Month: July 2022

Last Week

On Monday, Madison’s Transportation Policy and Planning Board (link to the Meeting Minutes, link to Agenda Item) had an extensive discussion on path etiquette and the potential of a speed limit policy for bike paths. The discussion largely revolved around the idea of shared space, the need for more space, and the need for educational signage that does not lay all of the burden of responsible use on people on bikes. Click here for a recording of the full TPPB meeting, the discussion on path etiquette starts fairly early at the 12 minute mark, and lasts for about 64 minutes.

Trees are down! The storms that swept through the region on Saturday and early Sunday morning left several sets of trees down on the Military Ridge Trail according to reports on the Madison Bikes Community Facebook Group. There were no Facebook reports, it is probably safe to assume some instances of downed trees on the other regional state trails. The DNR will be working to clear those in the near future, so please be patient if you see crews working on clearing the trails.

Finally, several near east side projects are winding down, including the path crossing at Russell St. The path crossings of Jackson St and Ohio Ave reopened earlier this summer, with the nearby streets nearing completion. Shoulder grading at Russel St and final paving of Jackson St and Ohio Ave crossing the Capital City Path has yet to be completed, so continue to be aware of construction traffic.

This Week

On Monday, Bike Fitchburg is having it’s monthly meeting. Bike Fitchburg’s regular monthly board meetings are generally held on the fourth Monday of each month (except December) from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. The meeting will be held in the conference room at the Fitchburg Public Library. Everyone with an interest in improving bicycling in Fitchburg, Wisconsin is welcome at all board meetings! Click here for more information.

This Wednesday is the Grand Opening of a new Wheel & Sprocket location in Fitchburg. The new location will be at 2970 Cahill Main #101, a stone’s throw away from where the Capital City State Trail crosses Fitch Hatchery Rd. To celebrate, W&S will be hosting a “chain cutting” ceremony with local officials starting at 3:30 PM. Everyone is welcome to attend, and there will be free food, drinks, and door prizes. Click here for more information.

Finally, on Wednesday, Madison’s Transportation Commission will be meeting virtually starting at 5 PM. Click here for the full Agenda. Discussion items will include applying for funding for the Transportation Alternatives Program, and application for funding for the city’s Vision Zero program.

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.

This Week

Wednesday July, 13^th

The Transportation commission will be meeting at 5:00pm to discuss a variety of items including the proposed redevelopment on Olin Ave and the MPD quarterly Traffic Safety report. You can view the full TC meeting agenda here and live stream the meeting on the City of Madison YouTube channel.

Quarterly Traffic Safety Report

The Madison Police Department will be presenting the most recent Quarterly Traffic Safety Report and General Traffic Safety Update at the Transportation Commission. This report contains information about specific traffic fatalities occurring in the mot recent quarter (Q1 2022) and trends over time.

Regrettably, East Washington Ave continues to be one of the most hazardous roads in Madison. The following charts from MPD show the number of serious & fatal crashes on East Wash are increasing compared to other parts of the city and are becoming more lethal!

The crash increase has occurred despite MPD allocating nearly 1/3^rd of their traffic enforcement resources to East Wash. This underscores the necessity of comprehensive initiatives like Vision Zero to safely accommodate all transportation users, because traffic enforcement alone is inadequate.

Introduction to Jumping Clinic

On Wednesday, Capital Off Road Pathfinders, Inc. is hosting a Learn to Jump Clinic with local legends Mike McGarry & Matt Yerke. Intro to getting both wheels off the ground on purpose. We’ll focus on learning the basics of a solid bunny hop and progress to tabletops and a small gap jump. 100% of your workshop fee will go towards the CORP trail fund which is currently MATCHED by the Friends of Blue Mound in support of the trail work to start this fall.

Saturday July 16^th

Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County is excited to host our 20th annual MOVE4BGC. This event will be a fun, in-person experience with a virtual option. You can participate in a team or as an individual to bike, run, walk, or for the first time ever, yoga!

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.

That must be why the calendar is so empty: everyone is out enjoying summer.

The past week, in case you missed it

There were a few interesting news stories that the Madison Bikes community might find interesting. 

Saris is being sold by its owners. This is a big deal for the Madison cycling community because Chris Fortune, who owns the company with his wife, has been a big supporter of improving the bicycling environment. Chris has donated to many groups, pushed for many improvements in infrastructure and policy, and funded education programs for kids. He’s also been a driving force to build bike parks for kids. 

It’s also great to have manufacturing jobs that can be reached by bike. I hope all the jobs –  design, marketing, sales, and manufacturing – stay at the current location. We’d hate to lose such a great company. 

WORT ran a long piece about the crashes that have happened over the years on Williamson St – not just people hitting other people or vehicles, but crashes into buildings. Willy is an important corridor for bicycling, walking, and retail, but the amount and speed of traffic on the street, especially when parking disappears on one side of the street during peak hour, makes it both difficult to negotiate on foot and bike and also tough to cross.

There have been efforts to make Willy St more pedestrian and bicyclist friendly, usually by doing away with the rush hour parking restrictions that turn the road into three through lanes, but each time local advocates and neighbors have tried to improve the situation, the city has pushed back, saying they need the traffic capacity.

The week ahead

It’s going to be a fairly slow week in city meetings. There aren’t any meetings that we need to pay attention to, but if you want to see what’s going on in other matters, you can always find the full list of city meetings for the week on the city website.

There are a few things that came in from people in our network. 

Info needed on bike crash on Rimrock Rd

A post on the Madison Bikes Community page mentioned that there bike crash on Rimrock Road south of the Alliant Center entrance. The Town of Madison Police are seeking anyone who may have either witnessed what happened or has other information. The post and photo of the contact info are below. The officer handling this is Todd C Dart.

Today (7/2), around 8-8:15, a team member of ours was in a bike/car accident along Rimrock Road on the “stick” (by the coliseum, before you cross over the beltline). Thankfully, other than some broken bones, she’s going to be ok but she may still need to call on professionals at Leppard Law.

We think some folks may have seen it happen, and some cyclists may have stopped but left before giving a statement to a responding officer (he said he saw some take off as he pulled up).

It would be helpful to report anything you saw to help verify the events. This is the card the officer gave me.

Bridge out on the Badger Trail north of Monroe

Also in the news, a truck hit the Round Grove Rd bridge on the Badger State Trail north of Monroe, so that bridge is closed. It’s probably going to be awhile before it gets fixed, and the detour around the bridge is rather hilly. So be forewarned. 

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.