Author: Harald Kliems

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Last Week

Last week we had two public meetings about plans affecting major bike corridors in Madison. Crazylegs

John Nolen Drive/Blair Street

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Recommendations for the intersection at Machinery Row

The second-to-last public involvement meeting about the study to finalize plans for the John Nolen Drive and Blair Street corridor happened last Wednesday. Our Action Alert has some background reading. The meeting was well attended, and I saw many Madison Bikes board members and supporters in the audience. I will report in more depth on this in a separate post, but for now let’s say that the meeting was mostly encouraging. Strand Associates, the planning firm in charge of the project, and city engineering had clearly taken to heart some of the feedback they received at previous meetings. The plan that they presented as their final recommendation contains significant improvements for people walking and biking. Some aspects that need further work remain, and there is the larger issue that some of the biking and walking improvements such as an underpass under John Nolen Drive at North Shore will only happen many years down the road. But compared to many other major street reconstruction projects that we have seen in Madison in the recent past, I was quite happy with the outcome. Stay tuned for a more detailed analysis. In the meantime you can look at the presentation and exhibits from the meeting here.

Crazylegs Triangle

Speaking of other street reconstruction projects, our board member Robbie has this to report from last week’s Crazylegs meeting:

Urban Assets, a consulting company running the public involvement process for the Monroe Street reconstruction, held the first open house to gather ideas for the triangle of Breese Terrace, Monroe, and Regent Streets. The small street that cuts through the triangle –⁠ currently named Crazylegs Lane and an extension of Oakland that continues south towards Vilas Park –⁠ will be going away as part of the redesign. This will mean one less street to cross on the Southwest Path and less fragmentation of the remaining plaza. Most people riding bikes probably currently experience this area by biking past it or across it, especially if you use the Southwest Path. But it is also a crossroads of several neighborhoods as well as a transition between campus and neighborhood, commercial to residential, and downtown to west side.

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Crazylegs during 2016 Bike Week

Fortunately, everyone agreed that the path needed to be maintained or even improved, and various ideas to build on the existing use primarily as a bicycle corridors were offered. Another connection that was deemed important to maintain was the connection between the SW Path and Oakland, as this is a critical link for those living to the south of the Camp Randall area.
We went out and walked around the triangle and discussed what we liked, what we didn’t, and what we might like to see there. More green space, seating, a bike repair station, vending during football games and other events, a place for gathering or performances, artwork? Any and all are under consideration. Based on the discussion and input during the workshop on Tuesday, Ken Saiki Designs will come up with some suggested improvements and present them on September 14 at Wingra School. There will also be ideas for the entrance to Wingra Park, which we considered during a previous meeting.

If you are interested in what stays the same or changes in either of these locations, mark your calendar to attend. The link above is a sign up, but that’s just so they can plan for how many people to expect. Alder Sara Eskrich’s webpage is a good place to keep track of all the meetings, designs, and discussions.

This Week

Mondays Around Monona started last week (picture on the top) and will continue into the fall. Join We Are All Mechanics for a loop around Lake Monona, open to beginners and more advanced riders alike.

On Tuesday join Bombay Bicycle Club and Madison Bikes for the Wheels for Winners Ride & Social. Support Wheels for Winners by donating bike parts and tools before and after the ride. Any donations are welcome, but they particularly need seats, cable cutters and mountain bike parts. The ride starts at the Olbrich biergarten at 5:30pm, loops around the lake with a stop at Wheels for Winners, and then ends with a social at the beer garden.

The Monroe Street Reconstruction Final Corridor Design Open House will take place on Wednesday. This will be the final public meeting about the general design of the corridor before construction actually starts. Our Madison Bikes Advocacy Committee has its meeting that day as well.

On Saturday, as warm-up for the Tour de Fat Madison with Atlas Genius on August 23, benefiting the Bike Fed, you can join a “bike crawl,” starting at the Tip Top Tavern.

Coming up

Exciting news about the Lower Yahara Trail: September 1 is the official opening date for the new trail connecting Lake Farm Park with MacFarland. Hold the date, and watch out for “construction cranes”… (Photo courtesy of Jim Post)

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And don’t forget the Madison Bikes Annual Party on September 12 at the High Noon Saloon.

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What the intersection looks like without cars. Ride the Drive 2016.

