Shorewood has created a number of plans over the years relating to pedestrian and bicycle issues, the most recent being the Village's 2015 Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan. The Plan was the result of many hours of hard work by many Village residents and officials, including but not limited to Tom Kuhlmann, Rachel Ellerman, Jerry Lynn, and Tyler Burkart.
But a lot has happened in the world since 2015. Since then there has been an increased use of eBikes and other "micromobility" means of getting around. And more people choosing to use such methods, or to bike or walk (especially as gas prices have risen to historic highs). The Village should (and likely will) start working on updating its 2015 Master Plan soon.
As we reach that stage, two questions naturally arise:
1. How has the Village done with implementation of the recommendations in the 2015 Plan?
2. What's missing from the 2015 Plan, that should be added to an updated plan?
As to implementation, we've made some progress, but we're not where we should be, at least not yet. For example:
- We still do not have any protected bike lanes in Shorewood.
- We have not yet constructed any “Greenway” streets in Shorewood with "bike boulevard" and pedestrian-enhancement features (even though the Master Plan called for the potential construction of such on Murray, Menlo, and Lake Bluff).
Vehicle speeds play a significant role in whether a pedestrian or bike rider will survive being hit by a vehicle. Recently, St. Paul and Minneapolis have reduced the "standard" speed limit on most city-owned residential streets (as opposed to arterials) down to 20 mph. If you've travelled in St. Paul or Minneapolis recently, you've seen lots of yard signs promoting the new speed limit, using the slogan "Twenty is Plenty. Slower is Safer" For additional info about this program/development, see this link. Is that an initiative that Shorewood's new Master Plan should call for?
If you are interested in being involved in working on, or advocating about, the new Master Plan, let me know. It's early stages in this project, but it is a project vital to the future of Shorewood, in several ways (health, safety, environment, housing-prices, business-success, etc.). A revised Master Plan is a project worth doing, and its important that it is done well, with input from folks throughout the Village.
