Our family dubs cold days, in the single digits or below, “Double coat” weather. A single coat isn’t warm enough so, we double up by adding a fall jacket under our winter jackets. Two coats significantly increases the amount of time kids (or myself) will spend outside in the cold. Why not 3 coats? Well, we discovered two coats is our limit before becoming too puffed up to function, but go with what works best for you. Looks like warmer weather is in the forecast for next week (probably only one coat necessary). Expect the paths and roads to be very sloppy…
Wednesday
Transportation Commission meeting about a number of items including a proposal to add bike lanes on Sheboygan Ave and West Washington. Please take a look at the proposal and provide feedback particularly if you live in this area or commute along this road. You can easily provide feedback through the following methods:
Registering for the meeting which will grant you the following options when you attend – Request to speak at the meeting for <2min – Submit a question via chat (can be anonymous) – Register support or opposition of an agenda item (without speaking or anonymously).
Motor vehicle traffic dropped significantly early this year, but has recovered to 90% of pre-COVID levels.
Overall monthly bicycle volumes on the Southwest Path are consistent, however there is a notable shift in volume to the weekends.
The average city wide motor vehicle speed has decreased, but the number of extremely high (100mph) speed related crashes have increased transportation fatalities.
Metro transit recorded a 27% reduction in revenue hours last year, however the department remains on stable financial footing. The city is expecting transit ridership to recover in 2021 and views transit as a “key transportation mode”.
Parking revenue is down over 50% and which resulted in a $6 million dollar operating loss.
The city made deliberate efforts to minimize the impact of traffic and transit change to communities of color and low income households. For example, metro fares were suspended from March to August.
Traffic Engineering COVID-19 Response
Added signage to encourage and inform people of physical distancing guidelines.
Modify signal timing to eliminate the need to press walk buttons and reduce pedestrian wait times.
Implement 4 miles of temporary shared streets to expand low stress bike and pedestrian facilities.
Temporarily closed streets, created dedicated curbside pick-up spaces and converted parking to outdoor restaurant seating, to aid local businesses.
2020 Traffic Accomplishments
Madison adopted Vision Zero with the goal of eliminating all traffic related deaths. Adopting Vision Zero is a substantial achievement that encourages the city to use data driven methods to review and address hazardous roads and intersections. See figure below is a data driven example of how 2020 vision zero projects were distributed with a focus on equity.
Complete Green Streets initiative will consider how to use our precious roadway space more equitably, by considering all transportation modes in addition to motor vehicles.
Improved and expanded bike facilities. I have seen a lot of new green and white paint at city intersections and I hope you have has well. You can view the report to see the full list of improvements.
2021 Traffic Engineering Initiatives
Vision Zero. This was adopted in 2020 and you should expect to see this every year. Getting to 0 traffic deaths is a big deal and will take a lot of work.
School Crossing Guards
Shared Streets – this was one of the positive outcomes of the COVID pandemic and there maybe ways to make some changes semi-permanent.
Green Complete Streets. A long list of projects to make our city more equitable to all methods or transportation. Lots of exciting projects on this list.
Twenty is Plenty is an initiative to reduce residential street speed limits from 25mph to 20mph. Lower urban speed limits reduce pedestrian fatalities and don’t significantly impact average vehicle speed.
Change how traffic calming funds are allocated to make the process more equitable.
On-street parking ordinance review to consider changes to Madison’s parking permit structure and incentivize real estate developers to incorporate facilities for alternative transportation modes.
I am impressed by the significant achievements made by the Mayor, Director of Transportation, city alders, traffic engineers and others to make transportation in our city more equitable for all Madison residents. In particular, I applaud city leadership in their clear prioritization of all modes of transportation, not just cars, and look forward to the numerous initiatives planned for 2021. I am proud to join the effort to shift of our great city to an environmentally sustainable, livable and equitable example of what is possible. You can help too, by attending public input meetings, voting for candidates who support all modes of transportation and encouraging others to bike.
Mandatory Bike Registration Repeal
The mandatory bike registration ordnance was unanimously repealed this week by the city council. This might sound bad, but is is a good thing because this outdated law was a barrier to biking and wasn’t effective at deterring bike theft. If you would like to register your bike there are voluntary national registration services available.
The warm weather this weekend was a pleasant surprise. Hopefully you have an opportunity to get out side and take advantage of it. This mild weather makes for a great smooth transition to fall riding gear.
This is community input meeting for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plan impacting the west side. The city is seeking feedback on changes to accommodate center running bus lanes on Mineral Point Road and Whitney Way. The proposed center running bus lane plan for Whitney Way is a win-win for bikes and BRT. However, the recommended changes to Mineral Point Road are a compromise between BRT operations and bike facilities (see below for more details).