The John Nolen Drive/Blair Street corridor is arguable the most important bike corridor in Madison. Several thousand people ride their bikes on some part of it daily. And as it is, it has several problem spots, most prominently the intersection at Machinery Row and the crossing of John Nolen Drive at North Shore. Fixes to these and other problems in the corridors have been discussed for a long time. But now we’re getting closer to actual decisions being made, and we need to make sure that the needs of people walking and biking will be adequately addressed. Next Wednesday, 7pm at Monona Terrace there will be a public involvement meeting, and I encourage all of you to attend.

At the previous public involvement meeting, several alternatives were presented. While most included important improvements for people biking and walking (e.g. reducing conflicts at the Machinery Row parking lot), at the same time they failed to take into account several important movements. Two of the most glaring omissions are a lack of improvements for the crossing at North Shore Drive and not taking into account the need for people to get from the westbound Cap City Trail toward the Capitol area. For the former, the option recommended for further study is to move sections of the path and building a ped/bike underpass:

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This concept has much merit. But of course it is going to be complex and costly, with currently no budget or timeline when we might see it come to fruition. We need to also ask for improvements now.

For the Willy/Blair/John Nolen intersection at Machinery Row, all focus lies on the movement of people between the Cap City/Willy/Jenny St corridor and the Cap City Trail along Lake Monona. This is important, but what about people who ride on the Cap City Trail and want to continue toward the area around the Capitol and vice versa? What about people who want to walk from Machinery Row to Essen Haus? It appears that the idea there is that everybody would use the proposed overpass between Law Park and Wilson Street. Again, the overpass will only be built many years from now, and depending on where you want to go, this would be a significant detour requiring additional crossings. Again, we need improvements now.

For a city that says in all its planning documents that it is committed to increase the proportion of people biking and walking, we need to do better. I encourage everyone to attend the meeting in person and/or submit your written comments to city engineering and Strand Associates. Public input can make a difference: For instance, I have learned that one of the alternatives suggested for further study at the previous meeting, a couplet of one-way streets using Blair and Blount Streets to make it even easier for people in cars, was scrapped because citizens like you vocally opposed it.

We have set up a Facebook event that you can RSVP to if you plan on attending. If you cannot make the meeting, send your comments before or after the meeting to cpetykowski@cityofmadison.com and jeff.held@strand.com

Background material from previous meetings can be found on http://www.cityofmadison.com/engineering/projects/blair-st-john-nolen-dr-corridor-study I especially recommend looking at the materials from the April 17 meeting, including the “Exhibit…” documents.

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Soon to be illegal: Moped parking on the sidewalk terrace

Last Week

On Tuesday, the Common Council adopted new restrictions on moped parking. Mopeds used to be able to park for free on terraces (the space between sidewalk and roadway), which the public paid for. Effective January 2018, this will no longer be allowed. Instead, developers will have to provide moped parking themselves or strike an agreement with the city for moped parking in the public right-of-way. Especially in busy areas such as downtown, the new rules may help allocate more space for much-needed bike parking.

Also before the Common Council was the development plan for the High-Point/Raymond Road neighborhood in southwest Madison. The most contentious issue in the plan was an extension of Jeffy Trail to connect to Raymond Road. Currently a connection just for people walking and biking, the city had argued that building out the connection for motorized traffic would be important for improving emergency access and connectivity. Neighbors consistently spoke out against the extension, and against the recommendations from the city’s Plan Commission, the Common Council agreed with the neighborhood advocates and voted to remove the Jeffy Trail expansion from the plan.

This Week

On Monday the first Mondays Around Monona of the year is going to take place. These are weekly bike rides around Lake Monona, organized by We Are All Mechanics and open to beginners and others alike.

The one big bike advocacy item on the calendar this week is the public input meeting on the Blair Street/John Nolen Drive corridor on Wednesday. Improving conditions for people walking and biking has consistently featured on top of the list of concerns. But the options presented so far fall short of a significant improvement in several ways. This is the second-to-last public meeting on the topic, making it crucial to get good turn-out and making sure that our voices will be heard. Learn more in this blog post and RSVP on our Facebook event.

Mark the Date

Next week Tuesday, Bombay Bicycle Club, co-sponsored by Madison Bikes, are hosting the Wheels for Winners Ride & Social. Start saving your used bike parts and tools and donate them to Wheels for Winners before or after the ride.

And on September 12, we will have the Madison Bikes Annual Party at the High Noon Saloon. More information to come soon!

For details on any of these events, head to the Madison Bikes calendar. If you have an event that you’d like added, send the details to info@madisonbikes.org.

