Rochester Cycling Alliance

The Rochester Cycling Alliance relocated its January meeting to the site of a Public Hearing on a proposed $65 million Access390 project.  We learned a lot, and we’re urging our members to weigh in.  

This is one member’s public comment.  

NYSDOT needs to hear from each of us!

An Active Transportation Network
for the Rochester Multiversity.

Jon Schull, co-founder Rochester Cycling Alliance

With small  modifications, a proposed “Access 390″ highway project could bind Rochester’s three major universities with several multi-use trails and bikeways, and move us toward a future that is more ecological, economical, healthful, and energy-independent.  It could really happen…but we  have to ask for it!  The New York State Department of Transportation’s (NYSDOT)  is accepting  written comments from the public until January 31 (see below), and NYSDOT officials at the meeting seemed genuinely receptive to constructive suggestions backed up by citizen support.

This is a big opportunity!

Here’s what we need to keep in mind.  New York State is preparing to spend $65 million on highway interchanges for US 390 between Monroe Community College (MCC) and the  University of Rochester (UR).   UR may spend an additional $140 million on parking garages.  Pretty soon, you’re talking real money; on cars, ramps, and parking.  Let’s think carefully about this.

At a well-attended public hearing this week, NYSDOT indicated the project would have litte impact on the environment, and on bicycle and pedestrian transportation.   But we can do much better than that, for mere pennies on the dollar.  And given the benefits– transportation alternatives, parking mitigation, less dependence on foreign oil, less climate change, and addressing the “bright flight” of young people from our community–it would be irresponsible not to do more.

Here’s the opportunity.  (see map or  video)

View GreenRoute.kmz in a larger map

MCC and the University of Rochester are connected (almost!) via the historic Erie Canalway.  RIT and University of Rochester are connected (almost!) via the Lehigh Valley North Trail (LVNT).   And proceeding north from the intersection of the Erie Canalway and the LVNT, we already have a straight shot to Downtown Rochester, and (soon) to MCC’s new downtown campus.   By tying these pieces together, we could link the three largest schools in the “Rochester Multiversity” and set the stage for further developments that could eventually embrace and augment Rochester’s growing network of bike lanes and trails, the Town of Brighton’s emerging Bicycle Master Plan, planned developments at College Town near UR, and at City Gate, and include many other schools and universities in the region.

Two modifications to the proposed project would make all this possible.

Link MCC to Brighton and UR.  The Erie Canal defines the northern border of the MCC campus, and the southern border of UR to the west.  But you currently have to bike south (to Brighton Henrietta Townline Rd),  then east (to Clinton Ave)  then north to cross the canal (via Clinton) before heading west on the Erie Canalway Trail.  It’s an indirect, awkward, and automobile-heavy route.  And yet, there is already a hikeable but underused trail from the north side of MCC to the southern bank of the canal.

Modification 1:   Turn the hikeable trail from MCC to the Canal into a legitimate multi-use hiking and biking trail going west to Clinton and east to the East Henrietta bridge, and include ramps from the canalway to bike lanes that will allow riders to cross# and go north to the city, or go west along the Erie Canalway to UR, the City’s western wards, and county’s western suburbs.  Now, MCC cyclists would be able to bike tens of miles to the East and to the West (and UR) on the car-free Canalway, encountering automobiles only at bridge crossings.

Link UR to RIT.  It’s hard for automobile drivers to believe, and hard for casual cyclists to discover, but a beautiful trail connects the Erie Canalway at UR to Brighton Henrietta Town Line Road (across the street from the RIT Barnes and Noble at Park Point).  The Lehigh Valley North Section Trail  (LVNT) is a scenic 2.1 mile ride through woods and past ponds.  It has some rough spots and it’s poorly marked, but that’s easy to fix.

Modification 2.  Resurface and improve the LVNT, fix the curb cuts at East River Rd, put up a few signs, and declare victory.  The result: a car-free multi-use trail that connects RIT to the UR and MCC!

And then, celebrate the synergies.   All three schools would now have scenic and car-free routes to Downtown Rochester, and would all benefit from a further bit of good fortune.     When the Erie Lackawanna Bridge reopens this Fall as a bike/ped bridge, cyclists will be able to proceed north from the LVNT and the Canalway, through Genesee Valley Park or the UR campus, and along either side of the river, along scenic and strategic bikeways that will rejuvenate neighborhoods, and also mitigate parking pressures on our campuses and downtown.

Rochester’s destiny is tied to its universities.  Bike-friendly cities like Portland, OR Minneapolis, and Milwaukee have demonstrated, and this past spring’s Greater Rochester Active Transportation Symposium indicated that modest investments in active transportation infrastructures bring spectacular economic and social payoffs.  Let’s use the 390 interchange project to turn such insights into action.

Done right, this project can make our region proud, our nation strong, and our children healthy.

As mentioned earlier, NYSDOT is accepting public comment on the project until January 30, and all the project documentation is online.   They need to hear from us!   Please  send your comments about PIN-439017 by email to  hressel@dot.state.ny.us or via the NYSDOT webpage at  https://www.dot.ny.gov/access390/outreach.

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P.S.  One more note.  The plans presented at the public meeting include an at-grade intersection–and potential accident zone–where a new looping ramp at W. Henrietta would cross the bike access trail coming up from the Erie Canalway.  This problem can be avoided by re-routing the bike access trail around the outside of the looping ramp, or by creating a new exit from the Canalway into a low-traffic parking area at Monroe Community Hospital Dr 5.