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Inaugural Meeting

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Mansfield Bicycle Advocates

Notes from the meeting held on 10/1/14 at the Nash-Zimmer Transportation Center

Attending: L. Hultgren, S. Santasiere, M. Dean, T. Weinland, D. Palmer, R. Manizza

  1. Several acronyms were suggested and discussed for naming our bicycle advocates group, including FIRM (the Future Is Riding in Mansfield), WARRIORS (Walk & Ride Roads In Our Region Safely), CHEETAH (Cycling Here for Environment, Energy, Transportation And Health), BAGMAN (Bicycle Advisory Group in MANsfield), FOB (Friends Of Bicyclists), RIM (Ride in Mansfield), BIM (Bicycle in Mansfield), WABIM (Walk And Bike In Mansfield), and MOBIKE (which I can’t remember the words to). Nobody was ready to adopt any of these so this item was continued to future thought and discussion.
  1. Topics for bicycle related workshops were discussed and the following starting list was agreed upon. Hultgren will submit this to the Mansfield Parks and Recreation Director to see if a workshop series can be developed using these as content. Suggested speakers include local and regional bike shop staffers, bike equipment reps, regional/state bike planners, biking state police, bicycle friendly community reps, League of American Bicyclists reps.
  • Bike safety and rules of the road
  • Bike riding techniques (road, off-road, solo, groups, etc.)
  • Bike maintenance
  • The latest on bicycles and bicycle equipment; purchasing a bike
  • Bike routes in Mansfield
  • Planning bike activities in Town – roadeos, parades, etc.
  • Bike advocacy and public education
  1. Specifics for the recommendations for sharrows and additional bike racks in Storrs Center were developed using a map of the area. These will be given to the Town with a request to implement them ASAP. There were about 15 suggested sharrows (including 3 for the future when Wilbur Cross Way reopens), generally one in each direction for each road segment in the Center. We all also agreed that sharrows should be used to mark the Town’s bike routes (at the share the road signs) as well.

The areas for additional (concentrated) bike racks were:

  • the NW, SW & NE corners of the Town Square;
  • the NE corner of the parking garage (to serve the Eastern Dog Lane area);
  • on 195 North of 1 Dog Lane (UConn property);
  • between and behind 1 and 9 Dog Lane;
  • other locations to serve the newly constructed buildings as they are opened.
  • Hoop style racks were recommended over the older “slide-in” type of racks.

As the hour was late, the recommendations for additional bike routes to the Town’s bike route list/map was postponed to the next meeting which was set for the 6:30 on the 1st Wed of November (Nov 5th) in the NZTC.