Month: October 2024

Categories
Weekly Update

Great weather, elections, and JND

Last week

Can you believe the weather we are having in late October? Hope you’d been able to get out and enjoy this warm, dry stretch of beautiful fall. A ride through the Arboretum or far out into the country are both great ways to enjoy the colors. And a bit more to come this week.

Atwood Path artwork

As part of the city Percent for Art program, some path artwork and reminders of etiquette appear on the Atwood Paths near Olbrich Park this past week. A discussion ensued on our Facebook community, with some enjoying the additions, and others saying you can’t read them while riding at speed or they didn’t like being scolded with messages.

John Nolen Drive project

The informational meeting on John Nolen Drive had both good and bad news. The bad news is that at this time, the underpass of JND between North Shore Dr and Broom St has been removed from the plan. The cost to build it was estimated to be almost as much as the entire rest of the road project. The city did show two possible versions of the underpass, but they are not planning on moving forward with either one at this time. The underpass would not have been constructed with the first phase of the JND project regardless of cost because of funding from the state and federal government – which makes up most of the funding for the first phase – wouldn’t have covered it.

Another bad news item from the meeting, although more expected, was that the Capital City Path from Lakeside to North Shore – essentially the causeway – will have to be closed for about a year during construction. There is just no way to keep it open while the bridges are being rebuilt. The roadway portion will be down to one lane in each direction, and bicycle and pedestrian traffic will be detoured around Monona Bay.

The good news of the project is that the new path on the northwest side of North Shore and JND through Brittingham Park will be built before the construction starts, creating a connection between the SW Path and Broom that avoids JND completely. The JND intersections at North Shore Dr and Broom will also be vastly improved, making crossing these streets and JND itself much easier and safer (once all the construction dust clears.)

You can view a recording of the meeting and/or see the slides on the project website. 

Autumn Ridge bridge raising

We don’t have any photos, but on Tuesday there was a bridge placed over Highway 30 that will be part of the Autumn Ridge Path on the east side. We won’t be able to use the path and overpass until next year, but this is going to be a great connection for the area.

One of our community members mentioned on Facebook that he took video. Maybe he’ll share that.

The week ahead

Wednesday, 5:00, online Transportation Commission will meet, but there isn’t much exciting on the agenda. You can also watch the meeting or register to comment at that link as well.

The TC will receive an update on BCycle/Bicycle Transit Systems transition, but as of this writing, there are no documents on the item, so it’s hard to say how extensive or interesting it will be. There will also be an update of the Transportation and operating and capital budgets for next year. Again, no documents at this time, but there may be information on what may change if the referendum doesn’t pass.

Please vote!

Early voting is available until Sunday, Nov 3. Early voting is available across the city at libraries three locations on the UW campus, and a variety of other locations, so everyone should be able to find a place close to where they live, work, or shop. If you are not registered at your current address, you can register at the same time as you vote through Friday, Nov 1 or on Election Day.

Although Madison Bikes has not taken an official position on anything on the ballot, Harald and Craig wrote an excellent blog post on how a referendum failure might affect bicycling – including maintenance, safety programs, and future infrastructure.

Obviously, voting is incredibly important, and your voice on all things local, state, and federal. We all know how important Wisconsin will be in the presidential race – the last two presidential elections came down to 3 votes per ward across the state. Please make sure you are one of those votes.

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.

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E-Mail In Depth

The City Referendum and Biking

This is a post by Harald Kliems and Craig Weinhold. The views expressed are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Madison Bikes.

City Budgets and Referendum

The city’s operating budget and its structural deficit have been a hot topic since March, with dire pronouncements of service cuts to pools, libraries, and waste drop-off sites. In July, the common council voted to put a $22 million referendum on the Nov 5 ballot. If passed, the average Madison home (valued at $457,300) would see a property tax increase of about $230/year, or about $20/month.

Since July, the financial landscape has changed slightly due to proactive budget cuts, better than expected investment income, reduced General Obligation borrowing, and a new proposed Infrastructure Special Charge (described below). As of the mayor’s October Executive budget (which will be voted on by the common council in November), just $5.6M in cuts are now proposed if the referendum fails to pass. No additional cuts are expected for 2026. But come 2027, if there’s no change in state funding, we’ll be back in the same situation.

