Month: January 2020

Monday being a holiday, everyone can enjoy the newly-cleared paths across the city due to the additional money in the city budget. This our first test of having paths cleared on the weekend and holidays, and Friday’s snowstorm was the perfect test. Can you imagine waiting until Tuesday to have tour paths cleared? Two TV stations also covered this new service, after the city issued a press release, but we’ve all been very excited to have the paths treated as well as local streets.

The Greenbush Neighborhood Association has a survey on traffic issues along Vilas Park Drive as part of the master plan for the park. We were specifically asked to share it with bicyclists, since this is an important route for a lot of people. You can access the survey here. Although originally planned to run through the end of the month, they will probably extend that deadline. Feel free to pass it on to your networks and other groups.

The week ahead

There’s not too much happening in city meetings, but there are some great classes and community events this week. It looks like everything is happening on Wednesday.

Wednesday

The city will hold two sessions of their bicycle-friendly driver training. When this came out, I called John Rider — who is teaching the class — and asked who he saw as the intended audience. They are targeting small businesses who have fleet drivers or delivery services, but anyone is welcome to sign up. This is the first time the city has taught this class, and the registration deadline was Friday, but more sessions will be available in the future.

In the evening, the Transportation Commission will be meeting at 5:00 pm in Room 215 of the Municipal Bldg. Earlier this month the Transportation Planning and Policy Board had a presentation on the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (aka traffic calming.) At this meeting, the TC will also receive a presentation. So you can watch the meeting streaming or check out the PPt.

Trek will hold a handle bar taping class at their west store off Mineral Point Rd at 6:00 pm . This is a great way to spruce up your bike, and if you aren’t sure how to put new tape on your handle bars, bring your bike along and learn by doing. Registration required.

Another community class is being offered by Slow Roll bike shop in Monona. This one is a level 2 suspension learning class. You do not have to have attended the 101 class to attend this one.

What have we been talking about on Facebook?

Besides the usual discussions about bad intersections/roadways and insufficiently-cleared lanes and curb cuts, there was a lively discussion of the best neighborhoods to buy in if one is going to bike to the UW. Someone from Austin posted that she and her family are looking to buy a house, and they wanted a bicycle-friendly real estate agent. The good news is that we all decided that there are many good neighborhoods with safe, easy biking to downtown and campus, and so therefore the agent one works with is less important. (But people had lots of agent recommendations too.)

Someone also posted a link to a study finding Madison the third most sustainable metro area for transportation, principally due to our high use of biking, walking, and transit. Nice job.

As always, you can find an overview of all bike events on our Community Bike Calendar. Email us at info@madisonbikes.org to add your events. And if you value our newsletter and other work, consider donating to Madison Bikes. For construction updates, check out the city’s Bike Madison page.

Last Week

Initial reports are that the Free Bikes 4 Kids collection went well with hundreds of bikes collected.

Also last week saw some discussion of the poor quality of bike rack options at the Alliant Energy Center campus at the Bike Swap on the Madison Bikes Community Facebook Page. You can read the thread here.

Image: Packed fence racks at Alliant Energy Center Saturday. Fence racks do not meet City of Madison standards for bike racks. Photo credit: Robbie Webber.

This Week

Monday, January 13,

The monthly Madison Bikes Board Meeting is taking place at Madison’s Central Library and starts at 6:00 PM.

Wednesday, January 15,

At 6:45 PM one of Madison’s newest bike shops—Slow Roll Cycles—is continuing its Suspension Learning classes with the Suspension Learning Session 202 Level. This is the second level of their bicycle suspension learning sessions. It is not required to have attended the 101 class as long as you understand the basics of suspension and how it works, but if you want to take part in the hands-on service session you must have sat in on the 101 or 201 level sessions. You can read more about this session here on the event’s Facebook page.

At 7:00 PM there are two events to choose from. The first I will mention is the Lower Yahara River Trail (LYRT) Phase 2 Public Meeting. This meeting will take place at the Pleasant Springs Town Hall located at 2354 CTH N in Stoughton. Phase 2 of the LYRT will see a trail built between Fish Camp County Park and Lake Kegonsa State Park along the north side of Lake Kegonsa. You can read more about it on Dane County Parks web page or on the Facebook Events page.

