Public Meeting on Study Findings Scheduled For Feb 8
by James Meerdink, Parks & Trails New York
The Orangetown Bike Study is a collaborative community planning process for Orangetown’s cycling network, lead by the Town of Orangetown and Parks & Trails New York (PTNY), a non-profit park and trail advocate. It’s funded by the New NY Bridge Community Benefits Fund.
The bike study involves extensive data gathering and community engagement in order to assess the current state of the town’s roads and trails for biking, availability of connections to popular destinations such as shopping, schools, and parks, and overall safety and comfort of the network.
We received a tremendous response to the Orangetown Bike Study Community Survey with over 500 residents and other road and trail users completing the survey. Early analysis of the data has provided interesting findings, including a broad awareness that there aren’t currently enough safe cycling facilities in Orangetown, as well as a desire for better cooperation between cyclists and motorists on local roads. PTNY will be releasing more findings through social media and the town’s project page in the next few weeks. The survey is now closed, but anyone in interested in commenting on the local cycling network can still do so by using the online Community Feedback Map.
PTNY will now turn its attention to creating a draft plan for the cycling network using the feedback generated by the survey and the data collected through bike counts, multiple site visits, and stakeholder interviews. This plan will include recommendations for facilities to connect Orangetown with neighboring communities, as well as policies and programming that will improve the cycling environment and address safety concerns. The plan will be presented at Feb 8 public meeting at 7p in Orangetown Town Hall.
For more information on the study, visit www.Orangetown.com/bikestudy.
James Meerdink is a Project Director with Parks & Trails New York, a non-profit firm that has assisted communities across the state in developing trails and planning bike and pedestrian networks.
See also:
- Street Beat: Orangetown Bike Study Uses Cool Tools To Map Safe Cycling Future, 10/19/2017
- Volunteers Wanted to Chart Path for Bicycling & Walking, 10/8/2017
- About the Bike Study, Orangetown.com
- Street Beat: Orangetown Bicycling — Counts, 8/31/2017
- Parks & Trails New York
