Author: Grant Foster

Madison Bikes Kickoff Party

Last Week

Wow, our Kickoff Party was such a great event. We counted somewhere north of 80 attendees, which was great considering the dicey weather. Big shoutout to all those that helped put the event on, including support from High Noon Saloon, DJ The Real Jaguar, Saris Cycling, and especially Jonny Hunter with Underground Food Collective. If you missed the partyyou can still donate online. All the money raised will be put into improving biking in and around Madison.

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There was also a good turnout at the Sustainable Madison Transportation Master Plan Open House the following night. Mayor Soglin shared some words and then we got a brief overview of some of the key highlights by David Trowbridge and the consultant firm. I think a lot of the groundwork for this plan is very solid, and I appreciate the attention to land use and the impact that has on our current and future transportation network. The biggest gap in the current draft is the absence of any clear goals/objectives, particularly around biking. There is a long list of recommendations, but most of them encourage the city to keep doing what it’s already doing and there’s nothing put in front of us that requires any new action. Take a look for yourself and share your thoughts on what you like and what you think is missing. The website now includes links to several of the draft documents including the primary summary document.

This Week

The 4th week of the month is always busy with the City’s primary transportation committees. Add in the final Mondays Around Monona ride and the big Monroe Street Reconstruction meeting on Thursday and it’ll be a busy week. If you haven’t made it out to any meetings, give it some consideration; things on the ground change when people speak up. PBMVC meetings are also streamed live over the web and can be watched from the comfort of your home.

Monday: It’s the final Mondays Around Monona ride of the season, and if you keep a steady pace you can get to the Wil-Mar center by 7:00 to participate in the discussion about moving bus routes from Jenifer to Williamson Street. There are a lot of considerations with the move and bike comfort/access is one that hasn’t received as much attention as it should. Come learn more and share your thoughts.

Tuesday: Key topics on this month’s Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission meeting will be a discussion of a proposed ordinance change related to panhandling from medians and a first view of the comments received this spring on potential pedestrian/bicycle improvement projects. Also on the agenda is a new proposed segment of the Goodman path.

Wednesday: After a month off, the Transportation Ordinance Review Ad Hoc Committee will meet on Wednesday and review draft ordinances proposing the creation of a Transportation Policy and Planning Board, and the recreation of Transit and Parking Commission and Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Motor Vehicle Commission. This is really fundamental and important work for our city and is worth paying attention to.

Thursday: The Long Range Transportation Planning Committee will receive a presentation from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation on “various major WisDOT roadway projects in the Madison urban area” followed by a review of “Madison in Motion draft transportation system performance monitoring program”. But for anyone that bikes or that would like to bike through and around the Monroe Street neighborhoods, the Monroe Street Reconstruction: Cross Section Workshop may be the more important meeting to attend. This meeting will bring together a lot of the input received to date and will give the public a hands-on opportunity to recommend possible cross sections for further evaluation and design by Engineering. If you care about getting bike lanes on Monroe Street, you should find a way to get to this meeting.

Saturday: For a break from all the advocacy and city meetings, you can go see a talk about touring the Silk Road on a folding bike at Sequoya Library

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Last Week

I wasn’t able to attend the final UW-Madison Draft Campus Master Plan Public Input Meeting, but from the reports of others on our Facebook page, it sounds like the plan calls for increasing motor vehicle access with a not-quite-fully-baked plan for accommodating bikes on University Ave. The final plan should go through the city before it’s adopted and it would be good to consider sharing your thoughts on how this important downtown corridor should function.

This Week

Monday: I’m super excited to see all your faces at our Madison Bikes Kickoff Party at the High Noon Saloon. We’ll have great food and tunes and you’ll have an opportunity to give your thoughts on where we should focus our energies in 2017. Also, door prizes from Saris including a SUPERBONES rack! Party starts at 6:00 pm and we’ll be there until 8:30 or 9:00 pm. There will be a special Mondays Around Monona ride leaving at 4:00 pm and ending at the party. Or for the night owls, join us for a post-party ride (details will be announced at the event). Whether you can join us or not, consider donating online. Every little bit makes a big difference.

Tuesday: The Sustainable Madison Transportation Master Plan Open House is your chance to see the city’s current transportation vision. Come see for yourself what big ideas the city has in mind to improve biking. Do you think the plan will have what it takes to move us out of our stalled mode share numbers?

