City officials unveiled Charleston's first all-inclusive bike and trail master plan on Monday, designed to serve as a 20-year template for future bicycle infrastructure projects.
Alta Planning + Design, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, spent a year analyzing Charleston's existing conditions and bicycle framework around the city, developed recommendations to improve its biking network and created an implementation plan that outlines catalyst projects.
Alta representative John Cock delivered that presentation to City Council's committee on finance Monday evening.
He noted the city's current strengths and weaknesses in pursuing future bike projects.
"You've got some great parallel streets to major roadways, which provide options for people," Cock said. "People don't think about flat terrain in West Virginia, but you all have a lot of good, flat terrain, which makes biking in parts of the city very doable."
But he also noted constraints that would need to be addresses when considering future bike projects.
"The river is obviously a great asset, but in terms of getting across, it's a big barrier for lots of people," Cock said.
Bikeway projects come in many forms - from low-cost options such as painting roads to signify shared bike lanes (also known as sharrows) to installing cycle tracks, which are two bike lanes side by side heading in opposite directions that are separated from traffic by a buffer.
The 205-page plan also lists 10 priority projects, which include establishing two shared bike lanes on the South Side Bridge and creating bike lanes on Virginia Street from Greenbrier Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.
Overall, the plan proposes that nearly 150 miles of road be enhanced for bicyclists - 90 miles of which call for shared lane markings on low-traffic streets.
Cock said the total cost to implement everything outlined in the plan ranges from $25 million to $30 million.
He noted that the expenses, when compared to highway projects, are a "relatively affordable investment."
He looked to Jefferson Road in South Charleston as an example, where officials announced a $56.2 million improvement project last week to widen Jefferson Road to four lanes.
City Manager David Molgaard said the plan will be valuable as a go-to when the city weighs future projects to improve access and safety for cyclists.
"At some point, there was a real desire to put some sharrows down and start marking trails...we ought to be putting it down where the demand is [and] in a way that's safe, so that's what this provides for us," Molgaard said.
The new plan is available online on the city's website at www.cityofcharleston.org/residents/bike-charleston.
City officials also received a brief update from Tim Shoemaker, project manager at TRC Engineering, which designed the long-awaited 1.3 mile bike lane planned for Kanawha Boulevard from Patrick Street to Magic Island.
"It's in federal highways right now. As soon as we hear back from [them], they should give us notice to proceed, and we can advertise the project at that time," Shoemaker said. "The comments we recently addressed were real minor, mostly some contract language and that type of thing."
The project has been held up for more than two years by various agencies.
"Two years ago, we expected it to be ready to go," said City Councilwoman Mary Jean Davis. "If there's something we can do, we'd like to do it, because we've been ready for two years - and every time we ask, there's some little thing that needs to be tweaked."
The city also is making progress on improvements to Brawley Walkway.
Finance Committee and City Council approved the purchase of 61 wall panels for more than $108,000, which will replace the black chain link fencing along the walkway between Court and Laidley streets. Molgaard said they hope to backlight the panels to glow in different colors.
Also on Monday, Council voted to:
n Establish a 20 mph speed limit on Hinton Terrace, Sunset Drive and all streets on Capitol Hill.
n Install a stop sign on Sunset Drive at Hinton Terrace on the southwest corner of the intersection.
n Authorize a grant application to be submitted to the West Virginia Governor's Highway Safety Office in the amount of $608,000 to provide supplemental funds to continue the Metro Valley Highway Safety Program of Kanawha, Boone, Clay and Logan counties. Matching funds are not required.
n Approve a refund to Mecklenburg Roofing, Inc. in the amount of $8,787 for overpayment of business and occupation taxes during the first period of 2016.
n Approve the 2016-2017 budget to account for $30,466 in revenues from coal severance taxes.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.