TDOT Bike/Ped Conference Call - 10/16/13

I.       Multimodal Access Fund- Update         

II.     US Bike Route 23- Update

III.  LAB Bicycle-friendly state survey

IV. TN small towns aim to be more walkable/bikeable

V.    TN River Trail Bike/Ped Master Plan

VI.  Additional Comments/Wrap-Up

I.       Multimodal Access Fund- Update

The grant cycle for Multimodal Access fund applications is now open.  A call for projects was announced on October 23^rd.  This grant is 95% State with a 5% Local match and the maximum project award is $1,000,000.  Projects must be submitted to RPOs/MPOs and they in turn can submit up to two projects to TDOT (due December 20^th).  For more information on the grant, please visit our webpage at:  http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/publictrans/fund.htm

           

II.     US Bike Route 23- Update

AASHTO has announced that they have approved the designation of USBR 23 in Middle TN.  A special thanks to Bruce Day and Dave Shumaker with Bike Walk TN for doing the legwork and making this a reality. 

http://www.adventurecycling.org/about-us/media/press-releases/new-us-bicycle-routes-approved-in-maryland-and-tennessee/

III.  LAB Bicycle-friendly state survey

Applications for this year’s state survey are due January 31^st.  I may be contacting some of you individually for answers to questions.

IV. TN small towns aim to be more walkable/bikeable

TDOT has received an increasing amount of requests from small towns and rural communities on how to make their town more walkable and bikeable.  Cumberland Region Tomorrow will soon be working with TDOT and other interested stakeholders across the state to develop training on how local communities can adopt and implement complete streets policies.

V.    TN River Trail Bike/Ped Master Plan

            The Greater Nashville Regional Council was awarded $500,000 in FHWA’s Scenic Byway funding to produce a bike and pedestrian facilities master plan along the TN River Scenic byway.  It will identify multimodal opportunities to access water-related and outdoor recreation activities, address byway safety improvements, roadside enhancement needs, and develop bike/ped and interpretive facilities promoting outdoor recreation activities. 

VI.             Additional Comments/Wrap-Up

• TDOT is currently updating Tennessee’s 25-Year Long-Range Transportation Plan and are requesting feedback from citizens in order to develop a long-term vision for transportation in TN.  The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and there a couple of questions regarding bicycling and walking so I would encourage you to participate.  Here is a link to the survey:

http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/transportationplan/survey.shtml