Author: Robbie Webber

Once more, we just want to remind you that YOU are important in making the city a better place to bike and to help others feel comfortable on the city streets and paths. Speak up about what you care about; talk to city staff, your alder, your employer, the management of the places you shop, or other decision makers. Help us out by volunteering and donating. And be an example to others, like maybe being a model of how to get around by bike. (See below for an upcoming chance.)

Although we still have warm weather coming up this week, we can all feel the chill creeping into the air. But not only is it not time to put your bike away, it’s actually time to start thinking about how to equip yourself and your bike to ride all winter.

We are busy planning the Winter Bike Fashion Show, and just in case all our blog posts and Facebook messages have escaped your notice, remember to mark your calendar for Saturday, Nov 2 at the High Noon from 1:00-4:00 pm. Invite your friends, especially the ones who think you are nuts for biking in the winter. Or maybe you are winter-bike curious? This is just the event for you. And it’s family friendly.

BUT‚Ķ. We will need models! Would you be willing to share your wisdom? Show off your favorite cold weather clothing trick? Talk about fat vs studded vs skinny tires? Explain how your route changes –⁠ or doesn’t –⁠ when there’s ice and snow to deal with? No experience needed. Just fill out this form, and we’ll contact you. (It says the deadline is Sept 30, but if you are interested, just let us know.)

And if you want to help us with the event, your input and time would be quite welcome. We are an all-volunteer organization, so drop us a note if you want to help with this event or any other aspect of the organization.

Last week

Have you ever seen that velomobile cruising around town? The State Journal ran a story about Nick Hein, the owner, so now you can read all about the vehicle and the man who pedals it.

Another bicyclist was severely injured by a hit-and-run driver, this time on the 900 block of South Park St. Unfortunately, this part of the road does not have bike lanes, despite what the article says. There are sharrows in the right lane, but that treatment is completely inadequate for such a high-volume road, where drivers often far exceed the 30 mph speed limit.

This past Saturday, the city sponsored a Bike and Talk Action Workshop to discuss how to more safely get around the south side and what improvements need to be made to make the area safer. Maybe they talked about the lack of bike lanes on Park St?

The week ahead

Monday

Another open house to gather ideas for a plan for Law Park will be held 6:00-7:30 pm at Badger Rock Neighborhood Center, 501 East Badger Rd. Since this is an important walking and biking corridor for all of us, your input is important. There have been five open houses, and this is the last one, so if you can’t make this one and still want to provide input, email city staff at LawPark@cityofmadison.com.

Wednesday

Two miles of the Cap City Trail will be closed for resurfacing. The section that will be closed is between Fish Hatchery Road and Seminole Highway. Work is expected to be completed sometime in November. More information is available in this State Journal article.

If you are curious about cyclocross or want to practice, stop by Badger Prairie County Park, 4654 Maple Grove Dr, Verona, from 5:30-7:00 pm. A series of practices are happening now through the end of October. There is always a beginner and intermediate option. More information about what to expect and the groups putting it on is available on the Madison Bikes Community Calendar.

Also Wednesday is the Madison Area Transportation Planning Board (MPO) meeting at the Water Utility Building, 119 E Olin Ave, from 6:30-8:30 pm. The MPO allocates all the federal transportation money for the entire metro region, and this month they will be approving the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP), that’s all the projects that might get funding for the next five years. This is done every year with a new TIP, but it’s an incite into where your money is being spent. The MPO will also have a presentation on the bus rapid transit planning study. Want to see the materials for any of this? You can find them here as a PDF.

For more information….

More information on road projects and upcoming events are available from the city via the Bike Madison weekly update put out by the city Pedestrian-Bicycle Coordinator. This weekly email s much more detailed information about specific construction, detours, and official city business. Thanks for Renee Callaway for keeping up informed.

And if you have a anything to add to the Madison Bikes Community Calendar, send us an email.

Do you appreciate the weekly updates and work that Madison Bikes is doing to improve the city for all ages and abilities? You can donate to support our work.

While everyone is trying to squeeze in a few more summer rides, parents are thinking about sending the kids back to school, college students are planning their classes, and days are getting shorter, we are still hard at work on a number of issues.

We’ll be releasing a request Soon we’ll be asking for people who might want to be on our board of directors. No formal process or link yet, but think about if you might want to be one of those people.

We made our goal for fundraising to sponsor a rack at the new Pinney LIbrary, so when it opens, look for the rack with our name. Thanks to all who donated!

And the city’s Bike Madison updates are now available in PDF form each week. Here’s the Aug 23 edition. We try to keep you up to date on construction, plans, meetings, detours, official city events, and other news, but if you want to get the latest directly from the city, you can subscribe to their updates. There are links to a number of upcoming projects as well as some updates and detours for current construction going on around the city.

The week ahead

Monday

Both Bike Fitchburg and Madison Bikes will be holding meetings.

This is the regular monthly meeting of Bike Fitchburg from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Fitchburg Public Library, 5530 Lacy Rd.