If the referendum passes, the mayor predicts the budget will be good for five years without any additional cuts or hand-wringing, even if state funding does not come through.

Snow on the Southwest Path. One proposed budget cut: Reducing multi-use path snow removal

So, what’s at risk for bicycling?

On first sight, there are only three items to be cut if the referendum fails:

  • Snow removal from multi-use paths removal will no longer be done with overtime hours (projected savings: a measly $15,000). How this plays out depends on the vagaries of winter weather. Clearing major paths on the weekends and holidays was only started in 2020 through a budget amendment. Before then, weekend snow events often led to persistent bad path conditions. 
  • Metro must reduce service hours to the tune of $500,000, in addition to a one-time $500,000 cut in 2025. The cuts will likely focus on early/late and weekend service. Metro is an important backup option for bikers. 
  • One vacant traffic engineering position will be eliminated. This will slow projects and impact staff morale.

But also at stake are subtle, longer-lasting things:

Optics: Regardless of the referendum’s outcome, the spectre of Madison’s budget problems will now loom over every project and Common Council vote. In general that’s not a bad thing, but “budget” is an easy argument to lob against anything one dislikes. E.g., when two alders last year spoke out against the Autumn Ridge path, they framed their opposition as budget concerns (despite voting for plenty of other expensive projects closer to their districts). Social media flames blaming BRT and bicyclists for every woe on the road are now invoking “budget!” as a primary line of attack. 

Morale: The city’s transportation and engineering staff are fantastic. They love this city even though many of them cannot afford to live here. They get lower pay than in the private sector while having to endure all the frustration of working in government and being held to an impossibly high standard by the public. The 2025 budget cuts have created anxiety about salary, benefits, workload, team size, etc. Staff are being asked to do more with less, and that will only get worse. Regardless of how the referendum turns out, some staff may be looking for other options. And fewer staff means less capacity to bring in grants and to plan and deliver projects.

Community and Culture: It’s hard to predict which and how many Madison events, activities, and experiences will be impacted by the budget cuts. E.g., the Shifting Gears Bike Path Dance Festival is one of about fifty organizations that would lose grants from the Madison Arts Commission. Would they soldier on? Will a stretched Madison Parks department still host Ride the Drive? Will Make Music Madison be more subdued? Public art? These may not affect bicycling per se, but they certainly are part of what makes bicycling in Madison special and joyful.

“Infrastructure Special Charge”

One way to make up for the missing tax dollars if the referendum fails is an “infrastructure special charge.” The revenue from this charge would be used to cover street repair and maintenance, lighting, signage, signals, pavement markings, and bike & ped facilities. The charge will be based on how many car trips a property is assumed to generate, which, in turn, is estimated by the number of parking spaces. A single-family home will see about $6.35 in monthly charge on their municipal service bill, right next to their water, sewer, and urban forestry charges. The city hopes to raise $10M annually from this charge.

It’s a novel use of special charges that have historically been used for sidewalks, though the City started using them for Urban Forestry and Recycling in 2023. This is an innovative strategy, but it’s bound to draw howls of protest and a likely legal fight. Other communities that have tried instituting similar transportation fees have been dragged to court.  

How the Operating and Capital Budgets relate

The current budget woes affect the operating budget that covers recurring expenses like staff and loan payments. Of the proposed $417M operating budget, 62% goes to salaries and benefits for the City’s 3,000+ employees.

The capital budget, on the other hand, is primarily about big one-time costs like new roads, paths, buildings, or bus fleets. The construction of new bike infrastructure largely falls to the capital budget.

The two budgets intertwine in both direct and indirect ways:

  • Capital projects require loans, and the repayment of those loans often comes from the operating budget. This is called general obligation or GO borrowing (aka “debt service”), and it’s the second largest item in the budget ($68M, about 16% of the budget).



