JACKSON, Wyo. — Pathways Director Brian Schilling brought recommendations about pathway safety and e-bike usage to the Town Council during their recent Monday afternoon workshop. The Council approved the implementation of five of the recommendations, with two additional recommendation contingent on outside funding.
The recommendations include education, regulatory and infrastructure measures. the table below depicts the safety measures along with staff recommendations, which the council opted to follow.
Outreach at Jackson Hole Middle School is estimated to cost $15,700 in the first year. Chicane gates, which would force users to slow down when entering high traffic zones or slow zones will cost $34,830. Adding 15-mph speed limit signs and enforcement from JPD on the pathways will cost $59,640 in the first year and $140,820 over five years. Guidelines and etiquette signage will cost $16,190 to implement in the first year.
Schilling explained that these items could be implemented by spring 2023 but would require a budget amendment.
Item seven, which recommends pavement resurfacing gave the Council pause. The estimated cost to change aspects of the surface and color of the pathway is $210,000. The Council was comfortable including it in their motion, contingent on the funds being raised externally. The Council also opted to make item 2b, bike shop outreach, contingent on outside funding. Councilmember Jim Rooks suggested seeking funding from the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board because outreach at the bike shops would target mostly tourists renting bikes and e-bikes.
During the meeting, Councilmember Jonathan Schechter asked about the metrics used to determine the need for these regulations.
Schilling explained that “evaluation is challenging, time-consuming and very difficult to truly judge how effective something is.”
“I have heard about injuries and crashes, locally. There have been no fatalities locally but there have been fatalities around the country. Just hearing the public discussion about this it’s a huge issue,” Schilling said.
Most of the support for implementing new regulation on the pathways seem to come from anecdotal accounts.
“One of the things that we do hear is that some of the other users of the pathway system, the people we want to make this pathway system accessible to, they are now afraid to use the pathway system and that’s very disturbing to hear that. We want to change that. Everyone wants to change that,” Schilling said.
Schechter noted that a lot of the community discussion has focused on middle school-aged e-bike users. He asked if there was a possibility for the town to require licenses for e-bike users.
Schilling explained that the middle school requires a parking sticker for e-bikes so the kids have to pass a test and e-bike safety course.
Jackson Police Chief Michelle Weber was present at the meeting and explained that the police department requires permits for class 1,2 and 3 e-bikes. Owners must fill out a form that is kept on file at the police department. Following a question from Vice Mayor Arne Jorgensen, Weber clarified that the permit process does not include any testing or training requirements.
Rooks brought up concerns about citing young people in the community. “I think there are opportunities to engage juveniles without citing them with natural logical consequences,” he said. Rooks suggested a point of contact could be called, like a parent or guardian and community service could be given to repeat violators but he wants to keep kids out of the juvenile justice system.
Mayor Morton Levinson closed the discussion on the item, reiterating a message from Katherine Dowson, executive director of Friends of Pathways. “We want to educate and make regulations before the accidents happen and not regulation after an accident,” Morton Levinson said. Adding, “I thought that [comment] was very impactful and is what we are doing here.”