Madison Bikes is trying something new. Instead of having our committees meet separately, we are going to have the entire board — and any interested volunteers — meet as a group and work on the events and issues we have before us. This month we will be meeting at 6:00 pm Bendy Works, 2nd floor of 106 E Doty St. If you are interested in getting involved or helping us with advocacy, events, or communications, come on by.

Tuesday

The two city transportation committees — the Transportation Planning and Policy Board and the Transportation Commission — will hold a joint meeting at 5:00 pm in Room 215 of the Madison Municipal Building. The only topic is to review the transportation ordinances and the responsibilities of each committee. I.e. they’ll be talking about who is supposed to be doing what.

Slow Roll Cycles — 4118 Monona Dr — will host a no-drop ride and art party 5:30-9:30 pm.I’ll let them explain:

“For this edition we have a special guest – Morgan McArthur – who will sharing some of this work and will be pin-striping a bike while we ride. Morgan does contract work for Waterford here in Wisco, has been doing this for years and knows his craft very well. We are riding at 5:30, strolling to the Lower Yahara River Trail and back (15 miles). After we will have beers (BYOB), snacks and talk art and bicycles. We will be joined by the Madison Rotary Bike Fellowship – they are arranging this special night. Share, tell your friends to come – NO Drop casual ride as always.” More information at the Facebook event page.

Wednesday

Cyclocross practice at Reindahl Park. If you are interested in trying out cyclocross, or want to sharpen your skills, there is a long list of practice opportunities. More info, the calendar, and more links can be found on the Madison Bikes Community Calendar.

Thursday

How will bus rapid transit affect bicycling in Madison? Maybe it won’t, but if you have any questions about this coming transit option, or just want to weigh in, come to the third public meeting for the planning study at the Madison Senior Center, 330 W Mifflin St, 6:00-7:30 pm.

Sunday

One of the best known rides of the summer will be held as a fundraiser for Free Bikes For Kids. The Wright Stuff Century, put on by Bombay Bicycle Club, will start and end at Capital Brewery in Middleton. Routes options of 30, 60, and 100 miles will give almost everyone a ride they can enjoy. More information can be found here.

What were we talking about on Facebook?

There are always lively discussions on our Madison Bikes Community group. Here’s a sample from the last week:

After one of our members had a nasty crash when a driver ran a red light at John Nolen Dr and North Shore Dr, a lot of people had opinions about what should be done at the intersection and what the law is regarding using a crosswalk on a bike.

Photos of new bike paths at Machinery Row and in Shorewood Hills were posted, and people commented. The new link in Shorewood Hills isn’t ready for traffic yet, so please stay off for a while longer.

Photos of the crazy combination bike lane/sidewalk on Winnequah in Monona — with trash bins blocking it — sparked discussions about Monona’s plans for better walking and biking facilities and the history of the weird arrangement that is on the ground now.

And unfortunately, last week started with news of two more bike crashes on the far west side, one involving a hit-and-run on Gammon.

Remember, if you have an event for our community calendar, please send it to us.

This past week

August in Madison, when everyone is out on bikes, and city meetings slow down. We did have one great event this past weekend. Adonia Lugo came to Madison to talk about her work on race and bicycling. We helped to organize a nice community ride n Saturday. She then did a reading from her book and took questions. If you missed it, but are interested in this subject, you can either buy the book or get in line to check it out from the library.

The week ahead

Monday

The Transportation Planning and Policy Board will meet at 5:00 pm in Room 215 of the Municipal Building. On the agenda is:

• Update on the Wilson St project
• Nelson Neighborhood Development Plan (with some new pedestrian-bike connections)
• Oscar Meyer Special Area Plan (there are no documents available, but additional bike-ped connections are needed in this area.)
• Projects that will be submitted for Transportation Alternatives Program funding (federal bike-ped funding). These include path connections, over/underpasses, and paths along roadways. Not all of these will necessarily be funded, but this is what the city is requesting.

Tuesday

The Madison Bikes Communications Committee will meet at Memorial Union Terrace at 6:00 pm. If you are interested in attending or helping with communications, drop us a line at Media@madisonbikes.org/. We always love to have new volunteers, and helping on one of the committees is a great way to see what we are all about and help out the biking community.

Wednesday

The Madison Area Transportation Planning Board (MPO) meets at 6:30 pm at the Water Utility Building at 119 E. Olin Ave. There isn’t anything specifically about bicycling on the agenda, but they will be discussing a couple of items that could affect biking. One item is plans for Hwy M between Hwys Q and 113 –⁠ across the top of Lake Mendota. They will also be discussing the Transportation Improvement Plan –⁠ the five-year plan for transportation for the region. Documents on these items are not available as of this writing, but they should be uploaded here before the meeting.

Send us your events

Reminder that we have a Community Bike Calendar on our website. If you would like to add something, send it to us. We can’t guarantee it will be featured in the weekly update, but at least it will be available for people to see.

What are we talking about on online?