And make sure that the Monroe Street Reconstruction: Cross Section Workshop is on your calendar for the following week. This will be the most important meeting to date to advocate for better bike access on a reconstructed Monroe.

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Last Week

There were a couple transportation related items discussed at last week’s City Council Meeting. It was a six-hour-long meeting with many important discussions. You can watch all or parts of it here.

• Item 19: Update to panhandling ordinance – Some have suggested that this ordinance rewrite is about trying to stop panhandling in our roadways, but Mayor Soglin tries to make the case that this is really about public safety. Perhaps this new focus on roadway safety will carry over to initiatives to reduce accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists on our city streets. 3:40:15 is the start of the item and 3:51:00 is the mayor’s speech.
• Item 27: Comprehensive Plan update – This will be gearing up later this year and into next. It will be a good opportunity to try and get some real transportation vision in a City of Madison plan. The Planning Department says this version will have greater emphasis on equity, health, sustainability, and resilience. (4:20:15)
• Item 125: Capitol East District Parking Structure – Parking and parking policy have a lot to do with how our city develops and a lot to do with where we allocate roadway space and transportation dollars. Interesting discussion about the subsidies involved in order to encourage development in our downtown. (5:20:00)

On Wednesday, the Bicycle Facility Maintenance Workgroup met and reviewed a first draft of a Bicycle Maintenance policy. We’ve been making good progress and hope to have something pulled together by the end of the year.

This Week

Monday: Madison Bikes Board Meeting – if you are interested in participating in any of our committees, send a message of interest via this online form. And India, one of our directors, leads another Mondays Around Monona ride.

Tuesday: UW Madison Draft Campus Master Plan Public Input Meeting – There was some good discussion about one element of the plan, the redesign of University Avenue and its bike facilities, on our Facebook page recently.

Friday: Join Bike Fitchburg as they sponsor this year’s Pick Me Up at the Border, a nighttime ride to the Illinois border on the Badger State Trail.

Saturday: Ride over to Revolution Cycles for Ladies Night with Molly Hurford, “where all your questions will be answered—from women-specific ‘issues’ to cyclocross training to nutrition.”

Sunday: Bike the Barns, “a delicious charity bicycle tour raising funds for Partner Shares, featuring local food and CSA farms!”

Also, the 2nd annual Love to Ride program, a month-long local bike challenge developed to help more people rediscover the joys and benefits of riding a bike, runs from September 12 –⁠ October 7, 2016. Businesses can compete for team prizes and bragging rights based on their employees’ participation. Individuals get points for their own rides and, even more importantly, for encouraging others to ride. Visit the Love to Ride Madison website to find out more and to register. Sign up to be the Challenge Champion at your business and help spread the word!

And of course, Madison Bikes Kickoff Party at the High Noon Saloon is on 9/19. Donate online now and we’ll see you on the 19th!

As always, you can also find all these dates on our Community Bike Calendar.

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Last Week

Other than the Mondays Around Monona ride, I wasn’t able to attend any of last week’s events. Sounds like the Sun Prairie Transportation Summit was well attended: video of the event (see screenshot above) is available to watch here. If you’re following the Monroe Street reconstruction process (you should be) here’s a link to last week’s Green Infrastructure World Café presentation. September 29th will be the Summer Input Review and Cross Section Workshop at Wingra School followed by the Cross Section Open House on October 27th. If you have any interest in seeing bike lanes on Monroe Street, you should plan on attending both of these meetings.

This Week

On Wednesday, the Bicycle Facility Maintenance Workgroup will meet to review a first draft of a bikeway maintenance policy. On Saturday, consider joining the Bike the Art Kickoff Tour! organized by the Arts & Literature Laboratory.

Also, just announced last week, is a public comment open house for the Madison in Motion, Sustainable Master Transportation Plan on 9/20. I’ll go into more detail about this plan and what to expect at the open house next week, but for now just plan on two big bike events that week. The other event, of course, is the Madison Bikes Kickoff Party at the High Noon Saloon on 9/19. Donate online now and we’ll see you on the 19th!

Last Week

If you missed the Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission meeting on Tuesday, you can watch it online here. It was a long one (over 3 hours) with conversation centered mostly on 1) the Quarterly Traffic Report from City of Madison Police Dept 2) a Racial Equity and Social Justice Presentation and 3) updates to the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (with a particular focus on trying to make that program more accessible and more equitable for all neighborhoods).

