Birmingham/Troy Transit Center off track?
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009When it comes to understanding the needs of bicyclists, there are certain organizations and professionals that we don’t expect much from because they embrace the status quo even when it doesn’t work.
But planners should get bicycling. To be good, they must be looking forward and embracing the future.
That’s why it’s so very frustrating to review the work of planners that apparently don’t get it.
Examples include:
- A sustainability study for Farmington Hills that all but ignores increasing bicycle use (Hooker | De Jong)
- A county parks and recreation plan that assumes parks users won’t ride their bikes to the parks (Carlise Wortman)
- A trails and pathways plan for Oakland Township that ignores the basic AASHTO guidelines for good bicycle facilities (Carlise Wortman)
And perhaps we can add another plan, the Birmingham and Troy Transit Center.
The most obvious failing is the tunnel design which runs beneath the railroad.
According to a recent Metromode article, Carrie Zarotney, president of the Birmingham-Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce, noted the public interest in the center’s bikeabilty.
Last June, at the transit-oriented development charrette held to raise awareness of the project, the public made it “…very loud and clear that there was a need for pedestrian-friendly access and bicycle paths, so not only could you walk through the tunnel but you could bike through the tunnel.”
Then why does the August 2009 plan route cyclists onto a convoluted sidewalk route against AASHTO design guidelines?
The tunnel has very poor sight lines at the entrance and exit that are unsuitable for mixing cyclists and pedestrians. With this design, it may not take many?collisions?before bike riding in the tunnel is prohibited.
It appears there was little to no thought given to making a simple and clear bicycle pathway connection between the roads on either side of the railroad tracks. Did the planners not realize that a major residential area and downtown on one side of the tracks would generate bicycle traffic to the residential and shopping areas on the other side (and vise versa)? Why didn’t they accomodate it using the AASHTO bicycle design guidelines?
Right now there is no direct and safe way between these two areas for bicyclists. This plan does little to help that.
Another big issue is bike parking. It appears there are approximately 200 car parking spaces, yet there is one bike rack that should hold about four bikes.?The bike rack is also poorly located according to the Bicycle Parking Guidelines set forth by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. This bike parking does not appear to be covered.
There doesn’t seem to be a bike rack on the Birmingham side.
There are no bike racks near the bus stops (even though they are shown in the sample photos.)
Adding a bike rack is an easy point for buildings looking to gain LEED status, which this one apparently is.
We will be sure to submit these comments to Birmingham and Troy.
With Troy’s recent non-motorized planning efforts, this important tunnel connection must be properly designed to accomodate bicycles, whether they are using the transit center or not.
And if they are using it, they need adequate bike parking.