Olin-Turville detour, Area Plans, UBRC classes, West Wash experiment

Making the SW Path crossing safer

Last week we reported on the city’s plan to improve safety at the crossing of the Southwest Path and West Washington Ave. After a string of crashes where drivers failed to stop for people in the crosswalk, the city temporarily narrowed the roadway to a single lane in each direction with construction barrels. Chris McCahill posted a before/after video to our Facebook group. If you have feedback on the experiment, send an email to traffic@cityofmadison.com.

Area plans at Common Council

The Common Council will meet on Tuesday. Two big items on the agenda will be the adoption of the West Area and the Northeast Area Plans. We have reported on these plans as they wound their ways through public and city meetings over the past months, but now it’s upon the council to make a final decision. You can register to speak or in support/opposition here. The NE Area Plan is item 16; the West Area Plan is item 17.

University Bicycle Resource Center class schedule

The fall term is in full swing, and the University Bicycle Resource Center published its schedule of classes for the semester. As always, all classes are free and open to the UW community. No registration, first come, first serve. The first workshop will be on September 17.

Olin Turville Detour

Today is the start of a detour around Olin-Turville Court and Lakeside Street. The road is in bad condition and so the city is repaving it. Because this is a crucial bike connection with no alternative, there will be a high-quality detour: One lane of John Nolen Drive, between Olin Ave and Lakeside St, will be converted to a two-way bike lane protected by concrete barriers. John Nolen Drive narrows to two lanes north of Lakeside anyway. And so the city is also using this as an opportunity to test if this block could be narrowed to two general travel lanes permanently. After all, John Nolen Drive is part of the city’s high injury network, with a high proportion of serious and fatal crashes.

The construction is divided in half, with the southern part of the road to be completed first. Access to the Wingra Creek Path and the boat launch will be maintained throughout the project, although some bikers will need to circle back to reach their destinations. Follow the signage.

Young girls “give it a whirl”

A quick reminder for young girls who are or want to be mountain bikers: Tonight (Monday) they can “give it a whirl” at Quarry Park. Little Bellas, “an organization that teaches young girls to ride mountain bikes,” will host a two-hour workshop that “will introduce girls ages 7-13 to mountain biking in a fun, safe, and supportive environment.” Registration is free and the event starts at 3:30pm.

Join the Smart Trips Challenge

We mentioned it last week, but it’s not too late to the Smart Trips challenge. So far, 104 people are signed, and I think there are much more of you out there who bike, walk, or bus and would like to win cool prizes!

RoundTrip Madison is hosting the Smart Trips Challenge throughout September to encourage walking, bicycling, public transit, and carpooling for everyday trips including work, school, and errands. The first 25 participants to log an eligible trip will receive a $10 gift card to Ian’s Pizza. The challenge will also offer weekly and grand prize drawings, along with a special Metro Transit swag drawing for participants choosing transit throughout the month.

Congrats, Baltazar!

Finally, we’d like to congratulate our former board member Baltazar De Anda Santana for completing the Ironman yesterday, in a little over 15 hours. Madison 365 featured an article about what motivates Baltazar to participate:

“The biggest reason I do this is for representation in the sport,” De Anda Santana tells Madison365. “One thing I always wonder is, ‘How come there aren’t more of us here?’ I didn’t see many people out there who looked like me who were running, biking and swimming.

For the last 5 years or so, he has been competing in Ironman competitions because he wants to be healthy and he wants to test himself but there is another important reason why he is dedicating a good portion of his life to biking, running, and cycling.

Triathlon competitors are overall very white, mostly male, and generally pretty well-off financially. When he first started a few years back, he only knew of two Latinos who had completed the Ironman in Madison. De Anda Santana says that he will be participating in this weekend’s Ironman for his Latinx, gay, and undocumented families here in Madison and beyond. He says that his goal is to finish the Ironman in between 16.5 and 17 hours.

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.