I’ve become very disappointed with the information that is presented each quarter from our Police Department and am concerned with the lack of focus around actually increasing safety for our road users. Lt. Knight shared with the commission that, yet again, the bike safety grant funds that the department received were used to target cyclists failing to come to a foot-down stop at major path/street crossings. Without getting into discussions around the Rolling Stop (also known as the Idaho Stop), it’s clear that this is not the highest leverage enforcement activity to increase safety for people on bikes. People on foot and on bike are the most vulnerable and at-risk users of our public streets today and we need to start to work towards meaningful interventions that will reduce traffic violence.

This Week

On Monday, join We Are All Mechanics for their Mondays Around Monona, “leisurely Monday night bike rides for beginners and experts alike.” slow roll. On Wednesday there are two bike transportation related meetings: Sun Prairie Transportation Summit and Williamson/Jenifer Parking & Bus Route Discussions. On Thursday, Monroe Street Reconstruction engagement continues with the Green Infrastructure World Cafe. Mark your calendars now for September 29th; this will be the key community meeting for Monroe Street reconstruction where discussion will begin in earnest around what cross-section concepts should be further developed.

And, of course, preparations continue for our Madison Bikes Kickoff Party at the High Noon Saloon on 9/19. Donate online now and we’ll see you on the 19th!

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Last Week

The Madison Bikes Board of Directors met last week and fleshed out some more details for our party at the High Noon Saloon on 9/19. Stay tuned for more details.

This Week

The Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission meets this Tuesday, 8/23/16, at 5:00. Topics for this month include a Racial Equity and Social Justice Presentation by City of Madison Racial Equity Coordinator, Toriana Pettaway, and a review of revisions to the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program.

The Transportation Ordinance Rewrite Commission meeting for this month was cancelled and there will also be no Long Range Transportation Committee or Madison in Motion meeting in August.

Monroe Street Ped/Bike/Transit meeting

The public input meeting about pedestrian, bike, and transit improvements for the Monroe Street Reconstruction was the big event last week. Coming up next week is a visioning session about Jackson Street Plaza (where the Cap City Trail crosses Atwood Avenue). Read more after the fold.

Looking Back

Monroe Street Reconstruction

Last week’s big bike advocacy event was the Monroe Street Reconstruction Ped/Bike/Transit World Cafe at Edgewood College. There was a good crowd of attendees that sat through the three hour session. There were three presentations, one each on possible improvements for people on foot, people on bikes, and people who use transit. After each presentation, there were guided table conversations about what we heard, what was missing, and what we liked.

Some information from the online survey (2,779 responses) was interspersed in the presentations and the summary of survey results can be found here.

Key questions and top three responses:

“Other than by car, how would you prefer to access destinations on Monroe Streets if conditions were improved?”

• 47% Walking
• 38% Bicycle
• 14% Transit

“Please choose up to three (3) qualities that you would most like to see improved and/or invested in as part of the reconstruction process.”

• 54% Walkability
• 46% Green street (more plant life and sustainable design)
• 43% Bikeability

“Please choose up to five (5) priorities regarding what you believe is most important to achieve as a result of the reconstruction of Monroe Street.”

• 70% Better pedestrian-friendliness and safety
• 65% A reconstructed street, free of cracks and potholes
• 51% Better bicycle-friendliness and safety

These results are very consistent with the opinions that have been expressed at the community meetings to date. Improved safety, comfort, and access for people on foot is the primary concern followed closely by improved safety, comfort, and access for people on bike.

Of the 1,000 or so people that said they would prefer to access destinations on Monroe Streets by bike if conditions were improved, there was some clear consensus around what improvements would be the most important (response of 9 or 10 on a 10 point scale):

• 69% stated that protected bike lanes would be a major factor
• 62% said that bike lanes (even without separation) would be a major factor
• 46% called out smoother streets as a major factor
• 45% hoped for better bike connections from nearby bike paths
• 37% and 33% said that less and slower automobile traffic would be a major factor
• And less than 30% of respondents selected better signage, more bike parking near destinations, and installing Bcycle stations as a major factor that would lead to them biking more to Monroe Street