The photo at the top of the post was prompted by a discussion on a different Facebook group about bad bicycle parking. I have an entire file on my computer labeled “Bike Parking Fail.” What made me think of this is that there was a long discussion on our Facebook group about signs outside Monroe St businesses asking bicyclists to please walk their bikes (on the sidewalk.) When Monroe St was being reconstructed, we pointed out the need for safe and comfortable bike facilities ON the street where destinations are located (as opposed to the SW Path, which does not connect directly to Monroe)– one way to keep bicyclists from using the sidewalk. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, so people coming from and going to businesses sometimes bike on the sidewalk.

There was also a very long discussion about passing pedestrians on shared paths. I hear a lot of grumbling from pedestrians about being passed too closely or by bicyclists going too fast. As our paths get more popular and more people use them for transportation, we all have to remember that the paths are shared, not just for bicyclists. And maybe we need more space so there will be fewer conflicts. After all, that’s what happens when highways get crowded — they get expanded.

One of our regular FB contributors had a nasty experience with the driver van belonging to a local business while riding on the Mifflin bike boulevard. When he stopped there to complain, it turns out the driver was also the manager and co-owner. This business is in a very bike/ped friendly neighborhood and frequently has full bike racks out front. If we can’t rely on these folks to be our allies and treat us well, what’s the world coming to?

We have an important city meeting coming up with week as well as a number of Madison Bikes committees. A reminder that all Madison Bikes meetings are open to the public, and you are welcome to attend. We are always looking for people to help on our committees, so stop by if something looks interesting.

Monday

The Madison Bikes Events Committee will meet at 6:00 pm at Rockhound Brewing, 444 S Park St.

Tuesday

The Madison Bikes Communications Committee will meet online at 6:00 pm. We normally meeting in person, but we moved July’s meeting because of the July 4^th holiday. If you would like to participate in the meeting, drop an email to Heather Pape: heather@madisonbikes.org

Wednesday

The Transportation Commission will be meeting and considering the final plans for the S Broom St and W Wilson St project that is scheduled for next year. This will be an important project with the potential to improve bicycle connections on the south side of downtown. More on that project in last week’s Monday Update.

The commission will also be looking at the initial geometrics for the University Ave project that will be built in 2021. This project will run from Campus Dr to Shorewood Blvd. Note that bicycle facilities on the south side of the road are NOT included at this time, despite a number of people mentioning the need at the June public information meeting. More on this project later this week.

What are we talking about on Facebook?

The Madison Bikes Community group always has some interesting discussions going on. In the last week, people have posted about unexpected construction on their commuting routes, why bicyclists sometimes avoid paths, and common myths about bike lanes. Check out the discussion and join in.

Bike Week is a wrap!

Wow. We can’t even begin to recap everything that happened. We got some great press coverage. The weather was fantastic last all week, and there were events all over Madison –⁠ and beyond –⁠ put on by many, many partners and venues. Even after the week started, people were sending us additional events, and we ended up with over 75 events on the calendar. You can see photos of all the fun on our Instagram account.

We wrapped up with a rockin’ party at Brittingham Park with music by DJ Robin Davies, tables from bike groups and nonprofits, food carts, Klarbrunn donated by Willy St Co-op, and beer donated by Hop Garden, Ale Asylum, Working Draft, Karben4, and Funk Factory.

From Ride the Drive through all the commuter stations, Bacon on the Bike Path, Bratcakes, Cheddar-Bacon Waffles, and so many more, we would like to once again thank our sponsors: Trek/Bicycle, Unity Point Health/Meriter/UW Health, Pacific Cycle/Schwinn, Planet Bike, Slow Roll/Giant, MG&E, and the City of Madison. We also couldn’t have done it without our volunteers and all the people who showed up. Whether you tried biking just once last week or it’s a regular habit for you, thank you all!

The week ahead

We’re sort of glad to have a slow week coming up after all the fun and activity of Bike Week. But there are still important meetings happening that will shape our city and bike routes for years to come. Both the West Wilson/Broom project and the University Ave reconstruction are incredibly critical links in our bicycle network. Your input is important.

Wednesday

The Transportation Commission will meet at 5:00 pm in room 215 of the Madison Municipal Bldg. On the agenda is final approval of the W Wilson St–⁠Broom Street project that we have written about in the past. On Wilson St, there will be buffered bike lanes from Broom to Hamilton, but buffered lanes will disappear at Hamilton to accommodate turning traffic. On Broom a multi-use path will be built in place of the east side sidewalk from John Nolen Dr to Wilson, and a cycle track will be built from Wilson to Doty.

Thursday

Public input session for the planned University Ave reconstruction in 2021 will be held at the UW Credit Union building at 3500 University Ave. The meeting will start at 6:00 pm, and there will be a presentation by City of Madison Engineering at 6:30 pm. The project will rebuild the road from Shorewood Blvd to University Bay Dr/Farley. This will be a project that could transform a major arterial for decades. Or it could be a business-as-usual rebuild of a dangerous and car-oriented roadway that separates neighborhoods and makes it unpleasant to walk, bike, or take the bus.