    For example, the 2024 capital budget has $273M in projects, of which about ⅓ ($87M) is funded with GO borrowing. That means the $4.8M “Bike Path” expense on page 388 might require about $1.6M in borrowing. Assuming a worst-case, 10-year, 7% loan for $1.6M, the debt service would come to about $230K per year against the operating budget. That’s small, but not negligible.
  • Once built, all infrastructure requires maintenance and upkeep. Consider the new Segoe protected bike lanes between Regent St and University Ave: They are too narrow for regular-size street sweepers and snow plows, so city staff will need to transport specialized equipment there, and they’ll need staff trained to operate it.
  • Speaking of snow removal, property owners are responsible for their sidewalks, but the city is generally responsible for the paths. In fact, free snow removal is a carrot dangled in front of homeowners to get them to agree to paths (e.g., the new Hammersley Rd path). So every new path implies additional snow removal costs for the city. 

The Future

The Nov 5 election will likely not flip the state legislature to Democratic control, but it will shake the Republicans’ hold on power. With more seats at the table (and hopefully stepped up city lobbying), Madison should see increased state funding in the coming years.

On the whole, the city’s first-ever $22M referendum is modest and responsible, gives five years of financial clarity, and has a trivial impact on property taxes ($20/month!). It also comes on the heels of significant cuts and belt-tightening across the city. In contrast, MMSD has been using referendums as a business-as-usual strategy, with seven of them in the past 25 years.

No matter how the referendum turns out, Madison needs its bike community to continue showing up in support of smart transportation. Keep celebrating changes, large, and small, that have improved your daily rides. And involve your alder, your neighbor, your coworker, and others in that celebration. Stay engaged with the Southwest and Southeast area plans that kick off in the next two months. Show up to the budget hearings at the common council (Nov 12-14). And, as you do speak up, keep the budget optics in mind.

Be informed

To help inform you about the financial context and impact of the property taxes, we have built two web tools. Harald created a website that shows how the assessed value, different kinds of property taxes, and the consumer price index have developed over the past few years. Craig’s tool is looking into the future: How much are the city referendum and the two MMSD referendums going to increase your (or your landlord’s) property taxes?

Categories
E-Mail Newsletter Weekly Update

New bridge; Sauk and John Nolen meetings; Jump Jam

Last week we had a very nice celebration of the new protected and buffered bike lanes on Sheboygan and Segoe. There was hot cider, donuts, district 11 alder Bill Tishler, many city staff — and a low-budget ribbon cutting involving caution tape, very small scissors, and a small volunteer helper.

Segoe ribbon cutting with Alder Tishler and a young helper

Beth Skogen Photography – www.bethskogen.com

Alder Bill Tishler spoke about how he initially conceived this as a project to make crossing Segoe easier for pedestrians — narrowing the crossings and removing unneeded lanes, since Midvale and Whitney are both close by. He grew up in the area, and he’s watched generations of families struggling to cross.

“When this area of Madison was designed 70 years ago, it was built around the automobile. The wide street layout and abundance of surface parking lots reflected that this neighborhood was designed primarily for cars. This is no longer true.

As Madison’s population grows, we are at a pivotal moment in rethinking how people move around the city. The redesign of North Segoe, with its buffered bike lanes, bus transit stops, and audible crosswalks, signals a shift in priorities—cars are no longer the sole focus.

People need safe, accessible ways to get around, whether they’re walking, biking, or using public transit.”

Thanks to everyone who stopped by! We’ll certainly celebrate again when other great infrastructures are completed.

Autumn Ridge Overpass

Speaking of great infrastructure: This week the bridge girders for the Autumn Ridge Path across Highway 30 will be installed. Commercial Ave will close at 8pm, Hwy 30 at midnight, and the bridge will be placed sometime in the wee hours. Events like this are always quite the spectacle. Our board member Robbie plans to set up her camper van in the area to watch. If you’re also out there, please shared your photos and videos of the work. Having the bridge elements in place is major progress, but it’ll still be a several months before the path will be open.

Sauk Creek Greenway

On Monday night, a public input meeting on the Sauk Creek Greenway will take place. This meeting will focus on “draft improvements for the channel, maintenance access, and restoration.” The east-west bike path that was included in the West Area Plan is also on the agenda, but what the city writes doesn’t sound very promising:

“Staff will provide some initial ideas on the West Area Plan’s East-West multi-use path connection. Preliminary review of concepts show construction of a path would not align enough with the stormwater improvements to be built together and path plans are not being developed further at this time.” (emphasis in original)

John Nolen Drive: Will we get an underpass?

