Month: September 2021

Whitney Way

Late last week, work finally began on adding the long-discussed buffered bike lane improvements to Whitney Way. These changes extend from Old Middleton Rd to Tokay Blvd, which the city has identified as an important cycling transportation corridor to improve, connecting the Westgate and Odana Rd areas (and points south of that) with the Old Middleton Rd area (and points north and west). The project has undergone several public meetings, neighborhood meetings, council votes, it’s been tied to BRT and then severed from BRT and now here we are — it’s really happening!

Tom Lynch, Director of Transportation for the City of Madison, has often said that “paint is cheap” so you can see where it’s being used liberally attempting to separate bikes from cars.

Work continues Monday morning, as you can see with from these fresh pics.

Not limited to the buffered bike lanes, new pedestrian striping and new green box indicators at the high-traffic intersections will help drivers and cyclists understand how traffic is intended to flow.

Casual observations this morning show a bit of confusion on the part of drivers, probably wondering where their usual right turn lane has gone. It will take some time for all of the work to be completed, and, as we are creatures of habit, it will take even more time for traffic to adjust.

Additional components to the larger project include the removal of parking from Whitney Way and reducing the speed to 25mph north of Mineral Point Rd and 30mph south of there. It’s unclear if that’s happening as part of this particular set of work or a future effort. Eventually, dedicated BRT lanes and stations will be routed through most of this corridor, which will mean even more paint and construction projects too!

This Week

On Monday at 6:00pm, check out the monthly Madison Bikes Community Meeting via Zoom. Topics for discussion are still being worked out, but might include some combination of a brief Bike Week debrief and/or this year’s Winter Bike Fashion Show or who knows what else? After a summer of being focused on Bike Week, it will be nice to look forward to new projects and events.

On Monday at 6:30pm, Bike Fitchburg is having their monthly Board meeting at the Fitchburg Public Library. Over the weekend they held their Pick Me Up At the Border fundraiser/ride to the Illinois border, and during bike week they put on a great Bike Rodeo event for the community.

On Tuesday at 4:30pm, log in to the Forward in Energy Forum to “learn about initiatives in Wisconsin and around the world that are focused on making transportation equitable, clean, and safe.” Panelists from the Bike Fed, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin and the State Smart Transportation Initiative will be led by moderator and associate professor of planning and landscape architecture Carolyn McAndrews, from UW-Madison. Join via Zoom, registration required.

Next Week

On Monday, October 4, the Madison Transportation Policy and Planning Board (TPPB) will meet and on Wednesday, October 6, the Greater Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) will meet.

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.

I hope you were able to join in the Madison Bike Week festivities last week, including the end of week party on Friday and Tuesday ride with the Mayor. Its great to see so many people and businesses supporting biking in Madison.

There are many transportation meetings this week, because both the Transportation Policy and Planning Board (TPPB) and the Transportation Commission (TC) are meeting this week.

Monday

Transportation Policy and Planning Board (TPPB) is meeting virtually at 5pm. The agenda includes a review of the Draft Greater East Towne Area Plan. The presented “street ideas” add generous protected bike boulevards and cycle tracks to East Towne, High Crossing and Zeier Road. I believe the City did a nice job on this and I look forward to seeing this plan move forward. The big topic for this week is the 2022 Capital Budget, which is dominated by the $166M BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) project (71% is federally funded). Plus, I am pleased to see the Mayor also included $2M for Safe Streets Madison (combination of Neighborhood Traffic Mgmt., Safe Routes to School, Ped/Bike Enhancement and Vision Zero) and $613k for the city wide 20 is Plenty implementation. This budget proposal clearly shows Mayor Satya’s steadfast support of non-automobile modes of transportation Madison needs to thrive and be an enjoyable place to live.

Wednesday

The Transportation Commission (TC) is meeting at 5pm virtually and you must pre-register if you wish to speak at the meeting. The beginning of the meeting is mainly focused around authorizations for the east-west BRT project. Followed by authorization for the Judge Doyle Square Development Project and an update to parking restrictions on 1080 Walsh Road. The item of most interest to cycles is likely the #10 2022 Public Works Transportation Projects List. The following list is a summary of the bike bike/ped projects planned for next year. The plan also includes numerous road construction, reconstruction, and resurfacing projects.

• Path resurfacing
• New Sidewalks 2022 (not sure where)
• Safe Streets 2022
• Old Middleton Underpass @ Craig Ave
• Quiet Zone 2022 @ East Isthmus
• Cannonball Path @ Fish Hatchery Rd to Wingra Dr
• W Main Bike Blvd 2023 @ Proudfit
• W Towne Path Ph 3 2023 @ Commerce to S Junction Road

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.

Just in case you haven’t heard yet — in which case we’ve been doing a terrible communications job — Madison Bike Week 2021 is already underway! While technically it doesn’t start until Sunday, there were a few prologue events on Saturday.

Starting Sunday, there will be commuter stations, movies, bike check-up opportunities, fundraisers, classes, happy hours, social rides, and so much more. 

There is simply too much to list individually, but we wanted to highlight a few major events. To see what is happening each day, head on over to the Madison Bike Week 2021 page. The events are neatly color-coded by type of event, and there is even a way to bookmark your favorite events and sync them with your phone or calendar. 

Oh, and if you’re subscribed to our newsletter but not actually in Madison: Of course it’s also the Wisconsin Bike Fed’s Bike Week all across the state. Find out more here.

