(Dear Citizen)

If you consider protecting the existing utility of Shoal Creek Boulevard as the only viable long-distance north-south bicycle route in the city to be "slighting the neighbors and the community", then feel free to do so. Personally, were this not such a critical component of our bicycle network (a major arterial for bikes, if you will), then I really wouldn't be interested in battling the neighborhood on this one. However, since it _is_ so important, my opposition is based on my desire to serve the transportation interests of the city, and not merely one small component thereof.

Your interests are obviously different, and that's fine; it's the job of our City Council to sort out these types of disagreements.

And we've checked on Mr. Gandy's facts, such as "they did a project like this in Waco" (Tommy Eden, my fellow commissioner, found out that the Waco project was not similar enough to merit such a claim, and even so, is being removed due to a drastically poor real-world performance); "we did something like this in Seattle" (the bike/ped coordinator checked with her counterpart in Seattle and got a very different story); etc.

Finally, the prior definition of Shoal Creek as a "minor arterial" is certainly supported by the definition, which is: "A secondary facility to meet local access and circulation requirements. Low priority is given at significant intersections.". (Source: Williamson County bond package definitions: http://www.roadbonds.org/definitions3.html#Minor)

However, even as a collector, as I pointed out, it is standard practice to restrict on-street parking, as done in Eugene Oregon

http://www.ci.eugene.or.us/PW/trans/ACSP/27_40.pdf

"Collectors provide for both mobility and access to property and are designed to fulfill both functions. They usually serve shorter trip lengths and have lower traffic volumes than arterial streets. Collector streets are also used as important emergency response routes and are frequently used as transit routes. Major collector streets can be found in residential, commercial and industrial areas. Typically, major collectors have greater right-of-way and paving widths, and wider traffic lanes than neighborhood collectors. Major collectors frequently have continuous left turn lanes and are normally provided with sidewalks, planting strips, and striped bike lanes; provision for on-street parking varies by location."

In standard practice, it is very odd to have a street which continues through as long as Shoal Creek Boulevard declared as a collector of any kind; and it certainly does not serve a primary purpose of collection in Austin; it actually serves multiple neighborhoods and meets most other qualifications for a minor arterial. As I claimed, it is either a minor arterial or one of the biggest major collectors we have; to continue the practice of labelling it as a "residential street" is misleading as this implies that it serves no through traffic or even collection traffic.

(Sincerely)