Another opportunity for public input is on Wednesday. The city’s engineering consultant produced a feasibility study about the proposed underpass of John Nolen Drive at North Shore. The underpass was being proposed as a safe alternative to the reconstructed at-grade intersection with its slip lanes. I haven’t read the full 140-page report, but looking at the cost for the two proposed designs does not make me optimistic: Even the cheaper alternatives is estimated to cost over $40 million. That is serious money for a single underpass. For comparison, the Autumn Ridge Path project will cost about $4.5 million. Join the public meeting on Wednesday, 6:30 PM.

Jump Jam and Crossfire

On the weekend you can recover from attending all the public input meetings by going to the Quarry Park Jump Jam or the Crossfire cyclocross race in Sun Prairie.

The Jump Jam on the Quarry Park MTB trails involves, well, people on bikes jumping! It’s great fun to watch. Sunday, starting at noon.

If you’re more into riding or watching cyclocross, head to Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie on Sunday. The Crossfire race usually involves serious cyclocross racing and not-so-serious Halloween costumes. The festivities start at 8am.

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.

Categories
E-Mail Weekly Update

Segoe Celebration, UW is Platinum, and More

Scene from the now navigable Hammersley path (photo: Paul Lata)

Welcome to the update.  We’re seeing lots of bicyclists out there enjoying the fall weather. Hopefully recent infrastructure improvements will encourage even more bicyclists to enjoy cycling in Madison.

Here’s the latest:

Segoe Road After-Work Celebration

When: Tuesday, October 15, 2024, 4-5:30 pm

Where: Northwest Corner of Regent and Segoe

Join Madison Bikes for a celebration of newly constructed bike/ped friendly infrastructure on Segoe Road. Madison Bikes will provide apple cider and donuts and some vegan treats.  Alder Bill Tishler will give a short presentation at 5:00 pm. We’re hoping for a good turnout to show the city our appreciation for this major upgrade.

Check out this FB video recently posted by Harald Kliems with a cyclist’s-eye view of the protected bicycle lane on Segoe and the buffered bicycle lanes on Sheboygan. Harald also provides commentary about benefits of and challenges posed by the new infrastructure.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWK0oBF9rv0

UW in Top 3 Bicycle Friendly Universities

The UW joins Stanford and Colorado State as institutions singled out by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) this week as Platinum Bicycle Friendly Universities.  UW first achieved this status in 2019.

LAB commended UW for:

  • 16,540 bike parking spaces (more than car parking spots).
  • Five miles of off-street bike paths and five miles of on-street bike lanes
  • A woonerf (see sidebar below) that prioritizes bike/peds on the East Campus Mall,
  • 14% of students and 17% of faculty and staff use a bicycle as their primary mode of transportation.
  • Three percent of students and staff continue to bike throughout winter months
  • Hiring a dedicated bicycle educator
  • UW’s use of multi-modal traffic counting software
  • Creating an annual pavement marking plan to improve cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.

See the full article at:  https://bikeleague.org/the-platinum-standard-bicycle-friendly-universities/

Woonerf?

OK, I wasn’t familiar with this term. Here is a brief description in case other readers are similarly uninformed. A woonerf is a type of road design that blends pedestrian and vehicle space. Woonerfs are characterized by shared space, traffic calming (e.g. street furniture, landscaping, physical barriers), and low speed limits, They were first implemented in the Netherlands and Belgium but are now also seen in cities in the U.S. such as Washington D.C. Cool that we have one on campus!

Film Festival a Success!

Madison Bikes up in lights, literally (photo: Craig Weinhold)

A large enthusiastic crowd enjoyed films from around the world at the first Bicycle Film Festival in Madison on October 3. Thanks to the sponsors and volunteers who made this possible.

The neighborhood and our bike parking lot was filled with bicycles (photo: Craig Weinhold)

Olin-Turville Detour

Most of the construction on the Olin-Turville section of the Lake Monona “Lake Loop” has been completed. The detour on John Nolan drive has been removed and bicyclists can return to the former route with MUCH SMOOTHER pavement.

