2006) and Charles Schwerin (2005) terms did not expire this year.

We unanimously authorized the new budget of $380 for next year’s expenses including a tarp for over the booth at Bedford Day.

We also unanimously approved the establishment of two permanent committees: Membership and Publicity.

Ray reviewed our activities this past year including the bike corral at Bedford Day and July 4th.

There was some discussion of the intersection of Crosby Drive and Route 62 and some additional about the next intersection along Route 62 and Network Drive (to Sun Microsystems). Route 3 is being engineered & constructed by Modern Continental and VHB is engineering the intersection near Sun. Bob Sawyer will work with Jim Nevins, Kevin McKelvey, the Burlington Bicycle Advisory Committee, and Rich Warrington about the latter.

We are concerned about the safety of cyclists along the stretch of the NGRT where the new narrow gauge tracks will be run.

We are concerned about the Minuteman extension. We are happy with the new parking lot that the Rotary is providing and which was approved by the selectmen.

We are open to suggestions for a new name for our friends organization that will include pedestrians as well as cyclists and also a few changes to our charter. These will be proposed at next years annual meeting.

There are also a few back burner items that we have been dealing with: signage, parking at the shopping center, the Bridge Street path, the best route to Billerica, and the Burlington Mall issue. There was some discussion about this. Bob Sawyer reported about Jim Shea’s experience. Jim Nevins is following through with the Mall and help from Burlington’s selectmen. There was also some discussion about “Share the Road” signs and “Bike Route” signs. Both Lexington and Burlington have some of each.

Bob Evans, for Bedford’s 275th anniversary, has set up at least three rides around Bedford. They will start soon and take place one Saturday per month and start from Depot Park.

Next came remarks from our invited panel:

• Jim Nevins reported that they are still involved in Phase 1 which is contacting industries to contribute.
• Peggy Hannon-Rizza, of Billerica, reported that work on the Yankee Doodle Path is slow. They do have permission to have bike lanes on one of the bridges over Route 3 and a trail alongside of part of Route 3. Connecting to Bedford is phase 1. Phase 2 is north of Route 3, trying to connect to Lowell and Tewksbury. Their biggest problem is raising money to purchase parcels of land. They have gotten together with the selectmen to identify possible bike connections to surrounding towns. They have planned a summer program for 7 weeks of a one hour/week of bike education and safety from 9-12 at neighborhood schools. Joel offered to give her ideas for curriculum. Billerica has a BMX trail in the Vietnam Veterans Park with 200 acres and 7 miles of trails for mountain bikes. They have races every Sunday for all bikers of all ages and hundreds participate. On Thursdays they have practices. More can be found out about this from billericabmx.com on the internet. Billerica also has a very active police bike patrol.
• Marita Hartshorn, of Lexington, reported that they have made big advances in providing safe roads to schools. Some of the moneys used came from the Blossom Fund and $4,000 from the State Department of Environmental Management. This was used to make four boardwalks to connect to the Bridge school and two long boardwalks to the Diamond School. They have applied for a $9,000 grant from the state to connect to the Clark School and to the Junior High. They are planning a bike tour through Lexington on May 15. Other projects include the spring cleanup and the newsletter.
• Jerry Van Hook, also of Lexington, reported that he has been working on making Hartwell Ave. more bicycle friendly. The section is 1.3 miles long and is being used as a four lane road which leaves no room for cyclists. 15,000 commuters use this stretch daily each way. Although the road is currently striped as a two lane road, his committee has made a unanimous consensus to restripe the avenue with a center lane for turning and leaving a four foot bicycle/pedestrian land on each side. Jim has talked to the engineering department, but it will be difficult to get done. Bob Sawyer suggested that Jerry look into the accident rate on that stretch of road.
• Joel reported that Jack Johnson, of Arlington, had been invited but could not make it and gave Joel a copy of the Arlington Annual report from the Bicycle Committee for 2003, from which he read a few highlights. We noted that we liked the “All Users Keep to the Right” signs that they had put up. Lexington will purchase a few from Joey Glushko at $75/sign. Lexington also received from Arlington a roll of reflective tape to put on the ballards at road crossings.
• The open discussion mostly consisted of which towns have liaisons with the selectmen and the bicycle committees, and how difficult it is to get them to attend meetings.

Meeting adjourned at 9:33pm.