As part of this project, sidewalks will be constructed on the north side of University Ave and either an underpass or overpass of University Bay Dr will be built for the Campus Dr Path, we hope. Shorewood Hills will be constructing the last segment of the path –⁠ to the west of University Bay Dr –⁠ as soon as construction of the buildings currently underway on Marshall Ct are finished. With the improved crossing, this would allow connections to either path or quiet streets all the way to the west end of the Blackhawk Path at Eau Claire Ave.

Crossings of University Ave are difficult and often scary, even when there is a traffic light. A child was killed at the intersection of University Ave and Ridge a couple of years ago. He was trying to cross at a light to reach the Shorewood Hills pool, a favorite summer destination for families and kids on both sides of the road. A ghost bike was present at the intersection until construction started on a new building on the corner.

Although the road itself is wide, busy, and fast, the neighborhoods on both the north and south sides are generally transit-, walking-, and biking-friendly and many people move around without driving. But University Ave presents a serious barrier to this easy movement.

What I call “the hospitals, etc.” — UW Hospital, the VA Hospital, and the American Family Hospital, plus all the associated clinics and labs, and offices –⁠ as well as the beginning of the entire UW campus are also on the north side of the road. These are huge employment centers, and many people who live on the south side or in the Village want to walk or bike there. There are crowds of transit users, pedestrians, and bicyclists that want to cross University Ave every day. Unfortunately, there are also huge crowds of people driving to these locations as well, making for tense and difficult interactions at the intersections.

On both the Madison side and the Village side, redevelopment is happening. That means both more walkable and bikeable destinations –⁠ stores, apartments, restaurants, and such –⁠ plus more people living in close proximity to this major road. University Ave is one of the heaviest transit corridors outside the campus and downtown, and more than a dozen bus routes use the stops. If bus rapid transit (BRT) is built, this will be an even heavier transit corridor. Each of those transit users needs to cross the road at least once a day. This road needs to be much more multi-modal.

This corridor is the perfect example of why we cannot forget the need to CROSS a road as well as move along it. There is a good bike corridor on the north side and the Kendall Ave bike boulevard to the south (although it is several blocks away and separated from University Ave by Quarry Park on the western end of the project), but people still need to cross the road to reach their homes, work, or other destinations. If you wait for a bus on the south side of University, you will often see bicyclists on the sidewalk. Riding on the sidewalk by adults is almost always a sign that there is an unmet need for bike facilities.

This will be an important meeting to show support for bicycle facilities and other transportation options in the area.

Saturday

The Clean Lakes Alliance will hold a fundraising ride around Lake Monona starting at 10 am at Olbrich Park. Find out more about Loop The Lake.

This past week

We held a Volunteer Open House at Cafe Domestique. Although our immediate goal was to get people to put up Bike Week posters and hand out fliers, we also wanted a chance to meet some of the great people that have been supporting us and posting in our Facebook discussion. If you would like to help with any of our work, head over to our webpage and fill out the volunteer form. And thanks to everyone who came by, and thanks in advance for everyone who helps out in the future!

We also received a request from Open Doors for Refuges for any used bikes you might have. They help with resettlement in Madison and do wonderful work with people who may come to our community with nothing. They emailed us, “Transportation is almost always an issue for the folks who arrive here…. We’ve provided bikes to a lot of folks, but we’re short on bikes now and we’ve had recent requests for several more. If you have a used kids or adult bike that you’re actually no longer using and that’s in reasonably good condition, we’d love to find a great home for it. If you so, please write to OpenDoorsDonations@gmail.com.”

The week ahead

Although Wisconsin celebrates Bike Week in June — and make sure to visit our Madison Bike Week page to see the evolving list of events — May is Bike Month, and this week is Bike Week in much of the country. So don’t be surprised to see some events being promoted, such as the commuter station on Wednesday below. We just need a little extra time to warm up in Wisconsin, whereas it’s already blazing hot in Arizona. They’d rather have Bike Week in February.

It’s going to be a busy week for city meetings and topics of interest to bicyclists.

Monday

The Madison Bikes Events and Communications Committees will have a joint meeting at 6:00 pm at Bendy Works — 106 E Doty St, 2nd floor — to plan for Bike Week. If you would like to help plan the event or are willing to volunteer to get the word out, come by. All Madison Bikes committees and meetings are open to all.

Also on Monday is the Transportation Planning and Policy Board meeting, Room 201 of the City-County Building at 6:30 pm. On the agenda will be further discussion of the winter maintenance policy, something Madison Bikes has been working on since its founding. The TPPB will also receive a presentation about the concepts of Modal Hierarchy and Street Typology. Modal Hierarchy is the idea that a city decides which mode of travel to prioritize in its transportation planning and policy. Street Typology means that certain streets prioritize one mode over another. You can view the presentation materials online, attend the meeting, or watch the meeting streaming.