Upcoming meetings

Transportation Commission:  Wednesday, October 16, 5PM. The agenda includes discussion of the North Shore Drive Path.

Draft Preliminary Corridor Plan for Sauk Creek Greenway, Public Meeting, Fall 2024: Tuesday, October 22, 6:30 PM, via Zoom. Register here to attend: https://cityofmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqcOCvqTsuG9Czw4EMNWDYYQdABnP4x_Z9

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.

Categories
Bike News Newsletter Weekly Update

Infra News; Bike Donations; BCycle Update

Revolution Cycles Hosting a Fall Bike-to-Work Commuter Station on 9/27

Welcome to this week’s newsletter! It was wonderful to see all of you who came out for the Bicycle Film Festival at the Barrymore last week. What an inspiring series of films and an awesome event! Here’s what you need to know about this week:

Campus Path Closed

Heads up to commuters and other path users near Campus Drive and the Vet School: the multi-use path will be closed from Monday-Friday (Oct. 7-11) for repairs. Those traveling through will want to take the detour to the North on Walnut St. and Observatory Dr. instead.

Donate Your Old Bikes

Saturday, Oct. 12th from 10am-2pm, Bikes for Kids Wisconsin is hosting a bicycle donation drive at their shop at 354 Coyier Lane, Madison, WI 53713. Bikes of all types and sizes will be accepted. Donation bikes should be gently used, although they will also help recycle bikes that are beyond repair with a small monetary donation. Check out the website, https://bikesforkidswi.org/2024-bike-donation-drives-oct-12-nov-23/, for more info and other donation options!

New Opportunities in Bikeshare

On October 1st, Bicycle Transit Systems (BTS) acquired BCycle from Trek. Prior to the acquisition, BTS ran the bikeshare operations (using BCycle bikes and software) in Philadelphia, LA, and Las Vegas. All of the employees of BCycle, including myself, were offered roles at BTS to continue to run and support the BCycle systems across the country. With more of BCycle unified under the BTS umbrella, the organization will be able to focus solely on bikeshare and product development to deliver the best possible bike rental process.

Among the changes, Helen Bradley was promoted to Director of Business Development for BTS, so Madison BCycle is looking for a new General Manager! If you love bikes and transportation, are a leader, problem solver, and have business aptitude, you are encouraged to apply. Check out the responsibilities and requirements and apply here.

Flock to State Ending & Feedback

Have you gotten a chance to enjoy the pedestrian mall on State Street this Summer? If you hadn’t heard, the city further restricted traffic on State Street by limiting the times that non-emergency vehicles can use the street, calling it “Flock to State.” While the street has be closed to private vehicles since 1974, in May the city decided to run a pedestrian mall experiment, where from Gorham to Hawthorne, State Street did not allow any non-emergency vehicles from 3pm to 4am on weekdays and 10am to 4am on weekends.

In addition to the traffic limitations, there were also events planned around that area of State Street such as the Concert Series in September, Science on the Square (upcoming on October 17th), and of course the Madison Night Market. The pedestrian mall is ending on October 30th, and the city wants your feedback on the experiment to determine the next steps. If you enjoyed having this space further dedicated to and prioritizing pedestrians, please consider filling out the super short survey and telling the city what you liked and didn’t like about it!

Mifflin Diverter Project

Looking ahead to next week, the Mifflin Diverter will be installed on Monday, October 14th. The test will add a motor vehicle traffic diverter to the Westbound lane of E Mifflin just past Breese Stevens Field. Vehicles traveling West on E Mifflin will have to turn onto N Paterson, but bicycle and pedestrian routes will remain unaffected. The project is focused on improvements to the bike boulevard on E Mifflin, a critical bicycle traffic artery North of E Washington. Traffic Engineering has been gathering data about traffic volumes before the install, and they will continue to do so throughout the coming months when the diverter is in place. They will also be looking for public feedback, so if you ever bike along this route, be sure to send them a note!

That’s all we have for you this week. Now go ride your bike!

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.