Unfortunately, the presentation on bike enhancements by Assistant City Traffic Engineer, Yang Tao, only mentioned protected and unprotected bike lanes briefly while stressing the impact on car throughput and on-street parking that would result from including bike lanes in the reconstruction. Most of the presentation focused instead on concepts like providing an alternate route from the SW Commuter Path to Monroe adjacent to Glenway or on the long hoped-for connection from Wingra Park to Edgewood Drive. While both of these would be welcome additions to our bike network, neither address the needs of people who do or who would bike on Monroe if adequate facilities were provided. Significant time was also spent discussing improved wayfinding signage from the SW Path to Monroe and the possibility of including more bike parking on the side streets off of Monroe. These are also good ideas, but neither fundamentally improves access to Monroe Street for people on bikes.

Mark your calendars now for Thursday, September 29th. This will be the next big public meeting on the topic at the Monroe Street Reconstruction: Cross Section Workshop.

Looking Forward

The Bicycle Facility Maintenance Subcommittee meeting for this coming week has been cancelled and will pick up on reviewing a new maintenance policy (with particular focus on winter maintenance) in September. Madison Bikes board of directors will meet on Tuesday to work on finalizing plans for our Kick-off Party on September, 19th at the High Noon Saloon. Save the date!

For anyone that lives on or frequents the eastside, consider stopping in at the Jackson Street Plaza on Saturday, 8/20 to contribute your placemaking ideas to an important node on the Capital City Path. Conflict between people on foot and people on bikes was noted as the biggest opportunity for improvement around the plaza.

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The one big, important advocacy event this week is the Monroe Street Ped, Bike and Transit World Café onThursday that Robbie has blogged about already. Read more about that and about last week’s highlights after the fold.

Monroe Street Reconstruction

Thursday, August 11^th, 2016 from 6:00-9:00 PM

The Washburn Room at Edgewood College, 1000 Edgewood College Dr., Madison, WI 53711

RSVP (not required): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/monroe-street-pedestrian-bicycle-and-transit-infrastructure-world-cafe-tickets-26566505132.

If you’ve thought about attending a public meeting on a bike project, but haven’t done so yet, consider coming to the Monroe Street Bike, Ped, and Transit World Cafe this Thursday at Edgewood College. Monroe Street is up for a complete reconstruct from Regent to Leonard and curb to curb resurfacing from Leonard to Odana. This is a once in a generation opportunity to reprioritize our public right of way. Some argue that accommodating bikes on Monroe isn’t needed since the SW Commuter Path is only a few blocks away. But those who rely on their bikes for transportation know that people on bikes need to get to all the same places as people in cars.

With a relatively narrow 66’ right of way, there’s no way to squeeze in bike lanes without losing some on-street car parking. Some business owners worry that a loss of parking would have a negative impact on sales even though studies on the topic show again and again that bike lanes increases sales and are a boon for business. Some neighbors have also objected to the loss of parking on Monroe out of a fear that visitors will park in front of their houses on the side streets and increase traffic in their otherwise quiet streets ‘searching’ for parking—something that could be addressed with better parking management or diverters on side streets that prevent through traffic.

See our Action Alert for more details and plan on coming down to support safe and comfortable bike facilities for all on Monroe Street.

Last week’s highlights

Monona Bay Bike Boulevard

You didn’t miss much if you weren’t able to attend the Monona Bay Bike Boulevard meeting. The plan is to add some bike sharrows and a few Bike Boulevard signs along West Shore and South Shore. None of that will change how the street functions, but perhaps it will help highlight that this is a shared road space for people on bikes and people on cars (and joggers who don’t have a sidewalk bayside). Some neighbors pointed out the challenge of Gilson Street and wondered if something could be done to address the high speed car traffic that comes through there. I advocated for a wider curb cut at the top of West Shore heading into Brittingham Park. It’s not that bad unless there is two-way traffic or in the winter. Widening it to the south would make it much more comfortable for all users.

This week there is only one meeting on the calendar, after last week’s three city transportation meetings. The meeting is tonight already and deals with “proposed bike route system enhancements along West Main Street, South Shore Drive, West Shore Drive, and Gilson Street” (see map above). Read more about the meeting, as well as a short recap of last week’s meetings after the fold.