Tuesday

The Madison Common Council will receive a presentation on the Transportation Improvement Plan as part of its regular agenda. This presentation will detail all the projects coming up in the next five years, including pedestrian-bicycle infrastructure. These projects will be budgeted during the cty process in November. You can attend in person at 6:30 pm in Room 201 of the City-County Building or watch it streaming.

Also Tuesday, the city will hold its second public meeting about Bus Rapid Transit, 6:00-7:30 pm at the Madison Senior Center, 330 West Mifflin Street. An integrated transportation system is important for bicyclists, and good transit as an alternative to driving may convince more people to try biking for trips. Being able to take transit when the weather or circumstances don’t favor biking makes it easier to break the driving habit and bike at other times. In addition, the city will have to decide how to integrate (or maybe trade off) infrastructure on some roads between bicycling and BRT.

There is a survey online that you can fill out to express what is important to you for stations, service, modal hierarchy (see, that’s coming up again), and BRT vehicle type.

Wednesday

Pacific Cycles will host a commuter station in front of their headquarters in honor of National Bike Week. You can find them on Hamersley Rd where the SW Path crosses the Beltline. Just look west on the south side of the bridge. Come by for coffee and pasties from 7:00-9:00 am

The Madison Bikes Advocacy Committee will meet at 6:00 pm at Bendyworks, 106 E Doty St, 2nd floor. If you want to work on issues with the city and help shape our agenda, come on by. We can help you communicate effectively with your elected officials and city staff.

First Annual Sun Prairie Ride of Silence will be held at 6:30 pm at Prairie Athletic Club, 1010 N Bird St. The Ride of Silence is a national event honoring those that have been injured or who have died in biking accidents. Riders are to all wear white for the ride. The ride is 8-12 miles at an average pace of 12 mph, and will be in silence. This year the ride honors and remembers Sun Prairie resident Annie Rubens who was killed in a biking accident last summer. Join the grooup after the ride for conversation, food and refreshments at Prairie Athletic Club’s restaurant/bar/coffee bar.

The Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting for May will meet at 6:30 pm at the Water Utility offices, 119 E. Olin Avenue, Conference Rooms A-B. Nothing directly bike-related on the agenda, but it you’d like to see what the regional transportation planning board is talking about, you can check it out.

Thursday

Middleton Good Neighbor Social Ride, 5:30-9:00 pm starting at Long Table, 7545 Hubbard Ave, Middleton.

Intro to Bikepacking, 6:30 pm at the Cargo Bike Shop, 1404 Williamson St. Join Bell Joy Ride leaders Sheenu and Sue Ellen for an introduction to bikepacking. Demos include how to pack a bike, rehydrating food, and the basic necessities for bikepacking. After the demos, the ride will head out back for s’mores. Bell Joy Ride will be leading a bikepacking trip July 21+22 from Madison to Blue Mounds. This event is limited to Women/Trans/Femme identifying individuals. Please get a “ticket” so the organizers get enough s’mores supplies. There is space for 30 attendees.

Sunday

Mountain Bike Demo, 10am –⁠ 1pm, at Quarry Ridge Recreation Area, 2740 Fitchrona Rd (It’s actually off the Military Ridge Trail. The easiest way to find it is to Google a map.) You’ll be able to test out a couple of different types of bikes to see which one works best for you.

And if you want to have your bike blessed, head on over to the Vermont Lutheran Church, 9886 Vermont Church Rd, Black Earth for a Breakfast and Blessing of the Bikes, 10:30 am -12:30 pm. This is an annual fundraiser for Dream Bikes. A great breakfast (donation) and a real blessing of all the bikes present. All breakfast donations go to Dream Bikes. Bombay Bicycle Club will lead a ride from Lakeview Park in Middleton at 9:30 am (40 miles total). Join us on the ride or drive or bike on you own…but, please support Dream Bikes and enjoy homemade pancakes, sausages, coffee, etc and save your bike from damnation for a year…guaranteed!! Contact Tenny Albert for info at tennyalbert@gmail.com

What have we been talking about on Facebook?

Closing of the SW Path and whether the detour is marked, adequate, both, or neither. Warning: Because of rain, the closing and detours are likely to continue for another week.

The Joint Finance Committee has removed from the state budget the repeal of a prohibition on using eminent domain to build bicycle and pedestrian facilities. This prohibition was inserted into the budget anonymously two years ago and has meant that many planned paths, trails, and even sidewalks cannot proceed across the state, including in Madison.

A lively discussion about whether there should be yield or stop signs on area paths and what they mean when they are there.

Every two years we have elections for the city council, and every four years we elect a mayor. This year there are a LOT of changes, and all the new people take office Tuesday, just two weeks after the election. What will that mean for bicycling or transportation overall? We’ll see.

