Hendersonville Star News
City must look to alternative transportation Bike,
pedestrian trails could fill that need
By Jeremy Johnson,Staff Writer
Wednesday, 10/26/05
Hendersonville needs to promote alternative transportation methods within the city, according to members of two committees established to review bike and pedestrian trails.
In order to speak with a unified voice, the city’s Bike and Pedestrian committee has been absorbed by the Hendersonville Tomorrow subcommittee on bicycle and pedestrian trails said Hendersonville Tomorrow subcommittee Chairman Tom Evans.
While the committee is charged with laying out a bike and pedestrian plan for the city for the next 15 years, Evans said his group’s primary goal at this point was to ensure that the city’s existing five-year-old bike and pedestrian trail plan was being followed.
“They laid out a very comprehensive structure through Hendersonville. We’re starting with that as our baseline…They laid out great routes so at this point I’m not so interested in reinventing what they have already done,” Evans said.
The focus of the committee, he added, is to continue promoting the development of a city greenway system, as well as bike lanes and sidewalks throughout the city. The Tennessee Department of Transportation has recently started a similar initiative to make the state more bike and pedestrian friendly.
“Anything that the state is doing now, they have mandated bike and pedestrian lanes on those roads. We are following the lead by the department of transportation and want it to be something the city does also,” Evans said.
Bruce Day, the former vice chairman of the city’s previous Bike and Pedestrian Trail Committee, said bike and pedestrian trails should be thought of as transportation methods, as well as recreation. He added while building a greenway system is a good start, the city needs to take steps to ensure that alternate transportation routes such as bike lanes and sidewalks were available throughout the city.
“Greenways is a shorthand term we are using. Greenways are not strictly what we are talking about. It’s a good start but that should not be the end of it or the only focus. What we are really talking about now are bicycle lanes and paths and sidewalks,” Day said, adding the primary benefit of a greenway is providing a place for recreation.
“Its main benefit is to let people who are afraid of cars to get out and walk. It’s not a particularly good place for cyclists,” he said, adding that the amount of walkers on a greenway often make it difficult to maneuver bikes.
However, Day said greenways do provide a safe path for beginning cyclists to gain confidence before trying the open road.
“The first time a car rushes by you at 75 miles an hour you’ll say you’ll never do it again,” he said.
As Hendersonville continues to expand, Day said alternatives to driving will become more and more necessary, adding it is easier to promote and implement things like bike lanes and sidewalks as property is being developed.
“That’s a no brainer. And that means everything from safe routes to places for them to park their bikes when they get there. If you want to go east to west through Hendersonville now there is no good route.
The rule of thumb is people will walk a half mile or bike two miles to run an errand,” he said, adding that he has begun a practice of running all the errands he could with his bicycle.
“I cut my gas use in half,” he said.
Evans said the committee will also be looking at what other cities are doing to gather ideas of how to make the existing bike and pedestrian plan better.
The group has also established a web site at www.bikinhville.homestead.com so that citizens may review the current bike and pedestrian plan as well as view some of the committee’s ideas and provide feedback.
“What we’re doing is putting out everything so that everybody can see what the vision is now. We encourage feedback. We would like to have as many citizens involved as possible,” Evans said.
