SAFE STREETS BURLINGTON: Pine Street Coalition History

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Pine Street Coalition History

The Pine Street Coalition is a non-profit grass roots community organization advocating safe transportation facilities in the Burlington South End. The Coalition seeks “equality streets” where each transportation mode—pedestrian, bicycle and motor vehicle—enjoys separate and high-safety treatments on major streets. The Coalition recognizes the United States now ranks 17^th among modern nations with twice the rate of serious and fatal injuries of the top two nations. The Coalition pursues safe streets employing the principles of “systematic safety” so that the South End can enjoy a level of transportation safety attained by many advanced nations.

www.SafeStreetsBurlington.com https://www.facebook.com/SSBPineStreetNOW

An Outline of the Origin and Mission of the Pine Street Coalition

The mission of the Pine Street Coalition is re-design of the Champlain Parkway by re-opening a new EIS process in order to incorporate “best practices” of today which include: (1) re-directing the “purpose and need” to meeting the needs of the South End neighborhood and away from facilitating the movement of cars to downtown: (2) reducing instead of increasing the number of roadway injuries to residents and visitors; (3) decreasing the environmental impacts, particularly in regard to the stressed Englesby Brook; (4) provision of separate and equal facilities for those who walk and bike along the corridor; and (5) utilize modern roundabouts to reduce injury rates to all users, cut global warming emissions and other pollutants, reduce gasoline use, reduce delay for all users, manage speeds and thereby reduce noise levels and add scenic quality.

2014—Discussion of the major walk and bike defects in the Champlain Parkway design began in Spring 2014 at a Burlington Walk Bike Coalition Steering Committee (BWBC) meeting when Local Motion's Jason Van Driesche reported examining the Parkway plans along Pine Street and Lakeside Avenue and found no cycle track or separate walk and bike facilities. This led to a several month discussion at BWBC leading to a December 2014 eight-page letter and detailed comments sent to the Mayor requesting safe, quality and separate walk and bike facilities along the entire corridor. In addition a roundabout to maintain connectivity at the south end of Pine Street as well as roundabouts at other intersections should be considered. The BWBC received no reply to its letter. BWBC is an official City committee comprised of all volunteers and supported by the Department of Public Works.

In September 2014 a three-day workshop on a “livable South End” put on by AARP centered on examining Pine Street and making substantial walk and bike improvements with the leader, Dan Burden calling for use of a roundabouts along the corridor and the workshop Report showing roundabout options at the Pine and Maple Street intersection, vetted by a top roundabout practitioner, Michael J. Wallwork who designed the first Vermont roundabouts in 1995 and 1997. During this period there was discussion among the volunteer Vermont AARP Livable Community members about forming a coalition of City groups with the sole purpose of pursuing a modern, quality re-designed Parkway.

2015—June 16 Public meeting where draft planBTV South End. The draft planBTV South End brought a full house of area residents and leaders. Early on a question audience expressed frustration that the draft plan assumed the construction of the Parkway as designed--”Who here supports the Champlain Parkway,” a woman in the audience in effect exclaimed—“if you support it please raise your hand!” Not a hand among the 100-plus attendees was seen. The plan received such a bad reception, a redraft process began with approaches for a future with—and without—the Parkway as designed. This triggered Super Alliance members—many from the South End and/or with businesses or employment there to seek to build on the Walk Bike Council opposition and the lack of current “best practices”--like roundabouts and cycle track just approved in the North Avenue Corridor Plan approved by City Council in October 2014. The planBTV South End draft plan presentation can be viewed on CH 17:

https://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/planbtv-south-end-draft-plan-release

The Burlington Free Press coverage of the draft planBTV South End is found here:

https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2015/06/16/planbtv-south-end-kickoff/28831429/

In August, the Vermont Supreme Court decided against Charles Bayer and his Fortieth Corp. Act 250 appeal which cleared the way for the Parkway project to proceed. Also in August 2015 a citizen group calling itself the Super Alliance agreed to support form a separate group, the Pine Street Coalition (PSC) with its purpose to seek a re-design of the Parkway including the BWBC issues of walk and bike facilities, roundabouts, and introducing other “best practices.” The Super Alliance became in March 2016 the Coalition for a Livable City, an umbrella group now composed of seven grassroots community organizations, including the Pine Street Coalition.

Here is an email message from Super Alliance leader Genese Grill which references the Champlain Parkway as a concern of the Alliance and suggesting the formation of a sub-group, the Pine Street Coalition.

Sun, Aug 23, 2015 at 9:09 AM, genese grill <genesegrill1@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello All,

There is so much here. A few messages back Tony suggested a sub committee of S.A. [Super Alliance] to discuss the parkway resistance planning before September 2nd. I think this is a good idea so that the Super Alliance meeting can discuss general strategies and not get swamped with these important and urgent details about the Parkway (especially since we are inviting people from other groups). I personally am having trouble keeping up with the parkway stuff, want to be informed and involved, but can't devote as much time/expertise as some of you are doing. Can you make a parkway committee meeting and then present a short summary of what is happening at the Super Alliance meeting? Does that make sense?