There is more infrastructure news, but we are concentrating this week on the Bike Week events. A good place to find out about Madison projects is the city link at the end of this blog post.

Madison Bike Week activities

Monday-Friday 

There are multiple commuter stations, where you can pick up some eats and/or beverages, have your bike checked out, and just generally hang out with other bicyclists. Motorless Motion will have an afternoon commuter station every — for the less morning-oriented among us — while others will be doing the regular morning bike commute station with coffee and such. 

Also, discounts are available all week at Pasture and Plenty, BCycle, and Bicycle Benefits. Information on these discounts and all the events can be found on the Madison Bike Week 2021 page. 

Tuesday

The Mayor will hold a press conference at 8:30 am in front of the Municipal Building on MLK Blvd downtown, and then go on a short downtown bike ride at 9:00 am. All are welcome to join us. 

There are also a ton of other activities on Tuesday, including an open house at the Madison Bike Center to see the beautiful new facilities, a bike maintenance check up and neighborhood ride at the Lussier Center, and a couple of no-drop social rides. Also not to be missed is the morning Cheddar Bacon Waffles commuter stop on the Cap City Trail at Dickinson.

Wednesday

At Lodgic Everyday Kitchen, Forward Madison will hold a fundraiser for Dream Bikes. The event runs from 5:00-7:00 pm, and there is a suggested donation. In addition to food and beverages, there is valet bike parking at the event, a silent auction and raffle, and bike safety checks and a complimentary bike wash. More info and tickets at the link above. 

Thursday

If you or any family or friends need a little refresher on bicycling — maybe it’s been awhile since you’ve been on a bike? — MSCR will hold a series of classes to get folks feeling comfortable on a bike. They are held at several locations around the city, and there is a nominal fee, but you can attend one or all the sessions for the same cost. 

In the evening, make sure to head over to Capital Brewery to see “A Bikers Ballad”, hosted by the brewery and Capital Off-Road Pathfinders. This movie is an ode to mountain biking of all sorts. Tickets and more information at the link. 

Friday

Friday, the big event is the Final Bike Week Party at Brittingham Park from 5:00-8:00 pm. There will be music, beverages for all ages (yes, beer too), food trucks, community groups, a bicycle-based mini library, bike check ups, and general fun and celebration. Family-friendly, and all are welcome. 

By the way, we still need volunteers to help us set up, run the event, and clear everything afterward. We are an all-volunteer organization, so we rely on you to get this done. You can sign up and see the shifts here: https://forms.gle/Yj7aczSCTxyftKbk6

Saturday

We aren’t done yet! 

Free Bikes 4 Kidz will be holding a donation drive at multiple locations. If you or a neighbor have an unused or unloved bike in the garage or basement, you can give it to Free Bikes 4 Kidz and help families experience the joys of biking. Kids come in all sizes, so even though we often think of this as collecting “kids’” sizes, older kids can use your bigger bikes. (Free Bikes 4 Kidz also takes financial donations.)

Finally, we want to give a big shoutout to a great organization and event — a chance to try out some adaptive bicycles for kids with special needs. Padres e Hijos en Acción will be holding Bicicletas y Jardinería event at Quann Community Garden, at the corner of Bram St and Koster St, 11:00am-1:00pm.

Phew. That’s a lot of celebrating bicycling. Thanks to all our sponsors and supporters, and to everyone who bikes every day, whether it’s to work, school, errands, meetings, the library, to see friends, or just because you love to go for a spin. This week is a celebration of you, too. 

Madison Bike Week sponsors: 

• Trek/BCycle
• MGE
• Wheel and Sprocket
• Black Saddle Bike Shop
• Scwinn

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.

I hope everyone had a restful Labor Day weekend. Our newsletter took the day off as well, and here we are, on a Tuesday. The long weekend also meant that not much is happening in terms of city meetings. But! Madison Bike Week is just around the corner. Technically, Bike Week starts on Sunday, but there will be three “prologue” events on Saturday:

• Fitchburg’s Jamestown Neighborhood is hosting a bike rodeo — if you can volunteer, please sign yourself up
• The Badgers are having a home game, and as per usual, the Bike Fed provides valet parking right next to the bike path
• And finally, Delta Beer Lab and Hop Haus Fitchburg are hosting the second edition of the Madison Brewery Bike Race. “There is no marked course – just get from one brewery to the other and back as fast (or slow) as you can. Race for time or ride for fun.” Pre-registration is required.

Find more info about those events and everything else that’s happening during Bike Week on our website: https://www.madisonbikes.org/events/bikeweek/

The next edition of our newsletter will go out on Saturday and cover the whole rest of Bike Week. I hope you are as excited as we are! I also want to send a big thank you to the amazing community that powers Madison Bike Week, and of course to our generous sponsors: Trek and Madison BCycle, the MGE Foundation, and Wheel & Sprocket, as well as Black Saddle Bike Shop and Schwinn.

Looking for Bike Week Party volunteers

One way in which you can help make Bike Week a success is by signing up for a volunteer shift at the Madison Bikes Bike Week Party on Sep 17, from 5-8pm. We need help with setting up/breaking down, handing out drink tickets and pouring drinks, and a few other things. You can sign up here: https://forms.gle/Yj7aczSCTxyftKbk6 Thank you!

Oh, and if you’re subscribed to our newsletter but not actually in Madison: Of course it’s also the Wisconsin Bike Fed’s Bike Week all across the state. Find out more here.