[Vision2020] Re: Bike/Ped Transportation Options

[Nils Peterson]

Jeff,
Thanks for your efforts to remain in this conversation and to maintain a
constructive tone to the dialog. Recent discussion in another thread about
V2020 being doomed stems, I think, from incivility that has caused many to
respond more extremely than is warranted to various postings.

For myself, when someone in this conversation asked about taxing bike path
users, I tuned out. It was the tone of the post, or the choice of words, or
the V2020 climate -- and not the underlying question that turned me off. The
underlying question seems to me to be (as you seem to be asking), how do we,
as a society, pay for a shared resource, and are the current modes of paying
for it sustainable?

The issues you state below are interesting: How has the trail use been
assessed? what can be known about behaviors of non-users? How might the
trail (Latah or system generally) be further enhanced to meet its champion's
visions for it? What are those visions, do they compete? What funding
mechanisms are/ or might be found to address trail development and
maintenance?

Let me offer one personal reason for non-use. I walk with my 4 year old
daughter from west of Tidymans to points in Eastside Marketplace. We have
two routes: along the trail, crossing Hwy 8 to the dollar store and
diagonally through the parking lot from the Blaine/Hwy8 intersection. Each
has problems: the crossing of Hwy 8 with no crosswalk vs. use of a mall
parking lot not designed for pedestrians. In that situation, I'm a trail
non-user because I let my daughter pick among equally bad routes, rather
than being able to argue for, and choose, a clearly superior one. I think
Kit Crane called this problem "connectivity" to the trail. Joe Campbell
reported similar issues using the western leg of the trail to commute to
WSU.



On 6/3/06 9:51 AM, "vision2020-request at moscow.com"
<vision2020-request at moscow.com> wrote:

> Here is a summary of some of the trail issues that are important to me:
> 
> 1. Why are some walkers/bikers choosing to not use the Latah Trail
> when traveling east or west on Hwy 8 and/or Palouse River Drive?
> 2. If cause of non-use can be identified, is there something that can
> be done to entice those folks on to the trail?
> 3. Should additional investments in bike trails be encouraged?
> 4. If yes, why - if no, why not?
> 5. If more trails should be built in Latah County, what criteria
> should be used to determine where they should be built and who should
> pay for them?
> 6. Should the primary objective of an expanded trail system be to
> serve county/city residents as a transportation alternative to
> motorized travel?
> 7. Should the primary objective of an expanded trail system be to
> advance an economic development initiative that would attract bike
> enthusiasts and other tourists (e.g., the Wallen Bridge as a tourist draw).
> 8. If both objectives are important - how are conflicts to be resolved?