As part of the Wisconsin state budget negotiations, a tax on bikes has repeatedly come up. The Bike Fed is conducting a survey whether you think they should oppose that tax or consider it a symbolic compromise that may (or may not…) placate some legislators who have the stubborn-but-false belief that “cyclists don’t pay their way.” The survey is open to members and non-members.

With Wisconsin facing a transportation funding shortfall of between $500 million and $939 million over the next two years, and Governor Walker pledging to veto any increase in the state gas tax or vehicle registration fees, could legislators look to Wisconsin cyclists to pay more? We want to know how you would like to see bicycle infrastructure funded, and have embedded a very short survey at the bottom of this longish blog post. Feel free skip reading this and take the survey if you already know how you feel about bike taxes, registration fees, and the gas tax.

Consider weighing in on this important topic.

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Once more we need your help with the Wilson Street reconstruction project. We have written a lot about this important downtown project, and now the decision point has come. At their Tuesday (6/6) meeting, the Common Council will approve the project. The resolution that the council is going to decide on will not have any bike facilities in it. However, as the result of pressure by citizen advocates like you, the resolution will contain a clause that calls for bike facilities on the whole of Wilson Street, to be built once the Judge Doyle Square redevelopment is complete.

This is a clear step forward. But we need to make that the language to be adopted will actually be strong enough to ensure that we’re not just kicking the can down the road. As we have seen with other projects, despite previous resolutions, planning documents, and so on, once it comes to calling the shots, the interests of those biking and walking are often pushed aside.

Therefore I encourage you to write to your alder and ask them to firmly commit to safe and convenient biking on Wilson Street. Many of you have already written in before, and I can assure it has made a difference. Please take another five minutes to submit another comment (or, if you can: give testimony in person at the meeting tomorrow). The email address to reach all alders is allalders@cityofmadison.com and you can find your own alder’s contact info here.

Here is what I am going to write:

Dear Alder Bidar-Sielaff, dear members of the Common Council:

I would like to submit a public comment on your agenda item 46640, regarding the reconstruction of West Wilson Street. I am disappointed that the resolution in front of you does not include any facilities for people wanting a safe and convenient way to ride a bike on Wilson Street, an important downtown corridor. However, it was encouraging to see that the Board of Public Works at their last meeting recognized this problem and added a provision for it to be fixed eventually. I am encouraging you to include in your resolution a strong commitment to:

– bike facilities that allow travel in both eastbound and westbound directions

– on all of Wilson Street, from East Wilson at King/Butler to West Wilson at Hamilton Henry

– that allow safe and comfortable biking for people of all ages and abilities

– to be built by the time the Judge Doyle Square redevelopment is complete in 2020.

Thank for your consideration.

Is it working yet?

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The loop around Lake Monona is a popular ride among many Madison cyclists. It’s scenic and much of it is on trails or low-volume streets. Lake Mendota is a different story. While the Mendota loop scores high on the scenic scale, large stretches are uncomfortable and unsafe to ride. This is especially true for the stretch on Highway M. Lots of cars, a 55 mph speed limit, and only an unprotected shoulder for people riding bikes.

We have received word that the Dane County Board environment committee is considering holding a committee hearing in Waunakee on the topic of bicycle routes in northern Dane County, especially along the Highway M corridor. A bike path has been proposed there to provide a safer alternative to Highway M. A committee hearing would be an important step forward to making this a reality. Please take three minutes and email the following committee members:

Downing@countyofdane.com;

Jones.Nikole@countyofdane.com;

Ritt.Michele@countyofdane.com;

Salov@countyofdane.com;

Kiefer.timothy@countyofdane.com

And please tell them that you support holding a public hearing in Waunakee of the County Board’s Environment Committee regarding county funding for bicycle routes and off-road bike paths, especially along the Highway M corridor.

Thanks for making your voice heard.

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It’s a little confusing: There’s the League of American Bicyclists Bike to Work Day on May 19; there was Global Bike to Work Day on May 11; and of course there’s the Bike Fed’s Wisconsin Bike Week in June. All on different dates. But hey: The more days to celebrate biking to work and elsewhere, the better!

In that spirit, Madison Bikes and Cafe Domestique will be hosting a commuter station on the Cap City Trail at Dickinson this Friday, 7-9 am. We’ll have free coffee, Madison Bikes stickers, and some small snacks. Stop by and say hi! And thanks for riding your bike, on Friday or any other day!

RSVP on the Facebook event page or just stop by.

