Experts Gather for Walkable, Bikeable Speakers Panels
To help foster a better understanding of the challenges and solutions to creating more bike-and pedestrian-friendly places around the Tahoe Basin, TRPA in its capacity as the Tahoe Metropolitan Planning Organization (TMPO) hosted a transportation speakers’ panel series in 2012 to bring local planners and community leaders together with nationally-recognized bicycle and community planning experts. The experts also hosted a one-day bike and pedestrian design class for local planners and bicycling advocates to help raise the level of expertise in the Region.
As local governments move forward to create Area Plans to integrate with the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan, these concepts are being implemented in communities around the Basin to provide multiple environmental benefits. Reducing reliance on the private automobile will help clean Tahoe’s air and improve quality of life for residents and visitors. Fewer cars on the road also reduces the pulverizing of road sands, which produces the fine sediment that has caused a decline in Lake Tahoe’s world-famous clarity.
Guest speakers were Myles Rademan, director of information for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Park City, Utah, and Michael Ronkin, former bicycle and pedestrian program manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation who helped transform Portland into one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the nation.
TRPA facilitated these panels and workshops as part of the Regional Plan and Regional Transportation Plan updates.