Safety improvements top city pedestrian plan requests

Folks who walk and ride bicycles in town want greater connectivity and safety improvements to Whitefish’s bike and pedestrian systems, according to input received as part of an update of the city’s bicycle and pedestrian plan.

WGM Group, the consultant hired by the city of Whitefish, recently completed the community engagement process as part of creating the new master plan.

The process was meant to identify issues with the current bicycle and pedestrian system and indicate priority projects and improvements wanted.

According to WGM, the most requested bicycle improvements included more bike paths, better route connections, more bike lanes, routes that avoid heavily congested areas and better driver awareness of bicyclists.

Survey participants who indicated they walked in Whitefish would like to see more paths, better driver awareness of pedestrians, better enforcement of snow removal from sidewalks, more visually pleasing places to walk and more sidewalks.

For the roughly 420 people who participated in an online survey, the top locations they biked or walked to were downtown businesses, City Beach, Whitefish Trails or at a friend or family member’s house.

In addition to the online survey, the community engagement process included two community meetings, an outreach event at the Downtown Farmer’s Market and a Facebook page. At the community meetings and Farmer’s Market participants were asked to identify issues with the current system and possible improvements by marking information on maps of Whitefish. The feedback from all three outreach events identified common issues and priorities recognized by the various participants.

Once completed, the document will help guide city decision-makers in creating and maintaining bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in Whitefish over the next 20 years. The plan looks at the current state of bicycle and pedestrian options, uses input from the community to choose priorities, and then offers suggestions on how to achieve the selected goals and priorities.

The city adopted its current bicycle and pedestrian master plan in 1998 and adopted amendments to the plan in 2003 and 2007.

WGM is now working on a draft bicycle and pedestrian master plan, which is expected to be available for review later this summer.

Updates will be posted at www.facebook.com/whitefishbikepedplan and www.cityofwhitefish.org.