Mineral Point Road
The following graphic shows the proposed Mineral Point Road cross section with center running BRT lanes. The original proposal maintained the current shared bus/bike lane with separate BRT facilities on each side of the road. The proposed change removes the shared bus/bike lane and replaces it with a widened sidewalk on one side. The proposed changes can be summarized as good for BRT and so-so for bikes. I acknowledge there aren’t a whole lot of options available to accommodate two car travel lanes and bike facilities without 1) widening the road (which is expensive) or 2) significantly expanding the sidewalk/path (which the city can’t do). However, I am concerned a shared sidewalk on one side is not a good option for pedestrians or cyclists. This would be a good meeting to attend if you use the bike facilities on Mineral Point Road and could provide feedback to make this work for both BRT and bikes (like Whitney Way).
Mineral Point Road cross section with center running bus lanes
This weekend offered another great opportunity to get out and enjoy the wonderful fall colors! While late morning and afternoon temperatures are generally comfortable, I’ve noticed the temperature has started to dip down to freezing some nights. This has caused some cold fingers and ears for unprepared morning cyclists (like myself). Time to dig out the fall ridding gear from the back of the closet! On that note, I decided to describe the causal fall weather riding gear I use for commuting and short trips to the store.
Casual Fall Weather Riding Gear
The key to riding comfortably in cooler weather is to choose clothing that shields your skin from the wind without retaining heat and moisture. Your body will probably generate enough (sometimes too much!) heat to keep your fingers and ears warm if they aren’t exposed.
Light gloves for casual fall riding. Soft shell glove (right) is more wind resistant than the knit glove (left).
Gloves are the first fall weather item I don when temperatures start to drop below 50F. Bike specific gloves can be purchased, however I find many common “soft shell” gloves (right) work fine.
Standard beanie hat (left), beanie without rolled over edge (center) and bike beanie with ear flaps (right).
A head covering is the second fall weather item I add to keep my ears warm. I recommend thin hats for two reasons; 1) my head gets hot and 2) a thick hat can compromise helmet effectiveness during a crash. One option is a standard beanie hat with a rolled edge (left), however this hat type can sometimes push down over my eyes while riding (Bad!). I recommend a tight fitting hat (center) without a rolled over edge that will stay put under a helmet. Some hats come with extra ear flaps (right) which cover the ears more effectively.
This Week
Monday
The Madison Transportation Policy and Planning Board is meeting Monday at 5pm virtually. You can watch the meeting live or review the archived recording. The agenda includes a few items which maybe of interest:
Mapped reservation for future streets north of Milwaukee between Fair Oaks and West Corporate Drive.
Madison 2021 City Budget Discussion with the Common Council starting at 6:30. You can watch the meeting live, but you must register in advance if you would like to comment. Watch for a separate follow up post from Madison Bikes on this topic.
Voting
Don’t forget to VOTE! In-person absentee voting starts across the city on October 20. Make a plan to vote, because it’s important. Have questions or need information? Start here.
Most of the day to day was excellent for biking if you could put up with the heat and humidity. Lots of people were out on the south west path, but most people were taking it slow to stay cool.
Cedar Street Extension
Last week the Transportation Commission approved a design for the new Cedar Street extension on the south side. This new street is part of the Truman Olson Redevelopment project and will be the main access to the supermarket that will replace the existing Pick’n’Save on Park Street. The approved street design includes on-street car parking for the supermarket and buffered bike lanes on both sides of the street. Traffic Engineering projects that the street will see about 5000 cars per day, which means that the buffered design is necessary to make this a low-stress bike route. Still to be resolved is the crossing of Cedar at Park St. Allowing people to safely walk and bike across the four lanes of Park St is challenging, and the commission and residents testifying didn’t like any of the proposed designs. Engineering will seek additional public input before bringing the design back to the Transportation Commission.
COVID-19 Biking Metrics
Streetlight Data released a report on biking metrics during COVID-19. Based on location data from smart phones and navigation devices, Streetlight compared “bicycle miles traveled” in May 2019 and 2020. For the Madison metro area (which consists of Columbia, Dane, Green, and Iowa counties), they found an increase of 20-49%. How do these numbers compare to the two bike counters on the Southwest Path and Cap City Trail? Our board member Harald took a look: The counters also show an increase compared to last year. But the increase is smaller (9%), and compared to years before 2019, the 2020 numbers are actually lower.
Oscar Mayer Area Plan Adopted
After a very long Madison City Council meeting last week a plan preserving the high density affordable housing for the Oscar Mayer Area was adopted and expanding the preserved wetland open space to 14.1 acres. This plan is expected to create more than 2,500 affordable housing units near Madison’s urban core that will be well connected by transit, biking and walking. In addition, Coolidge street will be restricted to bike and pedestrians to reduced car traffic through the neighborhood.