Wilson Street update

On Tuesday of this past week, a number of MB board members, volunteers, and supporters attended the public hearing on Wilson St. In last week’s update, Harald linked to the final study, so you can see all the options. What we heard on Tuesday was that: 1. No decision has been made about what will be built; 2. The first section of the road –⁠ between Broom and Hamilton — will be rebuilt this year, principally due to deteriorating storm sewer pipes that cannot wait any longer; 3. The next immediate decision will be where to place the curbs during that project; and 4. The preferred option will allow bike two-way facilities to be placed on the street in one of three configurations, however, the bike facilities will not be built yet –⁠ until a decision is made on how to add facilities through the entire corridor from Blair to Broom.

So, you will see construction on W Wilson this year, but there won’t be any bike facilities on that section when the dust clears in the fall. There will be one more public information meeting before this project starts to wind its way through city committees and the Council. The next meeting will mostly be about assessments to adjacent landowners and the timing of work.

Traffic Engineering will also be building a two-way cycle track on Broom this year; it will run between John Nolen Dr and W Wilson. That should make getting between the lake path and local streets a little easier. They will be doing a test as to whether it is possible to extend the same treatment to W Main St. TE will test this out by closing off a portion of the right lane to see how this affects motor vehicle traffic flow.

We’ll keep you informed about any news on this project.

Bike rack campaign at the library

The Madison Public Library Foundation is raising funds for the new Pinney Library. It’s like a “brick campaign” — where individuals can sponsor a brick in a building — but with bike racks! Because so many Madisonians get to their library by bike, the Foundation wanted to provide an opportunity for sponsors to put their name on one of the 64 bike racks at the new library.

“Become a part of history at the new Pinney Library! For a $1,000 gift, our community-based ‘Rack Raising’ fundraising program gives you naming rights that will appear on a sturdy metal U-shaped bike rack outside of the new Pinney Library.

From children and teens to adults, many Pinney Library visitors rely on bicycles as a primary form of transportation and use the adjacent Capital City Trail to get there. Providing lots of parking and security for their bikes promotes safety and protects their investment, as well as encourages an environmentally friendly way to travel around Madison.”

Find more details on their campaign website.

Bike Week site up

If you, your employer, or a business would like to sponsor Bike Week or schedule an event, more information and forms to contact us are now available on the Madison Bikes website. There is now a dedicated page for Bike Week.

The week ahead

Monday at 6:00 pm is the monthly meeting of the Madison Bikes Board of Directors. As always, members are welcome to attend. We meet at the Central Library, 201 W Mifflin.

Tuesday, the new Mayor and members of the Common Council will be sworn in at noon. Not only is our new Mayor, Satya Rhodes-Conway a dedicated bike and bus commuter, but she is passionate about transportation as one of her highest priorities. Grant Foster, former President of the Madison Bikes Board of Directors will become the new alder (city council representative) for District 15.

Although these are two prominent examples, we are fortunate in Madison to live in a city where getting around by bike is considered fairly normal, and there are many elected officials, both current and former, who make this choice. In addition, many city staff, including our Traffic Engineer, Director of Transportation, and the head of the Metropolitan Planning Organization are all year-round bike commuters.

Good luck to all the returning and new elected officials. You’ll be hearing from us!

If you scroll through the Council agenda, there are pages and pages of mundane items: liquor licenses, contracts to build a sidewalk or sewer line, notices that a small street will be repaved. But sometimes you find some interesting tidbit. Here are a couple that are on the agenda Tuesday that are in some way bike related. You can click on the links if you want to see more.

• A storm water watershed study for the intersection of the Capital City State Trail, Badger State Trail, Cannonball and Southwest bike path.
• The city is going to rebuild University Ave from Shorewood Blvd to University Bay Dr/Farley. More on this soon, and there isn’t anything at that link yet. It’s not happening until 2021, and they haven’t even had public information meetings, but we will be keeping an eye on it.
• A committee to look at on-street parking and policies that might be changed. That may not seem bike-related, but parking affects many things we care about, from the ability to put in protected bike lanes to how much traffic a street or neighborhood has.
• They are going to extend the cycletrack on Bassett down to W Washsington.

Wednesday is the monthly meeting of the Madison Bikes Advocacy Committee. If you interested in outreach to other members on advocacy issues, learning how to influence city decisions, or have issues that you would like to work on, please come by. We meet at 6:00 pm at Bendy Works, 106 E. Doty St, second floor.

What are we talking about on Facebook?

On the Madison Bikes Community group, here are a few discussions from the past week.

Would there be a market for a location where people could park their cars and then bike the rest of the way to their jobs?

Cambridge, Mass., becomes the first city in the U.S. to mandate protected bike lanes.

Photo credit: Linda Larsen

If you were out over the weekend, you saw lots more bicyclists out and about. Not everyone ventures out by bike in the winter, but it seems that everyone is eager to get back on as the weather warms and the snow melts. And that also means that there will probably be more events on our calendar as we get into later spring and the summer. Remember, you can find all the events and meetings that we know about by checking out our Community Calendar. You can also drop us a line if you have something to add.

What happened last week?

