Cyclists, walkers separated in latest plan for Batavia river-area path
Batavia alderman gave permission for engineers to draw up construction plans for Houston Street streetscape work the city hopes to do this summer, after settling on what they wanted a bicycle-pedestrian path to look like.
Public works director Gary Holm Tuesday night presented drawings that showed a path from Water Street to Island Avenue, with landscaped medians in the middle of it. Bicyclists would be expected to ride on the north half of the path, and pedestrians are supposed to use the south half, next to the on-street parking.
Last week the council threw out a proposal by a professional design firm for curved, colored areas designating where to bicycle and where to walk or run, plus landscaping islands that could also have potentially had benches or walls to sit on.
How to tell bicyclists and pedestrians where to go is yet to be worked out, Holm said. The city could post signs, or put markings on the pavement. Alderman Alan Wolff said it could also be distinguished by a difference in pavement surfaces.
Some aldermen again questioned whether the city really has a problem with bicyclists and pedestrians mixing on the current path. The path connects portions of the Fox River Trail, which is also used by bicyclists and pedestrians and does not have lane designations.
"I think connecting the bike path that is coming south to our pedestrian bike bridge and the bike path going south is important," Alderman Lucy Thelin Atac, an avid bicyclist, said. "But right now bikers and walkers are kind of finding their way."
Alderman Susan Stark said bicyclists, pedestrians and cars mix on the woonerf the city put in on North River Street a few years ago. "We're big on shared space, and that is what River Street is about," she said.
The bicycle portion of the path would be about 10 feet wide, and the pedestrian side 7 to 10 feet wide, Holm said.
The work is part of the overall Houston Street streetscape project. The road will be rebuilt from Island Avenue to Batavia Avenue.
The construction plans will give city officials a better idea of the specific costs of items, and will be used to solicit bids for the work.