Madison Parks in conjunction with IMBA is developing a professionally built mountain bike park off the Cannonball Path on the City’s south side. This week good progress was made, the first trail was “burned” in and updated/larger signage will be put up soon. IMBA is also working with City Staff to build skills development features along the trail.
Additional development phases are planned over the next two years. Phase 1 design work will be taking place late summer and through the fall with the goal to build Phase 1 summer 2021. Phase 2 is planned for 2022. Visit Capital Off Road Pathfinders or Facebook to learn more.
The weather this weekend was perfect for bike ride. I hope everyone was able to take advantage and get outside. The wonderful temperature and lush green foliage are the ultimate spring combination. Also, in case you missed it, Madison Ranked #2 best US biking city by People for Bikes. Go Madison!
Looking for a way to make Madison more bike friendly?
This is a short list of things you can do this week to encourage biking and bike infrastructure in Madison.
1. Fill Out a Survey (8-12 min)
Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) invites you to participate in an important regional survey to assess the impact of COVID-19 on work-from-home trends and attitudes in the greater Madison region. Your participation is critical to understanding the unique impacts of COVID-19 on work and commuting trends in our region.
2. Register for the Vilas Park Master Plan Public Input Meeting
Registration is required to attend this public input meeting next week Monday June 22 at 6:30. This is an opportunity to provide feedback on the redesign of this wonderful Madison park. I am fond of Concept B that replaces the thru road with a multiuse path. This meeting is via Zoom and requires registration. More Information
Like many others my daily routine has changed in the last month and I spend a lot more time at home. My switch to telecommuting has disrupted my daily bike commute routine, so I need to plan extra activities on the weekend to stay healthy and make up for my weekday largess. Thus I was very happy to learn Governor Evers reopened many state parks starting this last weekend including all of the state rail trails. I took advantage of the excellent weather this weekend and went for a ride with my family. The warm temperatures and limited car traffic just beg us to go out and explore the world. Of course, please remember to follow social distancing requirements and minimize contact with others in public places.
Bike Month!
May is National Bike Month and Madison Bikes usually has major events planned to celebrate biking welcome in the summer, however this year Madison Bike Week is delayed until September due to COVID-19 and the Ride-the-Drive is cancelled. However, with the wonderful weather and reduced car traffic there has never been a better time to encourage others to try and realize the benefits of biking. Here are a few Bike Week activities you can do this week:
Bike to School Anywhere Week 2020 – The annual bike to school week put on by the City of Madison, Healthy Kids Collaborative had to be modified this year because kids are attending school virtually. Bike Anywhere Week: From a Distance has a family bike activity or two planned every day this week.
Love to Ride – you can sign up for this challenge if you’re looking for encouragement to bike more!
Learn to Ride webinar for parents – Thursday 5/7 @12pm. This online event put on by the City of Madison is a great first step to teaching your kids to bike safely.
County Highway AB and US Highway 12/18 Interchange
A $37 million project to reconstruct the County Highway AB and US Highway 12/18 interchange east of the Interstate 90/94 will be presented for approval at the Transportation and Planning Board on Monday and the Common Council on Tuesday. This expensive project is proposed to improve one of the most dangerous intersections in the state but doesn’t include low stress bike and pedestrian accommodations. Please read the excellent action alert written by Robbie Webber to learn more.
Greater East Towne and Odana Area Plans
The City of Madison is gathering input to determine the future of the East Towne and Westgate/Odana area malls. The results of the first public input survey branded “Mall Madness” are available. “Comfortable and safe bike routes” and “walkable and pleasant streets” ranked 3rd and 4th respectively in the final round. This is an excellent opportunity to encourage new equitable and bikeable/walkable developments in Madison.
Week 1: Issues facing malls and potential impacts from Covid19 Monday May 4th 12:15-1 pm, and Thursday May 7th 5:15-6 pm
Week 2: Case Studies – Mall & Office Redevelopment Examples Monday May 11th 12:15-1 pm, and Thursday May 14, 5:15- 6 pm
Week 3: Odana Area Plan Focused Discussion Monday May 18th 12:15-1 pm, and Thursday May 21th 5:15-6 pm
Week 4: Greater East Towne Area Plan Focused Discussion Monday June 1st 12:15-1 pm, and Thursday June 4th 5:15-6 pm
Robbie Webber of the advocacy group Madison Bike says bicycle volume on city paths was high before the pandemic. People are now seeking an exercise outlet in the face of significant restrictions in an effort to thwart the spread of the coronavirus. “You throw in the need to stay six feet or more apart and you have a real problem.”
