| 5/11/2008 - Group working to put Chautauqua County biking on the map
By TRACY RZEPKA
OBSERVER Lifestyles Editor
If it's up to a group called the Built Environment Team, Chautauqua County will become a biking mecca.
And why not, when our own backyard is a good match for cyclists? So says Sheila Lesniowski.
"We have the natural recreational resources and all of these great routes," said Lesniowski, a specialist of business development for the Chautauqua County Visitor's Bureau.
She and a group of people across the county want to make the area more user friendly when it comes to the two-wheeled form of fitness.
The short-term goal is to make maps of bike routes easily obtainable on one Web site. The long-term vision is to develop the county's recreational resources for not only local residents, but visitors.
The team is an outgrowth of Chautauqua County Steps to a HealthierNY, a five-year cooperative agreement program funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is meant to help Americans live longer, better and healthier lives by providing funds to implement chronic disease prevention efforts.
Lesniowski is joined by representatives from the Chautauqua County Health Network, county Planning Department and Department of Public Facilities, Steps to HealthierNY, county executive's office, Rails to Trails, city of Jamestown, county Office for the Aging, village of Westfield and bike shop owners. They first met in January and are now in the midst of a multi-year plan.
As Lesniowski said, the aim is to "clean the streets and polish what's already there."
Their first task is to pull together bike routes currently in existence.
Hollyloft Ski & Bike has its own routes. Dave Dennis of Lake Country Bike, based in North East, Pa., has his list of "Wine Country Cycling Routes" available online.
Then there's the village of Westfield Recreation Department, which has three main routes for the annual Tour of Chautauqua Bike Ride, with one route featured each year. Each course combination has five routes of varying distance, ranging from 25 to 100 miles.
"They have the county map that shows hiking trails. I think they're already out there," said Venn Blakely, recreation coordinator for the village of Westfield.
But as for the average person looking to track down a map of options for biking routes? Not so easy.
"I would say there's not any good ones — nothing like this (being compiled) available," Blakely said. "Mostly right now it's special events. Or you can stop at a bike shop and ask for advice."
All together, about 10 routes have been counted. The initial step is gathering stakeholders to ensure all are correct before creating a master map site.
"We're probably stepping off with three of them — three primary routes we'll focus on," Lesniowski said. "One is the Seaway Trail along Route 5, another is called the Century Tour, which includes the Westfield area, and then we're working on a tour that takes people on the lake (Chautauqua)."
Also being devised is a classification system. Routes will be "called out," as Lesniowski said, so bikers "don't go where they shouldn't go, or beyond their abilities."
Blakely and other route experts were asked to rate each one based on difficulty. The information will be compiled into a brochure and posted on the Web site to provide a more comprehensive view.
"Sometimes it's very hard to know exactly what these routes are and where they go," Lesniowski said.
Blakely's lettering system is derived from the amount and complexity of hills. "For instance, the worst hill goes up Ellery landfill. I rated that as my most difficult," he said. "The easiest is Silver Creek and Cherry Creek, where there's the least amount of hills."
The project will also point out bike-friendly locations, including bike shops.
"An example is the Boardwalk Market, which will have a bike shop," Lesniowski said. "It will be a wonderful stopping point of the Seaway Trail."
A late summer/early fall online posting is the target for the completed compilation. Ideas are already floating around about creating new routes. A "Lucy" bike tour, for instance, was mentioned at a meeting this past week, which could take riders along legendary comedienne Lucille Ball's stomping grounds, from Jamestown to Celoron. A need for family-friendly routes has also been discussed.
In the meantime, Lesniowski is drawing businesses into the endeavor, such as hotels and restaurants, with the goal of having them supply bike repair kits and racks.
"My position is for conferences and groups to come into the region and discover what's going on here," she said.
Saying cyclists are eager to find two- and three-day tours, she added, "It is a tourist niche market. It definitely is something that is going to build our recreational resources.
"That is a 20-percent focus of my business development for the county — developing and calling attention to recreational resources. Cycling is one of the markets within it."
Beyond mapping, the team is looking to provide proper signage to identify the routes.
Attention is also being turned toward improving roads for the safety of cyclists.
"We are in the preliminary stages. We're talking about widening the shoulders to accommodate bicycle routes," said George Spanos, director of the Chautauqua County Department of Public Facilities.
To seek federal grants for such a project, the group needs a municipality to be the lead agency. Spanos and his department will serve as that agency when applying for a Transportation Enhancement Program grant, due by the end of June. The federal reimbursement program is under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) and administered by the New York Department of Transportation.
"If we are successful with the grant, we will have appropriate funds to pave the five-foot shoulder along existing roadways," Spanos said, explaining grant monies could be applied to county roads integral to the routes.
Other long-term goals of the Built Environment Team include involving highway departments and law enforcement in ensuring bike paths are kept clear.
Comments on this article may be sent to trzepka@observertoday.com For more information on Chautauqua Lake Real Estate & Living visit: www.chautauqualakehomes.com
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