On Thursday, December 4th from 6pm – 8pm at DIG (640 Ellicott Street), the City of Buffalo and GObike Buffalo will be hosting public meeting to discuss the future of biking in Buffalo. The topic is the Citywide Bicycle Facility Master Plan. This is the second public meeting intended to formulate a short and longterm plan to develop new paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks and neighborhood greenways throughout the city.
Nationally recognized bicycle planning firm Alta Planning + Design has also been brought onboard to analyze the city’s bike infrastructure and help create a plan that best suits the street grid, climate, corridors between neighborhoods, etc.
“As our city continues to transform, with over $5 billion in new economic development activity underway, we continue to invest in lifestyle amenities, like bicycling,” said Mayor Brown as he highlighted this strong collaboration, with funding provided by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the New York State Department of Transportation. “As Buffalo continues to see the growth in cycling and its positive impact upon our local economy, health and environment, it is important for our city to continue to develop safe complete streets – prioritizing future investments and identifying best practices for maintaining our current network.”
It is imperative that cyclists attend this public meeting, as they are the ones that continually navigate streets and realize where the pitfalls are found. We need to develop further connectivity and safer streets in order to grow bike culture in Buffalo.
Justin Booth, Executive Director of GObike Buffalo stated, “The intent of the second meeting is to bring the community together to provide the consultant team more detailed input to determine key roadways to form a city-wide bicycle network; aspirational treatments on identified networks to make the roadways safe; and which roadways should be prioritized.”
“Indicative to the growth of bicycling is the number of bicycle parking requests received by the city from businesses,” said Steven J. Stepniak, Commissioner of Department of Public Works.
Quackenbush Company has been retained, along with the welding expertise of metal artisan Sarah Fonzi, to design and fabricate an additional 110 bike racks throughout the city. If you own a business in Buffalo that is in need of a bike rack, you are encouraged to call 311, or fill out an online request form that can be found here.
For more information on the Citywide Bicycle Facility Master Plan, to review the existing conditions report and preview the draft network plan maps, visit www.buffalobikeplan.org.