Image: Early proposed alignment for the Lower Yahara River Trail. Phase 2 would be constructed between Fish Camp County Park and Lake Kegonsa State Park. Source: Dane County Parks Presentation from February 27, 2014.

The other 7:00 PM event is a Capitol Times talk called Madison’s Gentrifying Neighborhoods: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. This talk will be at the High Noon Saloon located at 701 East Washington Ave. Doors open at 6 PM and the talk starts at 7 and is a free event. You can read more about it on High Noon’s website or at the Facebook Events page.

Thursday, January 16,

The Cargo Bike Shop is hosting a Wheel Building Session starting at 6:00 PM. The event will be $25 and will cover a spoke wrench, snacks, and possibly a beverage. Not included in the costs will be the components for your wheelset, but the Cargo Bike Shop does have on hand great hubs, rims, spokes, and nipples and will work with you to help design your ideal wheelset. The session will start with a review of wheel components and theory and then move into lacing, tensioning, and trueing. You can learn more about the event and buy tickets at the Facebook Events page.

As always, you can find an overview of all bike events on our Community Bike Calendar. Email us at info@madisonbikes.org to add your events. And if you value our newsletter and other work, consider donating to Madison Bikes. For construction updates, check out the city’s Bike Madison page.

Happy New Year! 2020 is off to a great start for Madison Bikes: Last Saturday about 75 people of all ages met up at Lakeside Street Coffee House just before sunset. After some coffee and hot chocolate, we rolled over to Olin Park for the final day of Holiday Fantasy in Lights and did two loops before returning to the coffee shop. It was great to see many new faces and a lot of families with kids! Thanks to everyone who joined us. For more great pictures by Mark Renner, go here. And Channel 27 covered the event as well.

This Week

The Transportation Policy and Planning Board (TPPB) is meeting on Monday. The mayor will speak at the meeting about the Metro Forward Initiative, a plan to improve and expand our transit system. Bus Rapid Transit is one component of Metro Forward, but it will probably also include dedicated bus lanes and a reorganization of existing routes and stops. Another agenda item is a review of the Neighborhood Traffic Management & Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program. This program sets the process for how citizens or neighborhood groups can request traffic calming features. The way the program works has led to inequitable outcomes, where similar streets end up with very different levels of traffic calming, and there is no systematic process for prioritizing requests. The full agenda is available here. 5pm, Madison Municipal Building, 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Room 215. If you want to provide written comment, email the chair Tom Wilson: tlwilson1986@gmail.com

The capacity of a single 10-foot lane (or equivalent width) by mode at peak conditions with normal operations. (Source: NACTO)

On Wednesday, the Transportation Commission is meeting at 5pm. On the agenda:

• The service road connecting the Olbrich Gardens parking lot and Garver Feed Mill will get gates to keep errant cars out. The road is open only to people walking and biking, as well as Olbrich service vehicles, but apparently people in cars have been using it as a shortcut. The proposed gates will have an opening in the middle to let bikes through.
• The commission will receive an update on the University Ave reconstruction plans. Our board member Robbie has published two deep dives into the project, but from an active transportation perspective the main thing about the current plans is: There won’t be bus lanes; there won’t be bike lanes on this stretch of University Ave. If you have opinions on this, let the Commission know.
• Full agenda here.
• To provide written comment, email PMcGuigan@cityofmadison.com

Need a new-to-you bike? Or want to get rid of one? Saturday provides you with opportunities for both:

The big annual Brazen Dropouts bike swap is happening at the Alliant Center’s New Holland Pavilion from 9am to 2pm. It looks like you can still sign up for a vendor spot. Madison Bikes will have a table to talk bike advocacy in Madison — make sure to say hi! The swap is a great opportunity to buy a used bike or bike components and accessories.

If you want to get rid of bikes: Free Bikes 4 Kidz Madison (FB4K) is having their big bike collection day. FB4K is a non-profit that collect unwanted bikes, refurbishes them, and then provides them for free to kids and families in our community. From 9am to 1pm you can drop off bikes at Unity Point Meriter clinic locations all around Madison. If you want to volunteer at the pick-up event or later, sign up here.

As always, you can find an overview of all bike events on our Community Bike Calendar. Email us at info@madisonbikes.org to add your events. And if you value our newsletter and other work, consider donating to Madison Bikes. For construction updates, check out the city’s Bike Madison page.