The Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization’s policy board voted to accept the Morgantown Regional Bike & Pedestrian Plan on Thursday.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the plan, which has been more than a year in the making and includes recommendations for 92 miles of bike lanes of varying configurations, 40 miles of new and repaired sidewalks, 120 new crosswalks and 94 pedestrian ramps.
While it ultimately passed on a 9-2 vote, including one abstention, the matter opened with County Commission President Tom Bloom moving that it be voted on in two separate parts — the pedestrian plan and the bike plan.
The commissioner has explained that he believes the focus should be on roads and pedestrian access, not infrastructure for cyclists.
Bloom’s motion would ultimately fail on a 6-6 split.
Bloom and fellow County Commissioner Ed Hawkins would end up voting against the plan. Westover representative Janice Goodwin abstained but did not offer a reason why.
All told, the plan includes more than 400 recommendations — including cost estimates — for improving bike and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure and connectivity in Morgantown, Westover, Star City, Granville and portions of the county.
The document, compiled by Alta Planning and Design, came at a cost of $266,000. About 90% of that was covered by state and federal highways funds. The rest was provided by Morgantown, Monongalia County, WVU and Westover.
“Really what we’ve done is identify where the problems are, where the missing links are and how best we can put them together so we have a comprehensive network — not simply seeking to put bike lanes and sidewalks everywhere — because that’s not the best use of taxpayer money,” MPO Executive Director Bill Austin explained.
Austin and other members of the body were quick to point out the plan is simply a guide and that any project undertaken would have to be individually engineered and funded — meaning the body is going to have to come up with a list of priority projects out of the hundreds included.
“We’ll come back in December and set the priorities within that body of work, and those priorities will be those things that we’ll try to seek funding for,” WVU representative Ron Justice said.
Austin explained that projects prioritized by the plan stand a much higher chance of receiving federal transportation alternative program, or TAP, grant funding, “which is the primary funding source for these types of projects.”
Additional information about the bike and pedestrian plan is available at bikewalkmorgantown.com.
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