Freewheel is starting a fundraising drive for their new bike center

On Saturday, Freewheel Bike Collective hosted a community meeting. Freewheel has been around in Madison for over 15 years, giving away free bikes to the community and teaching people how to build and repair bikes. Now a big expansion is on the horizon. As we have reported earlier, Freewheel was chosen by the city as the operator for the Judge Doyle Bicycle Center. The center, slated to open late this year, will provide secure bike parking, showers, a bike wash station, and space to repair bikes and teach bike repair classes. To make this expansion happen and raise money, Freewheel has started a big membership drive. You can check out the different membership options here. Stay tuned for a separate blog post about Freewheel and the Bicycle Center in the next few weeks.

Madison Bikes board and volunteers help out FB4K

Hard to believe, but not all the board members are good mechanics. Some of us just love bikes and want to help others get a bike and enoy the freedom we feel when we ride. So while some more experienced board and volunteers helped fix up bikes at Free Bikes for Kidz, the rest of us either cleaned the bikes or put training wheels on the smaller ones. We had a great time, and FB4K is a fantastic program. They always need help, so if you’d like to help, contact them. No experience needed!

Bike counter on John Nolen Path is working again!

Despite not displaying the numbers for passing bicyclists, the bike counter has been working all along. But some people worried that their cold-weather rides weren’t being recorded. Now you can once again see each and every rider be counted on the path. And if you are interested in seeing weather, day of week, or monthly trends, you can also see the statistics for the counters at both the John Nolen Dr Path and the Southwest Path — as well as some pedestrian counters on State St that you probably didn’t know existed — on this page.

What’s up this week?

Monday

The Madison Bikes board will meet at the Central Library at 6:00 pm. Everyone is always welcome. We’ll be talking about plans for Bike Week in early June as well as updates from all our committees.

Just upstairs from our board meeting at the Central will be a mayoral debate starting at 7:00 pm. Satya Rhodes-Conway will face Paul Soglin on April 2 to determine who will be our mayor for the next four years. Your vote is very important, so please make sure to make your voice heard. You can vote absentee—aka early vote—at any public library starting March 18. City offices and locations on the UW campus, Madison College, and Edgewood are also available. You can find all the locations and hours here.

Tuesday

Women’s “Get to know your bike clinic” will be held at the Trek store on the east side— 1706 Eagan Rd–from 6:00-7:00 pm. Join Trek Bicycle Madison East for a clinic led by our women’s advocate, Kelsey Walsh. We will discuss the anatomy of your bike and how to keep it well, clean and happy. Please bring your questions and your willingness to learn. This is FREE and open to the public. All attendees will receive 10% off maintenance supplies!

Wednesday

The Madison Bikes Advocacy Committee will meet at 6:00 pm at Bendyworks, 106 E Doty St #200. This is the committee that helps push for better conditions in the city. So if you want to help our, we’d love to have you.

Saturday

Neff Cycle Service is having a grand reopening after moving locations. (But not too far, just to a different space in the same building.) Enjoy food, drink, door prizes and lots of cool bikes and people! If the weather permits we will have a group ride in the morning before opening up the shop. 1:00-5:00 pm at 1490 Martin St, Madison.

Capital Goldsprints Series #1 GoldSprint Series returns for a THIRD season of BIKES, BEER, MUSIC and FUN! Hosted at Motorless Motion Bikes by MoMo Riders Club. Spin your fastest for great prizes or glory against your friends or fiercest rivals. This is a come-as-you-are event and all equipment is provided. No experience necessary, just come prepared to have fun. 7:00pm –⁠ 11:55pm at Motorless Motion Bicycles, 640 W Washington Ave.

What have we been talking about?

Over on the recently-renamed Madison Bikes Community Facebook group, here are a few posts from the last week that generated some discussion:

What paths are still icy? Or are they flooded now?

A student is compiling a list of all the bike-only traffic signals in the city.

Streetsblog had a little film about the craziest excuses against bike lanes, and local commenters added their own stories.

And people are talking about the mayoral election.

Mark your calendars for Winter Bike Week

We hope everyone has been enjoying the snow and cold weather (yes, it’s really cold, but you all have lots of warm clothes, right?) Many people don’t think about bicycling in weather like this, but between planning for our upcoming Winter Bike Week –⁠ Feb 1-8 — and the city planning for construction season, there is plenty on the calendar. If you are looking for the Winter Bike Week events, make sure to head over to the Madison Bikes Facebook PAGE instead of the group where discussions happen.

Upcoming elections and last week’s mayoral forum

There will also be a primary for alder and mayor on February 19. Everyone in the city will be able to vote for mayor, and there will be a primary for alder in your area if three or more candidates are running. Then, the two candidates with the most votes will run in the main election on April 2. Madison Bikes is a 501(c)3 organization, so we can’t endorse candidates, but we did co-sponsor a mayoral forum on January 15 at the Central Library. Two transportation-related questions were asked, and you can check out the candidates’ answers here. Thanks to Harald for transcribing the answers! If you’d like to hear all the questions and answers, there is a link to a recording as well.

