Bikeways Committee Meeting 08/22/2018

August 22, 2018 Joint Meeting of Harwich and Chatham Bikeways Committees

5 p.m., Chatham Community Center, 702 Main Street, Chatham, MA 02633.

Attendees:  Fran Salewski, Paul Gazaille, Andrew Docken - Harwich.  John O'Toole, Steve Wardle, Sam Carpenter - Chatham.

Topics covered

PRELIMINARY:

The Minutes from the July 18, 2018 Joint Meeting of the Harwich and Chatham Bikeways Committees were approved.

"ON YOUR LEFT" CAMPAIGN, viz, SHARING THE TRAIL:

The Committees acknowledged the sometimes crowded nature of trail(s).  Prompted by John, the attendees discussed possible development of a campaign focusing on encouraging users to share the trail, perhaps with a "on your left"-type slogan.  Fran indicated that he hoped Harwich would do signs in this vein, and it was generally acknowledged that this campaign could be a joint project.

TRAIL USAGE AND GAUGING / CALCULATING USAGE:

Members expressed a hope that perhaps a "count' could be done sometime in September to calculate trail usage.  Several methods of counting or achieving a calculation were discussed (including the senior citizen-doing-town-biz-tax-credit program, the use of committee members and/or other volunteers, the possible borrowing of the CC Commission counter).  It was thought that a count could include variables such use (or not) of helmets, direction of travel, etc.  It was thought that the CC Commission had tracked a few recent 12-hour periods, and John indicated that he would do some more digging vis-a-vis this subject.

OCRT 20th ANNIVERSARY RIDE:

Fran provided an update re. the upcoming 20th Anniversary OCRT ride.  On Sunday, September 16, as part of the Cranberry Harvest Festival, the Ride would leave Brooks Park at 11:00 a.m. and go to George Ryder Road (in Chatham, just west of Chatham Municipal Airport) and back.  Assistance / volunteers will be needed at this "turn around" area to direct participants back toward Brooks Park.  Water bottles (donated by the Cranberry Festival Committee) will be provided gratis to all participants at the conclusion of the ride.  Aspiring to have 100 participants, the group has ordered 150 water bottles.

Any and all assistance with advertising and spreading the word re. this ride was requested.  Steve indicated that the OCRT Facebook page would be one such venue.  The members also discussed requesting that various local municipal entities (Harwich PD, Harwich FD, Chatham PD, Chatham FD) reference the ride on their respective FB pages.  Attending boards of selectmen meetings was also suggested as a viable arena for making such an announcement.

OCRT MAP POTPOURRI:

Steve reported that the final pdf of the OCRT map is almost finished.  Some final touches included eliminating culs-de-sac and dead-ends, softening some edges, sharpening some contrasts, adding attribution(s),etc.  

The attendees acknowledged that printing is the next phase in the new map development.  Fran, Paul, and John had collected various quotes re. printing costs.  It was also suggested that one inquire whether CC Tech would be willing / able to assist.  The attendees acknowledged that it would make fiscal sense to order a large quantity of maps (as price does not rise commensurate with quantity ordered).  It was planned to acquire the 3 lowest bids for 5,000 copies with 80-lb paper.

FACEBOOK PAGE:

Steve indicated that the FB page status update and discussion would be deferred to the next meeting.

OCRT WEB SEARCHES:

Andrew and John agreed that their report on OCRT web searches would be continued until the September meeting.

ASIDES / CLOSING:

The next joint Harwich / Chatham Bikeways meeting was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, September 25, 2018 at 5 pm in Harwich.