Editorial note: This edition of the Calendar Highlights is brought to you by Harald. Your usual host Grant will return next week.

Last week

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What diverter can look like: People walking and biking can pass; people driving cannot. Image: LADOT Bike Blog.

The Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association met last week to discuss the future of the East Mifflin bike boulevard. Many in the community perceive this important corridor to be a bike boulevard in-name-only, with no measures to divert or slow down motor vehicle traffic, for instance by installing diverters that allow local traffic while keeping out through-traffic. As discussed in this Facebook thread, the meeting also raised larger questions about how our transportation network is being planned and decided on.

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Rendering of an improved sidewalk/cycle track in front of Machinery Row Bicycles

On the same night there was an open house about the John Nolen Drive/Blair Street Corridor. While we are still far away from any final decision let alone actual construction, things have moved forward since the previous meeting. For instance, an overpass connecting Law Park to Wilson Street for people walking and biking now is a real option, with the Common Council taking on a resolution that would establish an easement on the Wilson Street side for that connection. For the intersection of John Nolen/Blair/Williamson many of the initially proposed solutions, such as a tunnel, are off the table at this point. You can find more details in the State Journal, the City’s page for the project, or this discussion on Facebook.

The Common Council met on Tuesday. We had initially expected for this to be the meeting where a decision about the West Wilson Street reconstruction would be made. Thanks to those who responded to our action alert and wrote to the Board of Public Works and their Alders to ask for better accommodation for people on bikes, the process has slowed down and no final decision has been made yet. Stay tuned for a more detailed update on the status of the project.

This week

On Monday, the Madison Bikes Events Committee meets at 7pm at Cafe Domestique. Everybody is welcome to attend! Earlier tonight, our friends from Bike Fitchburg have their monthly meeting at the Fitchburg Public Library.

The Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission will meet on Tuesday, in a joint meeting with the Long Range Transportation Planning Committee. On the agenda are a pilot project for the West Wilson Street reconstruction, the ongoing process of reorganizating Madison’s city agencies around transportation planning, a new ordinance that will legalize “sandwich boards” on sidewalks, and the new policy around moped parking downtown. In addition, a draft of the latest “Transportation Improvement Plan” will be discussed. This is one of the main documents that outlines funded transportation projects in the near future. You can find the full agenda and related documents here.

On Wednesday, the Madison Bike Advocacy Committee meets to talk about Wilson Street and a project to map and measure the connectivity of Madison’s “low-stress bike network.” If you’d like to attend, email Harald.

For details on any of these events, head to the Madison Bikes calendar. If you have an event that you’d like added, send the details to info@madisonbikes.org.

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Do you have five minutes to spare and want to improve the situation for people walking and biking on West Wilson Street? Here’s how:

The Board of Public Works will discuss the design proposed by City Engineering in their meeting on Wednesday. If you haven’t been following the project, you can catch up on a lot of background here, here, and here. Writing a quick email in opposition to putting people on bike bike onto the sidewalk and in favor of real bike accommodations on the street is going to be important. I know several of you already sent emails when the item was on the agenda for the Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission last week, and you can just re-use that email. One new development is that doing a pilot study, where one side of on-street parking will be removed for a while is now on the table. If done well, we think that this is a good option, and we encourage you to mention the pilot.

Email addresses for the Board of Public Works members:

claudia.haack@yahoo.com; btrades@sbcglobal.net; pdahl@fpm.wisc.edu; jaclyn.lawton@charter.net; jclausius@charter.net; debkenjohnson@charter.net; district12@cityofmadison.com; district9@cityofmadison.com; szwalling@charter.net

I recommend also included these folks in the cc line, as well as your district’s alder:

MHacker@cityofmadison.com; RPhillips@cityofmadison.com; CPetykowski@cityofmadison.com; YTao@cityofmadison.com; district4@cityofmadison.com

Here’s what I’m going to write; you’re welcome to reuse the text:

Dear Members of the Board of Public Works, dear Alders:

Regarding the planned reconstruction of West Wilson street, please move forward with a street design that takes into account the needs of people biking and walking on this important connection to downtown, both going west to east, and east to west. I strongly oppose an option that mixes people walking and cycling on the sidewalk, as that is neither safe nor convenient for anyone. I support doing a well-designed and evaluated pilot project that would close one of the on-street parking lanes to put in a protected one-way or two-way bike lane.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thanks for helping out! The final decision on this will be made at City Council. We’ll send out another update before that.