Monona Bay Bike Boulevard Public Information Meeting

Monday, 8/1/16

Water Utility-Engineering, 119 E Olin Ave

5:30 pm

“Please join me to hear from city Traffic Engineering staff to learn more about the proposed bike route system enhancements along West Main Street, South Shore Drive, West Shore Drive, and Gilson Street. We will discuss bike/ motorist signing and pavement markings to enhance the bike route system, including the “Bike Boulevard” designation and its associated signing and marking.”

Last week’s highlights

PBMVC (PEDESTRIAN/BICYCLE/MOTOR VEHICLE COMMISSION)

got its first view of the draft Madison in Motion plan. The materials weren’t available ahead of the meeting and still aren’t published on Legistar, but there really isn’t much to see anyway (here’s a version posted to the MiM site). The plan is supposed to be a ‘comprehensive transportation master plan’ that is meant to ‘guide transportation decisions in the City of Madison…to help make Madison a more walkable, bikeable and livable city…’ It should ‘identify the strategies and implementation recommendations…and will include a realistic, strategic implementation plan for the City to follow for the next 25 years…’ Despite recommendations from the oversight committee, the current draft has no measurable goals and no clear vision, especially as it relates to bicycle transportation in Madison. It’s essentially a collection of concepts and a long list of recommendations to just continue what we’re doing. There should be an opportunity for public comment later this summer/fall.

TORC (TRANSPORTATION ORDINANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE)

reviewed the Draft Statement of Purpose drafted by City Attorney Strange. This is a big task and the group seems to be making good progress. The biggest identified gap to date has been in the lack of transportation planning (see issues with Madison in Motion). The discussion has begun to coalesce around the concept of having a more comprehensive Transportation Commission. This commission would be focused on driving transportation strategy and policy. What that means for the current transportation committees/commissions is still to be determined. Alder King called out what may be the most critical decision by this body: can we really make progress with a new centralized Transportation Commission if it doesn’t have a matching staff component? In my opinion, this new committee/commission makes a lot of sense, but only if there’s a matching Director of Transportation to coordinate and support it.

LONG-RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLANNING COMMITTEE (LRTPC)

received presentations on a number of Planning Data Tools: UrbanFootprint, Fiscal Impact Model and Active Living Index. The presentations for these was also not posted to Legistar.

We try and keep all regular transportation-related city meetings on our Community Bike Calendar. This week’s highlights: The 4th week of the month is always a busy one for city meetings, with meetings of the Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Motor Vehicle Commission (PBMVC), the Long Range Transportation Planning Committee (LRTPC), and the recently created Transportation Ordinance Review Ad Hoc Committee (TORC). In addition to those meetings, it’s also the week of one of Madison’s biggest fun bike events, Ride the Drive this coming Sunday.

More details after the fold.

PBMVC (Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission)

is the main city committee focused on bike-related issues. This month will include a Racial Equity and Social Justice Presentation by Toriana Pettaway and discussion around how we best incorporate this into our transportation planning. Also, a presentation on the status of our Sustainable Master Transportation Plan (Madison in Motion) by Dave Trowbridge. This is one of the few city meetings that is live streamed and available over the web.

Tuesday, 7/26/16, 5pm

Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission

210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Room GR-27, City-County Bldg. Police Conference Room

Agenda here and you can watch from home here.

TORC (Transportation Ordinance Review Ad Hoc Committee)

is an ad hoc committee that’s been meeting since spring. Their charge is to review and rewrite the city’s transportation ordinance. The existing ordinance currently calls for a Director of Transportation (among other things) even though we have not had one at the city for many years. The work done here could lead to a significant restructuring of our transportation committees. This week there will be a review of the Draft Statement of Purpose drafted by City Attorney Strange.

Wednesday, 7/27/16, 5pm

Transportation Ordinance Review Ad Hoc Committee

210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Room GR-27, City-County Bldg. Police Conference Room

Agenda here.

LRTPC (Long Range Transportation Planning Committee)

is staffed by our Planning division. It typically receives presentations related to long-term transportation planning. This month will see a review of planning data tools including: Urban Footprint, Fiscal Impact Model and Active Living Index and will also have an overview of the Greater Madison Vision Planning Process.

Thursday, 7/28/16, 5pm

Long Range Transportation Planning Committee

210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Room 108, City-County Bldg.

Agenda here.

Ride the Drive

Keep your eyes peeled for the Madison Bikes crew at the event!

Sunday, 7/31/16, 10am-2pm

Ride the Drive