[Vision2020] Third Street Jam (was LMT Article)

Thu Oct 27 12:07:51 PDT 2005

Dick,
The trails that run along the Parks Highway from Anchorage north to Denali
N.P. consist of a short section of the Iditarod trail, the Talkeetna trail
(also known as the Kesugi ridge trail), connecting trails constructed by the
Mat-Su borough between Wasilla and Houston, and finally the Capital trail,
built as part of  Willow's attempt to have the capital moved there.  It is
possible to walk, bike, mush, and/or snow machine from downtown Anchorage to
Healy (just north of Denali N.P.) on trails.  From Healy north to the Nenana
Bridge the trail system is located on the shoulder of the Parks Highway.  On
the north side of the Nenana Bridge to Fairbanks there are various trails
and closed sections of the old highway that again allow you to stay away
from the highway.  Once in the Fairbanks region there are trials that lead
to Circle, to the White Mountains, to Canada (the Yukon Quest trail - which
I hiked and biked part of this summer with a friend from Seattle), to Chena
Hot Springs, and finally south east towards Delta Junction and the Alaska
Highway.  The state is putting a lot of money into new trails since many
tourists are now taking the summer to walk or bike through the state instead
of sitting on buses.  Within the next few years a dedicated paved/gravel
trail system will run from Healy to Fairbanks and then south east to Valdez
- part of which will be a 100 mile loop system around Fairbanks that I am
currently putting the funding package together for.  
The National Park Service and BLM are also working on new trails in the
Wrangle-St. Elias N.P., the Copper River valley (using the "Million Dollar
Bridge" just north of Cordova, trails along the Denali Highway (which
basically connects Wrangle N.P. and Denali) and finally a trail system north
from Fairbanks to Gates of the Arctic N.P./Preserve (which will connect
through the White Mtn. N.R.A, the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, and
run along side the western boundary of ANWR).
Most of these trails are parallel to ancient Native Alaskan trails that date
back to the ice age.
That is the long answer, (had to thrown the long answer out to hopefully
entice V2020 readers to take a nice long vacation in Alaska - got to do my
job!)

 The short answer is - yes, Anchorage and Fairbanks will be connected within
five years by a dedicated trail system.      

Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Schmidt [mailto:44schmidt at earthlink.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 10:20 AM
To: Chris Storhok; Art Deco; Vision 2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Third Street Jam (was LMT Article)

Chris,

Please enlighten me about the bike paths I see along the road 30 miles or so

north of Anchorage and pedestrian/bike bridges over rivers many, many miles 
north of Anchorage. Are they thinking of connecting Anchorage and Fairbanks 
with a bike trail??

Dick

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Storhok" <cstorhok at co.fairbanks.ak.us>
To: "'Richard Schmidt'" <44schmidt at earthlink.net>; "Art Deco" 
<deco at moscow.com>; "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 12:46 PM
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Third Street Jam (was LMT Article)

