Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan :Cape seeks input on bike paths, sidewalks
The general public gets its first opportunity to interact with project leaders at a community workshop meeting for the city’s Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan on Wednesday at the Cape Coral Public Works building.
Consultants from Alta Design & Planning of Atlanta and city staff will conduct the meeting that runs from 5:30 p.m. -7:30 p.m. City staff applied for a Florida Department of Transportation grant through the Metropolitan Planning Organization to cover the $152,000 cost of the master plan process.
“We formed a Project Advisory Committee consisting of various stakeholders like Cape Coral Bike/Ped Club, Bike/Walk Lee and the county to meet and talk over ideas,” said Public Works Planning Manager Persides Zambrano. “The committee will have five meetings in addition to two interactive community workshops to come up with the master plan.”
The city’s current network of sidewalks and bike lanes has been created over many years and is still a work in progress. It made staff realize that in order to continue a master plan is needed.
To this point, the city has created many shared bike lanes along roadways by reducing travel lanes from two down to one. Many miles of paved pathways also were constructed giving riders more than 90 miles of interconnected routes throughout the city.
“The master plan provides a list of priorities so we can be more proactive going forward with input from the community,” said Zambrano.
Those attending this first workshop can expect to be guided through the process exercises, voice their opinions and contribute their wants and needs to make walking and cycling in Cape Coral both safer and more accessible.
The public can participate in the process online by visiting the city’s website. Go to www.capecoral.net and click on the Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan link on the home page. Click on the link to the Community Input Map and open the map with the link in the upper-right corner of the page. The map allows you to leave comments in four different areas – pedestrian, bicycle, transit and motorized categories.
Once the master plan comes together sometime in the fall Alta consultants then will assemble the findings and make a formal presentation to City Council.