PTNY Helps Troy Envision a Bike-Friendly Future
After a 9-month planning process culminating with Troy City Council adopting the plan as part of the city’s comprehensive plan, PTNY recently finalized the Troy Bicycle Connections Plan. It is a guide for city officials, advocates, and interested residents and business owners. As the name implies, a major focus of the plan is to connect existing bicycle facilities, such as bike lanes and the Uncle Sam Bikeway, to create a viable transportation network for bicyclists.
To create the plan, PTNY used best practices from across the United States to assemble a bikeway network that accommodates the comfort level and abilities of all current and future bicyclists. The network outlined in the following pages consists of three bikeway types - primary, secondary, and neighborhood bikeways. Each bikeway type responds to roadway characteristics, such as traffic volumes, speeds, and connectivity to parks, trails, schools, workplaces, and business districts, that help appropriately categorize it. Primary Bikeways have the highest levels of traffic, oftentimes because they are the most direct routes to important destinations. Secondary Bikeways, too, can have high traffic volumes and high connectivity, though they usually serve important destinations less directly. Neighborhood Bikeways, which are usually residential streets, are the least connected and therefore have the lowest traffic volumes.
The recommended bicycle facility for each bikeway type takes into account the level of comfort and safety of bicyclists; so Primary Bikeways will have more protection recommended than Secondary and Neighborhood Bikeways. To accommodate flexibility and encourage innovative solutions, there is no single recommendation for each bikeway type. The plan also includes a cutting-edge tool that the City of Troy can use to determine the appropriate treatment for each street. In addition to bikeway treatments, the Troy Bicycle Connections Plan makes recommendations for bicycle parking, which is a necessary component of any well-developed cycling network.
Throughout the planning period, PTNY conducted extensive public outreach which included an active project website and a 1-day demonstration project complete with temporary protected bike lanes, a painted bike lane, and a neighborhood bikeway in the city’s Little Italy neighborhood. The demonstration project gave residents a chance to experience the benefits of the infrastructure proposed in the plan first hand and provide feedback on what worked and what could change.
The Plan prioritizes ten projects that the City of Troy should undertake within the next 3-5 years to jumpstart the network. PTNY also provided facility recommendations and corresponding cost estimates for each priority project.
PTNY recognizes that creating a world-class cycling city is a challenging undertaking, requiring continued community involvement and political will. However, by creating a shared community vision and identifying short- and long-term priorities for improving bicycle connectivity, this guide gives Troy the necessary framework and tools to become a place where bicycling is safe, enjoyable, and efficient for all ages and abilities.
Click here to view the full plan.