Negative input received on St. Louis Regional Bicycling and Walking Transportation Plan; your input needed to counteract it

According to Brian Horton of the East-West Gateway Council, bicyclists and pedestrians who want a more bike/ped friendly St. Louis need to stand up and let their voices be heard now!

This is a major plan to make every street in the entire St. Louis region more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. So far there have been only five comments given on the plan, and some of those were against it!

We can do better than that--and if we want a more bike-friendly Missouri, we must do better.

You can leave a comment in 5 minutes or less via East-West Gateway's online comment form.

The St. Louis Regional Bicycling and Walking Transportation Plan had piggybacked onto regional open houses for the Long-Range Plan held across the eight-county St. Louis region to facilitate greater public input.

To date, less than five comment forms have been received for the bike plan (more than ten times as many have been completed on the Long-Range Plan). Positive comments on the bike plan have included suggestions that we strive for above-average instead of catching up to average standards as well as support for complete the streets. But sadly, we have also received negative comments. Since many of those attending a joint forum on various transportation issues are motorists that rarely walk or cycle, we have seen some comments pointing to bike planning as "frivolous" in a time of dwindling funding resources for roadways. Of course, our staff at any meeting has stressed that roadways historically and increasingly are designed as multi-modal facilities accommodating cyclists and pedestrians as well as motorists, but sadly, many view even incidental accommodations, such as inexpensive striping or shared shoulders, as "frivolous."

Fortunately, there is one last meeting to attend and it's the most accessible location yet. Our last open house will be held Tuesday, March 1, 4 to 7:30 pm in Grand Center at the Third Baptist Church at the corner of Washington and North Grand (620 N. Grand) near the Fox Theatre. Our open house will be in their Johnson Hall meeting room.

Please try to attend this last open house. This location is just blocks north of the new Bike St. Louis routes on Lindell, and at the intersection of the Grand and Delmar Metro bus lines. If you cannot attend, go on-line to www.ewgateway.org, go to the Public Comments Requested section, and fill out a comment form [PDF format] to mail or fax today.

You can also post comments via an online form.

Again, thank you for voicing your support for helping our region not only catch up to average accommodations on our roadways but encouraging us to seek quality, interconnected transportation facilities for all travelers, whether driving, taking transit, walking, wheeling or biking.