Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

Make bike riding on major arterials safer
While the City has made great efforts to improve bicycle transportation and bicycle safety,
it should accelerate its effort to foster safe bicycle riding on major arterials and highways
such as: Old State Road 37, North Dunn Street, West 2 nd and West 3 rd , as identified in the
City’s Bicycle, Pedestrian and Greenways Plan and incorporated into the MPO’s 2030 Long­
Range Transportation Plan. It is imperative that local governments aggressively pursue
funding to build these projects as soon as possible.
8. Make bus transportation faster and more attractive
Bus Lanes
Likewise, dedicating a network of existing streets and lanes as bus lanes makes bus service
faster and more reliable. The City and BT should start exploring the cost and feasibility of
several fast east‐west and north‐south routes in which buses have priority. In the long
term, such bus lanes would ideally serve a considerable number of neighborhoods. In the
short term, the City should work with BT to secure funding for at least one east‐west and
one north‐south connection.
More bus line intersection
Another key improvement to transit is providing more opportunities for people to switch
between bus lines. More convenient and faster connections will cut down on travel time
and provide a better substitute for automobile travel. Planning for more sites of
intersection should commence now and be realized over the next 15 years. Possible ways
of accomplishing this are one or more circular routes that intersect with the existing
routes, or development of a system of routes that roughly follow a grid pattern.
9. Seek cooperation for trip consolidation.
The City of Bloomington should foster a spirit of cooperation between different private and
public entities in seeking out and identifying opportunities for trip consolidations and for
reductions in travel demands. For example: Meter reading for water, electricity, and gas
could be coordinated, and all these readings done on one trip, instead of three separate
ones.
Report of the Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force
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