Planning to Get Around Platteville

The City of Platteville has received a planning grant allowing the Community Safe Routes Committee to work with Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SWWRPC) in improving the City’s bicycle and pedestrian plan. The PCA has been invited to be involved in the planning of this bike/pedestrian system. A joint meeting was held in August to review maps, discuss what should be preserved, changed, expanded, and/or improved upon in our current system, and discuss the vision for the future bike/ped system. This is a complex idea that will take years to create.

Areas of consideration include reviewing the 2009 Safe Routes to School plan, collecting and mapping crash data, mapping student population, identifying sidewalk gaps and risk areas, and identifying the City’s long range bike/pedestrian vision. PCA will encourage connectivity around the city and to the David Canny Rountree Branch Trail in order to continue our mission to connect the Platteville community to the Rountree Branch corridor, through recreation, conservation and environmental education.

Community engagement meetings have been conducted by SWWRPC and included focus groups for Jenor Towers, Platteville Township, Platteville Schools, UW-Platteville, Seniors, Cyclists and Trail Users, and a Public Open House. The maps in this article were unveiled at the December 14th Open House at City Hall.

Next, SWWRPC will incorporate the feedback gathered into a draft plan. The draft will then be presented to the Community Safe Routes and PCA joint group. Discussions of the draft plan will take place, revisions will be made, the joint committee will approve and recommend the plan, and it will be sent to the Common Council for approval.