Response from Tempe City Council Candidate Joel Navarro – Tempe Election 2012

The board of Tempe Bicycle Action Group recently sent questions to all of the candidates for Tempe Mayor and City Council prior to the upcoming election, so that the voters of Tempe can hear the candidate’s positions on cycling and cycling related issues.

Responses from all of the candidates can be found here: https://www.biketempe.org/tempe-election-bicycle-qa-candidates-responses/

Response from City Council Candidate Joel Navarro:

1. Do you ride a bicycle on the valley area roads/trails and why?

Yes I have a road bike that I ride on the valley streets for purpose of general transportation or to train for triathlons.

2. Do you think cycling in Tempe is safe for you, your family members and friends? What would do to improve the safety of the cycling environment?

Tempe is one of the valleys highest bike users and we need to continue to make strides in providing better pathway systems to enhance safety and connectivity.   For the most part I feel safe riding my bike in Tempe along with my kids.  However, we do utilize the pathway system quit a bit to avoid the main roads.   I feel on some of our roads we could reduce a lane of traffic to provide a wider bike path for added safety.

3. What have you done or worked on in the past that shows your record of being involved in bicycle safety or road/trail improvement campaigns? Please elaborate.

I have been a voice of the council in advocating for more pathway systems that are off the main roadways and providing better connectivity to other parks, schools and to our down town area.  I have started plans to work with rail road right of ways to see if an adjacent bike path system can be implemented.  This will provide better connectivity from north to south Tempe.

Specific improvements in Tempe:

4. Where do you think cycling fits in Tempe or any city’s transportation infrastructure and planning?

The biking system is just one peace of the multimode transportation system and it need to provide better connectivity to the rest of the transportation network.  This increases better quality of life in Tempe.

5. Many streets in Tempe do not have bike lanes (Broadway Road, Rural Road, McClintock Drive, Southern Avenue) and are not comfortable for any users other than automobile drivers. What measures would you support to improve the state of bike lane frequency in Tempe (i.e. road diets, shared spaces for bikes/buses, increased bike lanes)?

I am all for investigating if better bike lanes can be utilized on our major roadways.

6. How will you work with ADOT to obtain more bicycle and pedestrian facilities adjacent to and over the local freeway system like Country Club Way and Alameda Drive?  Bicyclists have requested freeway crossings at Alameda and the I-10 and the Western Canal and I-10 and Balboa and 101 etc…

Freeways crossings in key areas are vital for better connectivity and safety for pedestrian and bicyclists.  We need to investigate and prioritize needs as budgets start to improve.  I will always be an advocate for Tempe to be the leader in multimode transportation with better connectivity that improves quality of life.

7. The Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is surrounded by roadway devoid of bike lanes. How would you make the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport accessible by bike?

Connectivity to the airport would be interesting.  My first thought would be to investigate extending the north side bike path of the Tempe Town Lake to have access into the airport.  This would open interesting discussions to see what the possibilities are.  With relationships that I already have intact with airport personal, a discussion could be easily started.

Tempe’s cycling image in the US

8. How would you increase Tempe’s standing in the broader bicycle community? For example, how would you help Tempe grow from its “silver” status with the League of American Bicyclists to a “platinum” status?

More pathway that are off the road ways will help us achieve platinum status.  Example like a north and south connection utilizing right of ways next to rail road tracks.