Thanks! -Genese [Grill]

2015—November 30 public meeting at Champlain Elementary School. One of the first grassroots actions of PSC was to do a literature drop in the South End to encourage attendance at the November 30 public meeting where no one was allowed to speak and it was “informational” only. The 7 Days report:

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2015/12/01/champlain-parkway-reviewed-at-unexpectedly-civil-meeting

2016--Champlain Parkway—first Pine Street Coalition (PSC) Presentation, February 3, 2016 at Arts Riot. Channel 17 video: https://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/champlain-parkway-lets-do-it-right With about 75 attending, presenters included Charles Simpson, Tony Redington, Steve Goodkind and Diane Gayer. Introduction by Betsy Rosenbluth.

2016--Champlain Parkway “Let's Do it Right” December 8, 2016. PSC promoted “neighborhood meeting” featuring re-design guidelines with about 80 attending including Southern District City Councilor Joan Shannon and Ward 5 Councilor Chip Mason as well as DPW Director Chapin Spencer.

Channel 17 video: https://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/champlain-parkway-lets-do-it-right-0

The Burlington Walk Bike Council in a May 2016 letter addressed to Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger endorsed the PSC re-design guidelines which call for separate and safe corridor length walk and bike facilities as well as a maintaining connectivity of Pine Street into South Burlington.

2015-2017 The PSC undertook a series of meetings with City, region, State and Federal Highway Administration officials outlining the changes which have occurred since the 2009 FSEIS and end of public involvement in 2006--and urging the a new planning and design process which would be “cheaper, cleaner, quicker and safer.” A delegation of PSC members met with Vermont Secretary of Transportation Joe Flynn, Federal Highway Administration Division Director Matthew Hake, Lt. Governor David Zuckerman, State Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) Chair Andy Montroll (and a Burlington's representative to the CCRPC), and Senate Transportation Committee Chair Sen. Dick Mazza.

Throughout the discussions and community input, we have found strong support from the outset to enable intercept lots below Pine Street in the Kmart area or beyond for park-and-ride services serving downtown Burlington or the simple extension of the existing Pine Street GMT bus route. In addition the future may well hold a light rail north-south from the New North End via downtown and Union Station to Queen City Park road and points south in South Burlington. Both would face substantial costs if Pine Street is dead-ended as in the current project.

In addition, the PSC has maintained a regular effort to meet with Neighborhood Planning Assemblies to keep them posted on contacts and materials developed since the first February presentation at Arts Riot in February 2016. Members of the PSC “presentation team” include Tony Redington, Dr. Charles Simpson, Ib Nar, Diane Gayer, A.I.A, and Steve Goodkind, P.E.

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Parkway Redesign Guideline and & Rethinking

CHAMPLAIN PARKWAY REDESIGN GUIDELINES Let's Do it Right June 2018

The Champlain Parkway Redesign Guidelines (Guidelines) arise from public many South End community and City groups discussions. The Guidelines shape a safe and complete street concept. Ultimately a new Parkway design happens through a thorough, informed, public discussion of today's needs. The Parkway dates from 1960s, the current design from a decade ago--plans do evolve over time! The Guidelines call for:

Cutting 1.5 mile lane miles of roadway
Conserving four acres between Flynn and Lakeside Avenues, about two for economic development of the “Gilbane” parking property and two for protection and improving Englesby Brook
Employing roundabout technology throughout to avoid dozens of crashes and injuries to the traveling public, and reducing intersection gas use and pollutants including global warming by about a third
Attaining about $12 million cost savings, one quarter of the $43 million project
Retaining connectivity and enable improved bus services as well as future light rail
Offering better, safe access to City Market South End and Petra Cliffs
Allowing some savings invested in lower Pine Street and Flynn Avenue for sidewalks
Providing separate and safe individual walk and bike facilities now completely absent
Fostering a livable and sustainable South End so critical to both quality of life and new vibrancy of the neighborhoods--as well as the arts, education, and business economies

Champlain Redesign Guidelines feature:

Reversing dead-ending of Pine Street at the Parkway Current design dead-ending worsens the nearby single-lane bridge, cuts Queen City Park road access and linkages to the Industrial Avenue and South Burlington points.
The I 189 segment for years used for commuter parking, children bike riding and dog walks Some can be retained as a two-lane road allows a linear transit or park 'n ride facility.
From Home Ave. to Flynn Ave. the Parkway converted from two segregated streets, becoming a single, quality and safe “complete street.” Melding Briggs and Batchelder into a single street with full connectivity possible for City Market and Petra Cliffs (no vehicle access to Morse, Lyman and Ferguson).
The “Parkway” ends at Flynn Ave. The original “Purpose and Need” to speed traffic downtown no longer serves the City or is possible with moving the railyard abandoned. The objective of shifting trucks off local streets to the industrial areas still occurs.
The natural areas of Englesby Brook now preserved and two acres of prime development land at Glbane recovered for businesses and associated jobs. The Gilbane property and Innovation Center now become an overall “Lakeside Innovation Zone.” Guidelines affirm the value of the energy and industrial innovation enclave which mark the area from its earliest days. This “innovation enclave” engages with the City's food hub and energy production as a common goal.
Safe and separate walk and bike routes Walk/bike quality facilities along the Pine Street corridor serve the neighborhood, commuters, and feature a focus on “safe routes to school”, thereby becoming a complete street with “low stress” bikeways.
Stormwater infiltration Mechanisms for stormwater include rain gardens, soils remediation and open space protection on the Barge Canal as an ongoing remediation site.
Pine Street to Main Street With Bicycle Connections: The Tuning Fork Separate from the Parkway project, the Railyard may allow a one way street design west from Curtis Lumber to South Champlain, north to Main Street then return down Pine Street—this allows the addition of a low-stress bike circulation and connector to the Burlington Bikepath.

Online: https://www.facebook.com/SSBPineStreetNOW/ SafeStreetsBurlington.com

Southern Connector Rethinking

By Steven Goodkind P.E.

The Southern Connector Project is one piece of a larger transportation plan for Chittenden County that was formulated over 40 years ago. It consisted of a network of highways that would encircle the county through Burlington, South Burlington, Williston, Winooski, Essex and Colchester. Parts of it included existing state highways and the interstate. There were also proposed new roads i.e. the Northern and Southern Connectors and the Circumfential Highway.

These proposed new roads share many common characteristics. They were to be for the most part limited access routes that would take traffic from existing local roads and reassign it to these new segments. But just as importantly, they all contained a huge conceptual flaw by relying on the perceived benefits of the ring road concept. .

We have learned a lot in the transportation field in recent decades and it is now widely recognized that it is generally better to improve our existing system to make it safer and more usable to all modes of transportation, than to build new

roads. We have also grown to appreciate the benefits of neighborhood connections that are not separated by manmade barriers such as limited access highways or large development projects. (The Burlington Town Center is an example of the latter case).

As a result, only portions of the original plan have been constructed. They are the three “bypass segments”, including the so-called “road to nowhere” in Burlington. The ring road concept is essentially dead.

However, the old concept does live on in at least one project. The Southern Connector, especially the piece from Home Ave. to Lakeside, is a classic example of old thinking, the benefits of which are far outweighed by the negative aspects it delivers. Because the latest version of this project dumps its supposed

reassigned traffic right back onto Pine Street without a connection to Battery Street, it fails to provide any significant transportation benefit that could not be achieved by simply opening the “road to nowhere”. The current plan eliminates

existing neighborhood connections and removes the connection of Pine St. to Queen City Park Road. A better name for it might be the “Southern Disconnector”. It is a costly and unnecessary relic of the past. This is further compounded by a design for the Pine St segment that is not up to the standards that Burlington has set for “complete streets”. Even our Public Works Director has acknowledged this when he recently said, “if we were designing this project today it would not look like this.”

If we hope to be a 21st century city, we need transportation projects that have designs that reflect 21st century thinking, not 20th century throwbacks.

The Mayor and his associates say they have done their best and it is too late for that. If we don’t proceed, we will have to pay back $7 or 8 million to the federal and/or State governments. This may be a possibility, but making the city payback money for a project that has been significantly changed, (notice I did not say cancelled), is unprecedented in Vermont. Here are some examples:

1) At the last minute the Northern Connector Project was modified to end at Manhattan Drive rather than at Battery and Pearl. This was to avoid destroying a good part of the Old North End.

2) The Circ Highway has been substantially redesigned to use existing routes and much of the originally proposed design will never be used

3) About 25 years ago, governor Dean stopped the construction of the Southern Connector from Home to Lakeside because of the uncertainty that a connection to Battery Street could be built.

4) Even though ROW had been secured and some railroad facilities and the DPW offices in its’ path have been relocated, the Southern Connector route from Lakeside to Battery through the Barge Canal was abandoned.

5) The “road to nowhere” was constructed 30 years ago but never completed and never maintained.

6) In the 1980’s, South Burlington decided not to participate in a segment of the Southern Connector that would have been in their community.

In none of these cases were the communities asked to repay the money they had spent on the project. There has never been and there should never be a penalty for making a project better and/or less expensive. History in this case is clearly

on the side of RETHINKING, REIMAGINING AND REDESIGNING the Southern Connector. It is the smart thing to do! It is not too late!

SAFE STREETS BURLINGTON

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Pine Street Coalition History

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