Thread by @shayshinecastle

Gonna do a new thread for the 20 is Plenty public hearing. Presentation: www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/5A_20_Is_…

Council talked about this last month(?) and voted to go ahead, which kinda made it seem like this was already done. But that vote was for staff to prep an ordinance, which council has to vote on again.

If passed again, it will lower speed limits on residential (neighborhood) streets from 25 mph to 20 mph.
465 signs will need updated for a cost of $65,000

I believe that was already budgeted for as part of Vision Zero in 2020

I note that bc council has received MANY emails on this. Plenty of ppl are happy (bc it makes conditions safer for bikes/peds) but quite a few are unhappy council is spending $$ on this

Two exemptions: 55th and 26th Streets are 25mph but they are collector streets not residential streets so they will stay at 25 mph

Will go into effect June 18

Photo radar vans will be deployed: Under 30 mph, warning. Over 30 mph, ticket

Swetlik: In the $65,000, does that include cost to put signage up (staff time) or the signs themselves?
Ryan Noles, senior transportation planner: Includes labor

Oh, sorry, it looks like his title is transportation planner. No senior.

Young q: How much outreach was done?
Noles: "We heard pretty loudly from supporters that they were in favor of it, but initially when we embarked on it we were unsure of support community wide."

"We've heard more in favor than not ... but we've heard opposition to change."

There was a public hearing at the Transportation Advisory Board hearing, too. TAB unanimously recommended this.

All the signs will be switched by mid-summer.
2-3 weeks to get the signs once ordered; 2-3 weeks to install.

Young asking about "phased in" rollout. Would that change cost?
Bill Cowern, interim transportation director: It would negatively affect the cost.

Young: Will any other Vision Zero projects be affected by doing this first? (She then rephrases but it's a new question, kinda) Are there other projects we could do to have an immediate affect?

Cowern: When council graciously gave $700,000 to Vision Zero in 2020 budget, we gave $100,000 to this. 20 is Plenty will cost less, and we will repurpose remaining funding.

"We're being asked to cut $4.5M out of our (department) budget, so any amount of money we got back we would repurpose to Vision Zero or other tasks."

An "enormous" amount of money, Cowern says.

Young: Would this apply to all modes of transportation?
Carr: It would apply to bicycles. Obviously not pedestrians, bc only Ussain Bolt could go that fast.

Young: What are top speeds for e-bikes?

David Kemp taking this one: Depends on the type, but the ones we're allowing in bike lanes/multi-use paths have top speeds of 20 mph. Typical ones today are 20 mph.
There are some who can go up to 30 mph, and those have to be in the car lanes.

Young asking about enforcement.
Cowern: We would like more officer resources to be on arterial roadways, so we'd like more photo enforcement in neighborhoods.

Young: What will happen to school zones? Will flashing lights and all that still be required?
Cowern: Many school zones are of course on streets where speed limit is higher than 20.

That is scary.

TAB's Tila Duhaime is talking about the public hearing at that meeting. "Setting aside the 6 years of work that went into" updating the Transportation Master Plan (which includes lowering speed limits), there has been a lot of community outreach, particularly by Community Cycles.

Pedestrian Action Committee also weighed in.

9 ppl for public hearing

Duhaime is first: "This is not some new idea .... we've been working on this since at least 2014" in that transportation master plan update.

As to the cost: Boulder spends many more times this amount "just moving snow out of the way" after storms.

Mostly true, but the predominant reason, as I reported, is for emergency response, not cars (as I think was the point): boulderbeat.news/2019/12/14/her…

"It is preposterous that our streets just weeks ago were deemed at a council meeting too unsafe to share with vehicles," Duhaime says.

Sue Prant, from Community Cycles, pointing out that at 20 mph, a pedestrian has a 90% chance of surviving being hit by a car.
At 30 mph, that drops to 50%.
At 40 mph, it's 10%

"Is 5 mph worth the cost of your life" or the life of your friends and neighbors, Prant asks. "Neighborhood streets are where kids play."

Jennifer Shriver pointing out the environmental benefits of promoting transportation modes that are not single occupancy vehicles. 1/3 of city's emissions are from transportation (Technically 28%)

This is 2018 data.

Haydel is back again: Young's question about top speed of e-bikes "irked me. What's the top speed of cars?"

"It might not bring all the speeds down to 20 mph," Haydel says. We see 85th percentile of cars going well above 30 mph on residential streets. "But for the time being and the cost .... (this) is a really good start."

Haydel: "We've been working on Vision Zero for 6 years and this feels like the first big action to achieve it."

Mark Gelband: Yes, the 2014 TMP included this, but there was a two-year process leading up to that. So we've been talking about Vision Zero for 8 years, almost a decade.

"Be bold," Gelband says. "Use this as a start and move quickly to implement shared streets throughout the city."

You are 10X less likely to die hit by a car going 20 mph than one going 30mph if you are over 60 years old, Alana Wilson says, quoting an unspecified British report from an advocacy group.

Anna Segur: "I'm calling tonight as a parent."
Also in support and "encourage(s) council to take it further. I would have hoped that Boulder as an environmentally" friendly city and climate leader would have taken the step of closing streets to cars during pandemic..

But I hope they at least do this, Segur says.

So far, all 9 (or 8 since someone is missing?) speakers in favor.

Friend: Even if bikes are speeding, they don't have a license plate. I assume we're not really worried about bikes anyway, right...?
Carr: No, we're not. And enforcement starts at 10mph over, so it would have to be going 30 to even trip the cameras.

It was established earlier that top speed of fastest e-bikes is 28 mph.

Brockett: Cities that have just changed speed limits through signage have seen a reduction in speeds over time. Based on the published research.

"This is only about your residential streets," he says. Once you get to the collector street 1 or 2 blocks away, it doesn't apply. "Think of the street in front of your house... the increased safety we'll all have for friends and family ... and whether that's worth the tradeoff."

Weaver: Vision Zero is one of the more important transportation things we are doing. ... "We are acknowledging the reality of what happens with collisions. Typically, if it's a bike or pedestrian, it's a pretty bad outcome."

Young and Swetlik on board, too.
Young doubling down on her e-bikes comment: "I do think the speed of e-bikes can be a hazard. I say this (from observation) as I ride my bike and get passed recklessly."

Says she's seeing 3 ppl to a bike going 25 mph.
Where? Saigon??

Young says we need to put effort into education efforts bc our in-commuters "won't be aware."

Nobody else wants to speak before the vote.

Which is unanimous.

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