> Dick,
>
> I will back you on this one, from my experience in Fairbanks, Moscow is
> absolute heaven when it comes to sidewalks and crosswalks (and this is
> coming from an individual who was run over three times in crosswalks in
> Moscow).  Moscow is such a pedestrian friendly town that cannot really be
> understood until you are elsewhere, and I really hope that they city keeps
> it that way!  As an example, Fairbanks has a really large attractive park
> downtown along the river yet it is accessible by a sidewalk with a legal
> crosswalk from only one direction, every other approach involves 
> jaywalking
> or going way out of the most logical path to find a legal crosswalk.
> Everyone knows of the problem but no one in government will champion a
> solution (which would mean telling tour buses to park a block further down
> the street - oh no hurting a business for community good - can't have that
> you know)
> For those of you fighting to keep Moscow pedestrian friendly - keep up the
> good fight - the reward is worth it!
>
> Chris Storhok
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
> [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]On Behalf Of Richard Schmidt
> Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 4:07 AM
> To: Art Deco; Vision 2020
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Third Street Jam (was LMT Article)
>
>
> Wayne,
>
> Compared to Greenville, NC, Moscow does an excellent job of having
> crosswalks AND sidewalks. Greenville can't even spell crosswalk. They do
> have them on campus but not in any other part of town and they are really
> backwards about sidewalks. I would guess that only about 1/3 of the town 
> has
>
> sidewalks.
>
> I bitched about all the crosswalks on 3rd St when I lived there but I will
> say that too many crosswalks are better than no crosswalks. (I can't 
> believe
>
> I said that)!!!! I have traveled in all 50 states except Hawaii and North
> Dakota. The worst town to navigate through - Maryville, TN.
>
> I will say that having crosswalks between stoplights on 3 lane and 5 lane
> streets/roads are dangerous. Local people will know about them but people
> from California or North Dakota may not see them as they are watching the
> road signs so they won't get lost. It is normal NOT to have crosswalks 
> like
> that (between lights) across the country so that is something you are not
> watching for.
>
> I would recommend the city put up signs at the city limits reminding 
> people
> that pedestrians have the right of way in crosswalks and which would make
> visitors more aware. Gatlinburg, TN has such a sign when you enter the 
> city
> so people are forewarned. The cost of a few signs is peanuts compared to 
> the
>
> life of a child or anyone else.
>
> Dick Schmidt
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Art Deco" <deco at moscow.com>
> To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 2:07 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Third Street Jam (was LMT Article)
>
>
>> Janesta,
>>
>> Here's some irony:
>>
>> This week Officer Carl Womack of the MPD wrote a short article for the
>> Daily News on the new crosswalks on Moscow-Pullman Highway/3rd Street. 
>> It
>
>> was a very well written, informative article.  It clearly and simply
>> stated the pedestrian/crosswalk applicable law and offered tips on
>> courtesy.  I was very impressed.  That is, until the last sentence which
>> said to keep Moscow a pedestrian friendly town.
>>
>> Moscow is not a pedestrian friendly town.  Although I do not travel a 
>> lot,
>
>> we go to Canada at least once a year for two weeks, to northern Idaho
>> several times, to multiple destinations in Oregon two or three times a
>> year, and to Spokane several times.  As a pedestrian, I feel the least
>> safe in Moscow (and Pullman).
>>
>> Yesterday, a group of young ladies was trying to cross Washington from 
>> the
>
>> Anselm House corner to the new Co-op corner,  I was in the lane next to
>> the Co-op.  I stopped not only out of courtesy but because this group was
>> already in the lane closest to Anselm house -- it was thus legally
>> mandatory to stop.  A black SUV with Bluebird Idaho license plates in the
>> middle lane accelerated, narrowly missing the young ladies who had the
>> good sense to stop, and then pulled into my lane.
>>
>> Like Janesta, I have witnessed many violations of the pedestrian crossing
>> laws by arrogant, distracted (cell phones, babies, etc), and/or
>> inattentive drivers.  Some occur at 4th and Washington right by the MPD
>> station.  For a real adventure try using the crosswalk across Jackson 
>> near
>
>> the Daily News!
>>
>> Perhaps part of the solution is for the city council and MPD to educate
>> themselves on what "Pedestrian Friendly" really means.  The council could
>> then make policy recommendations to MPD and do the other things needed to
>> implement the "Pedestrian Friendly City" parameters.
>>
>> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
>> deco at moscow.com
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Janesta Carcich" <janestacarcich at yahoo.com>
>> To: "Andreas Schou" <ophite at gmail.com>; "Art Deco" <deco at moscow.com>
>> Cc: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 9:08 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Third Street Jam (was LMT Article)
>>
>>
>>>I challenge any of you to be a pedestrian crossing
>>> Third from the south to the North. The "walk" sign
>>> stays on exactly eight paces from the curb. That is
>>> eight paces of a lady 5'10", (prior to getting hit by
>>> a car, I haven't tried it using my cane yet) then the
>>> indicator turns to "don't walk". Cars are backed up,
>>> swerving around pedestrians still in the walkway,
>>> raring to save mere minutes in their trip to who knows
>>> where, and get through the intersection before the
>>> light changes.
>>>
>>> Many times, I have witnessed elderly people, mothers
>>> with small children in tow, as well as people with
>>> disabilities of all kinds, frantically attempting to
>>> cross the street so a car won't hit them. Ask me about
>>> getting hit by a car; it is no fun at all.
>>>
>>> This intersection is a huge mess, from a vehicle
>>> standpoint to the pedestrian standpoint....
>>>
>>> And someone wants to put a bridge in on Third Street?
>>> Someone in City   Hall thinks doing this will save
>>> time? I say someone, because I am not sure who has the
>>> idea to do this, (no I don't read the paper, or every
>>> post here) but in my opinion the idea is a VERY bad
>>> one.
>>>
>>>
>>> Janesta Carcich
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________
>>> Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005
>>> http://mail.yahoo.com
>>>
>>>
>>
>> _____________________________________________________
>> List services made available by First Step Internet, serving the
>> communities of the Palouse since 1994.   http://www.fsr.net
>> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>> ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
>
>
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
> 