Month: October 2022

It’s Halloween today and under normal circumstances this would call for a happy, lighthearted weekly update post. But on Thursday morning something terrible happened: A driver struck and killed Tom Heninger as he was biking across John Nolen Drive at North Shore Drive. This crossing is both one of the busiest in the city and also a hot spot for crashes involving people on bikes. Madison.com has an obituary for Tom.

This was the third deadly bike crash this year. According to Community Maps, which keeps records of fatal crashes going back to 2001, there have never been as many deadly bike crashes in a year. Our thoughts are with Tom’s family and friends.

Winter Walk Bike event tonight

There is no good way to transition from writing about a deadly bike crash to what is supposed to be a fun event about winter biking and walking. Madison Bikes board members are joining the City’s Bike/Ped Outreach coordinator Colleen Hayes at the Madison Bicycle Center tonight starting at 5pm.

What exactly happens at the Madison Bicycle Center? How can I make winter walking and biking work for me? What resources are out there to make it easier to commute to work using alternatives to a single occupancy vehicle? Find out the answers to these questions and more* on Halloween night. Join us Monday 10/31 at 5:00 pm for an open house at the Madison Bicycle Center, run by Freewheel Community Bike Shop, and stick around for the Access Hour live from the MBC at 7:00 (or listen on WORT 89.9FM) to hear from local active transportation experts. *Will there be costumes? I hope so! Will there be a caramel apple making buffet? Likely! Will there be door prizes? Definitely!

The Madison Bicycle Center is located at 202 Pinckney St. Join us in person or listen in on 89.9 FM or the live stream.

Bike Count Webinar recording available

If you missed last week’s webinar on analyzing bike count data from Madison, Fitchburg, and Lincoln (NE), you can now watch a recording, check out the slides, or read a recap blog post on the League of American Bicyclists website. We’ll probably post our own summary post in the next few weeks to highlight lessons learned. Thanks again to the Bike League, Eco-Counter, Bike Fitchburg, and the City of Madison for all working together on this.

New family bike riding group

Daniel and his family just recently moved to Madison, and he decided to put on a new family bike ride. Apparently the first ride was a big success and more rides are to come. The best way to find out about rides is to follow @familiesonbikes on Instagram or join the corresponding group on Facebook.

It’s definitely fall out there, with some hints of early winter. We hope you’re still out there riding, and if you’re new to riding in the colder season, check out our video with some tips for riding in the fall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1N-J4NWTnU

Forward to Vision Zero – Madison: Building Safe Streets for All Through Data, Smart Street Design, Equity, and Engagement

At last week’s Transportation Commission meeting, the City presented it’s grant application for the Safe Streets 4 All program. This is a federal grant to help cities fund the implementation of their Vision Zero plans. Madison’s application includes projects totaling $20 million, and the list of proposed projects is impressive. Some bike-relevant examples:

• Raised crossings on the Southwest Path
• a path/protected bike lanes along Badger Road
• protected bike lanes and intersections on Broom St
• redesigning Regent St to follow Complete Streets principles
• upgrading bike lanes on Park Street between Langdon and W Wash
• making Whitney Way a safe and complete Street
• protected bike lanes/path on W Beltline Frontage Road
• dedicated funding for quick-build safety projects (and money to turn them into permanent projects if they’re successful)
• dedicated funding for protected bike lanes

If Madison were to receive the grant, this could be transformational for getting closer to Vision Zero, i.e. eliminating all fatalities and serious traffic injuries. Madison Bikes submitted a letter of support for the application.

Front wheel flat fix workshop

The UW Bicycle Resource center has a Front Wheel Flat Fix workshop on the schedule on Wednesday from 6-7pm. Free and open to the UW community. Attendance is a first-come, first-served and no registration is required. https://transportation.wisc.edu/bicycling/university-bicycle-resource-center/#UBRCclasses

Pump Track Skills workshop for kids 15 and under

Madison Parks and Slow Roll Cycles are teaching kids skills at the pump track at Aldo Leopold Park on Thursday at 3pm. The workshop covers “pump track rules and safety, how to correctly pump, and how to ride a berm. Slow Roll Cycles will also offer pre-ride bolt checks and tire pressure checks on bikes. The class is free to attend, designed for kids 15 and under with a good working bike and helmet. Advanced registration is required.” More info and registration here: https://www.cityofmadison.com/cal…/learn-pump-track-skills

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.

First, I’ll re-up two requests from previous weeks.

• City of Madison District 18 Alder Charles Myadze is seeking input on improving cycling infrastructure on the north side. See last week’s update for more details on how to give feedback.
• This week is the last week to get your application in to join the Madison Bikes Board. The deadline is Friday, October 14.

This Week

All week we’ve got Bike to School Week for Lapham Elementary, Marquette Elementary and O’Keefe Middle here in Madison. Thanks to board member Kyle for helping organize these events.

On Wednesday at 5pm the Transportation Commission meets virtually. You can check out the full agenda, but probably the most interesting discussions will be centered around two Vision Zero items. First, a discussion comparing safety data between the first six months of 2021 and 2022 (spoilers in images):

The second item of note is an update on the city’s application for vision zero grant from the federal government. Included in that update you’ll find a letter of support from Madison Bikes.

Coming Up

On Saturday November 19, be ready for the next bicycle collection drive supporting Free Bikes 4 Kidz. Last Saturday (October 8) marked the start of their season with a collection drive at six locations around Madison.

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 one of Madison Bike’s board members, Robbie Webber, took some of the participants of the Bike Fed’s Healthy Communities Summit on a bike tour around Madison. To show off some of our awesome bike infrastructure.

District 18 Seeking Input to Improve Biking Facilities

Bike To School Week Guide?

Walking and biking are excellent ways to build healthy habits, a cleaner environment and promote accessible transportation options. This year, Madison Bikes board member Kyle Hanson has organized a Bike to School Week event for Lapham Elementary, Marquette Elementary and O’Keefe Middle schools from October 10th to 14th. This event will include hand decorated yard signs, surprise “bike fairy” gifts and biking information & resource table. Organizing a bike to school event in your community is a great low effort way to introduce families to bike commuting and build new habits which could last a lifetime. Please reach out to kyle@madisonbikes.org if you are interested in hosting similar event in your community this spring and would benefit from a How-To guide for planning your event.

This Week

Lake Monona (John Nolen Dr) Waterfront Design Challenge Kick-Off

Monday, October 3, 2022 @ 6:00 pm

Madison Parks is hosting the first of three events to learn about and provide feedback on the proposed vision for the Lake Monona Waterfront along John Nolen Drive. Lake Monona Waterfront Design Challenge teams will introduce themselves and their team’s unique perspective on master plan development. The multi-use path through this park area is very popular and we hope to see this as a core part of new vision for this space. We encourage you to attend and show your support for maintaining or expanding cycling infrastructure in the new plan.

Madison Walking Movement Leader Training

Tuesday October 4, 2022 9am to 12pm – Register Here

Walking Movement Leaders can be anyone who is interested in hosting walking (or rolling via a wheelchair or powered scooter) events to help peers, neighbors, colleauges, and community members make meaningful connections to one another, to the places you live and to oneself while moving at a 1-3 mile per hour pace.  

This one-of-a-kind training encourages future leaders (YOU) to incorporate all your ideas for the kind of experiences you may want to host. You will be invited and supported to discern whether their one-time or recurring walking/rolling events are organized by local area/region, themes/topics, or various/shared interests. In our training we will cover each of these areas while providing additional support related to route creation, maximizing group connection, group safety, pedestrian accessibility/safety, community building, event promotion, and more. 

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.