City of Syracuse

The City of Syracuse’s Bike Plan arose from both the Complete Streets mandate recently passed by New York State, as well as foundational work laid out in the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council (SMTC)'s 2008 report, "University Hill Bike Network Project." It is considered to be a component of the Syracuse Comprehensive Plan.

The Department of Public Works and Bureau of Planning and Sustainability also used precedents from cities both nearby (New York City, NY and Montreal, QC) and far away (Portland, OR and Copenhagen, Denmark) where bicycles have an identity on the streets.

The intention of this document is to outline a vision for an interconnected bicycling network, provide a guide for implementation and appropriate treatments in the Syracuse climate, educate the public about the benefits of bicycling as a mode of travel, and overall make Syracuse a “cycle city.”

Below are various sections of the Syracuse Bike Plan. For ease of access, this plan is available as a single PDF download, as well as discrete chapters for individuals with specific interests.

The Bike Plan is currently under review by the Syracuse Planning Commission. There will be a public meeting on Monday, December 10th at 6PM at the City Hall Common Council Chambers regarding this document and other planning documents. After adoption by the Planning Commission, this document will be approved as official policy by the Syracuse Common Council.

The Syracuse Bicycle Plan (full document)

Executive Summary

Introduction

Chapter 1: Making the Case

This section contains information about the benefits of a cycle city. Each of these five sections is available to be printed as a stand-alone handout:

Economics

Health

Equity

Safety

Community

Chapter 2: Inventory Measures and Maps

This section contains the raw data (both quantitative and qualitative) and summary maps from which we built our analysis. The SMTC Bicycle Network Appropriateness Matrix was used as a template, and the data is broken into three general sections: Safety, Connectivity, and Design. The final composite maps are located in this section, with a complete set of inventory maps in Appendix A.

Treatment Map:	This map shows the blueprint for Syracuse’s bike network along with infrastructure recommendations. The treatments are described further in Chapter 3.
Priority Map:	This map shows the short-term to long-term ranking of implementation of the citywide network, with each corridor discussed further in Chapter 4.

Chapter 3: Tool Kit

The Tool Kit section explores a variety of designs and infrastructure changes needed to build a cycle city. This section is divided into Pathways (the network of lanes), and Parking (highlighting appropriate types of racks and lockers for bicycles).

Chaper 4: Neighborhood Recommendations

This section contains general recommendations for the City of Syracuse bike network as well as corridor-specific recommendations. The corridor-specific recommendations are divided by each of the eight TNT sections, and are viewable individually below. Recommendations are broken out by short-term to long-term priorities given their ranking and context within a connected bicycle network.

Downtown

Westside

Southside

Valley

Eastside

Eastwood

Northside

Lakefront

Appendix A: Inventory Maps

Appendix B: Public Participation

While not a part of the official document, for public consumption, all of the main public presentations for the Bike Plan are available below:

Public Presentation One – Wednesday, July 13, 2011 – 8:30 A.M. City Hall Commons Sustainability Showcase

Public Presentation Two – Wednesday, August 3, 2011 – 8:30 A.M. City Hall Commons Sustainability Showcase. At this meeting, preliminary designs were created to elicit general discussion about possible treatments. These designs were not included in the final plan, but remain available below.

> Syracuse Bike Corridor Design 1 - East Onondaga

> Syracuse Bike Corridor Design 2 - Genesee

> Syracuse Bike Corridor Design 3 - James Street/Eastwood

> Syracuse Bike Corridor Design 4 - Bellevue

> Syracuse Bike Corridor Design 5 - James Street/Downtown

> Syracuse Bike Corridor Design 6 - North Salina Street

Presentation to Common Council – Neighborhood Preservation Committee – Tuesday, July 31, 2012

If you have comments, question, edits, or suggestions, please contact
Paul S. Mercurio, Transportation Planner at (315) 448-8511 or pmercurio@ci.syracuse.ny.us .