Re: 19th Avenue Bikeway-Pedestrian Bridge and Multi-use Path

April 20, 2010
Joseph Perez
City of Phoenix
Street Transportation Department
200 W. Washington Street, 6th Floor
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Re: 19th Avenue Bikeway-Pedestrian Bridge and Multi-use Path

Dear Mr. Perez,

The Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists is the statewide bicycling advocacy and education representing thousands of bicyclists in the Valley and across the state of Arizona. We support the above named project, as designed, for a number of reasons. I’d like to offer just a few of the major points/arguments in favor of this project:

This project is sorely needed in order to safely connect a significant alternative mode transportation corridor which is part of the Phoenix Bikeway System. Currently, the Cave Creek Wash path is interrupted at this point for over 1/3 mile.
This project is greatly preferred to an at-grade crossing of 19th Avenue, due to safety benefits that it will provide to bicyclists and pedestrians, and is preferred to a below-grade crossing because a below-grade option is subject to flooding and lack of visibility creates more of a personal safety concern.
This project will benefit motorists as well as alternative mode users, as construction of an above-grade bridge means that all users can cross this point without interruption. An alternative such as a HAWK crossing on such a busy arterial would cause frequent stoppages of vehicular traffic, and would likely increase frictions between motorists and bicyclists. That is something the bicycling community would like to avoid.
A good portion of this project has been funded with Federal assistance. We believe that our community deserves our “fair share” of such funding, and the bicycling/alternative mode transportation community expects to be included in transportation enhancements (on a relatively very small scale) along with motorists. This project has been planned and approved since 2006. We believe it is essential to complete the project and not discard the planning, time and federal funding that the community has invested.

Thank you for the opportunity to register our support for this project!

Sincerely,

Robert A. Beane, President
Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists
PO Box 54488
Phoenix, AZ 85078-4488