50′s Bikeway Approved by Mount Tabor Neighborhood Association
Posted by Doug in News on June 16th, 2011 – Comments OffI attended, along with 120 others, the Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association Meeting yesterday. The 50s Bikeway would travel on 52nd in Mt. Tabor. South of Division St., bike lanes will be provided, removing one side of parking. As the bikeway travels north of Division on 52nd into the Mt. Tabor neighborhood, it enters a section of 52nd which is classified as a Local street, but still sees high volumes. The plan proposes a diverter at Division to force auto traffic east or west on Division, hopefully to Neighborhood Collector streets 50th and 60th. Those living on 52nd look forward to the reduced traffic. Those on 51st, 53rd and 54th fear that the traffic will divert to their narrow streets, although PBOT’s estimations are that it won’t.
After the presentations, Michelle LaFoe proposed an up and down vote on the whole project. This was amended to be tabled, so the vote on that was delayed.
After much rhetoric, tabling of motions, etc., here’s what the voting was.
The vote on the project as proposed, with a test of a diverter at 52nd, and a rt. turn lane on Div. at 50th, was voted down 55 yes to 56 no.
The next vote was on a proposal by Mike Shaver, MTNA Transportation committee chair, but speaking on his own. Mike’s proposal is: Do the 52nd Diverter, plus a diverter at 51st, and stop signs on 53rd and 54th and Sherman, and perhaps speed bumps on those streets. This proposal garnered 68 yes votes, and 39 no votes.
After this, some folks left. The third vote was on a proposal by John Laursen, to do a test of minimal measures, basically the turn lane at 50th, and a couple of “pinch points” on 52nd between Division and Lincoln. This proposal got 51 yes to 43 no votes.
A vote on a motion to not vote on the entire bikeway plan (“seeing as how the neighborhood was so divided”) was overwhelmingly voted down in a voice vote.
The final, voice vote, at about 9:50 PM, was overwhelmingly to send a letter to the city, supporting the 50s Bikeway Project, but noting that the neighborhood was divided regarding the diverter, and listing the results of the first 3 votes in the letter.
The sense of those in attendance , and hopefully it will appear this way to Council, was that the neighborhood supports the diverter at 52nd, as long as there’s one at 51st also, and some tweaks on 53rd and 54th. Opponents of the diverter may try to “spin” this differently at the Council hearing.