We urge everyone to vote an ask questions of the candidates, if you get a chance. Madison Bikes has sent a longer set of questions –⁠ ones we didn’t get a chance to ask at the forum –⁠ to the mayoral candidates. We will post the answers when after the January 31 deadline to respond. Early voting starts January 29, so if you aren’t sure who you are supporting, we hope the answers can help you make a decision.

This week

Monday

Meathead Ride. Starting at 7:00 pm at Ford’s Gym, 2114 Winnebago St, join the group for the weekly no-drop social loop around Lake Monona. Bring your extra layers!

Tuesday

The Common Council has two items of interest to bicyclists. They meet at 6:30 pm in Room 210 of the City-County Building, the Council will be passing plans for rebuilding parts of E Wilson, Williamson St, and Blount. This is the project that has been under discussion for quite some time, has been through a bunch of public meetings, and shouldn’t be particularly controversial. It will involve some changes to the streets between Franklin St and Blount that should make biking this stretch and connecting with the Cap City Trail and Lake Monona Path easier. You can take a look at the documents here.

Also on the Council agenda is the final lease between Freewheel Bicycle Co and the city for the bike center that will be part of the Judge Doyle Square development. While the lease isn’t all that exciting, you can also see plans for what is going to be inside. Cool. A bike wash, showers, indoor bike storage of various sorts, a small bike shop, public repair station, lockers, and lots more.

You can also watch the meeting on your computer from home, and maybe you’ll hear a few other things at the meeting that interest you. Everyone should try to attend a city meeting or council meeting at least once to learn how decisions are made, but it sure if more comfortable on the couch. (Says the former alder, who sat through three Council meetings that lasted until 5:00 am!)

Wednesday

The Transportation Commission will meet in Room 206 of the Municipal Building, to consider the list of Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP, also known as traffic calming) projects. If you are interested to see which projects accumulated enough points to receive traffic calming measures, or whether your streets has ever been studied, you can find the list here. A studied location must receive 30 points to be considered for traffic calming.

Also on the TC agenda is an update on “Bicycle Facility Planning,” however there are no specific items under consideration, and no further information on line. This appears to be a standing item that will appear on each agenda, along with other transportation updates. However, if you are interested in this meeting on anything else on it, you can either attend the meeting or watch the meeting on line.

Also Wednesday, there is a meeting about planning for Burr Jones Field. City Parks will be holding a public input session at 6:00-8:00 pm at Festival Foods – Community Room, 810 East Washington Ave. If you aren’t familiar with Burr Jones Field, think about the big green space that is bounded by the Yahara River, E. Johnson St, E Washington, and the RR tracks behind the strip mall and city fleet services on First St. That’s it.

From the city: “You are invited to attend and provide comments on the project. If you have questions or comments but are unable to attend the meeting, please contact Mike Sturm at (608) 267-4921 or msturm@cityofmadison.com. More information visit Parks Projects: https://www.cityofmadison.com/parks/projects.”

Grant, outgoing Madison Bikes Board President, provides this comment: “There are some paths through the park today, but it’s really important that we think about improving the connection from the Yahara bridge to connect with MIfflin/First. A new ped/bike RR crossing is needed there (there is none technically, but there very much is a well-worn desire path). Dealing with the RR is tricky business, but the park planning should include a good connection to this future RR crossing. There should also be a path along the east side of the river.”

What have we been talking about?

Here are some of the lively discussion from the Madison Bikes Facebook group:

Now that we have snow, there have been a few discussions about winter maintenance. To brine or not brine. How to report a problem to the city.

If you want to see what the city says about their winter maintenance of bicycle facilities –⁠ in more detail than you probably want –⁠ check out this video from a meeting on that topic. The portion of the meeting on winter maintenance is about an hour long!

Lots of questions about how to keep warm and safe while riding in winter.

Ideas from other cities on reforming their transportation system.

And lots more.

Remember, if you have an event for our Madison Bikes Community Calendar, send it to us so others can find it. And all the details about all the events are up on, or linked from that same calendar, so make sure to visit often.

Year end brings quiet time for city meetings

There aren’t any city meetings this week, and many people are out of town, off work, or involved with family activities. There are a few activities coming up, both this week and in the months to come, and we’ll get to those in a minute.

But first I want to take this opportunity to ask everyone reading this to think about ways that you can help us in the coming year. That may be by volunteering at one of our events, coming to a meet to speak or contacting your elected representatives, serving on a Madison Bikes committee, writing a blog post for us, or making a financial donation to Madison Bikes. We are an all-volunteer organization, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have expenses. We run a lean organization, but we could really use your help, whether that is by your money, your voice, your ideas, or your hands.

We are starting to make progress in improving the city for you as bicyclists. But even better, we are starting to move forward toward a city where people who may not feel comfortable biking now can enjoy the freedom to move by bicycle that some of us already do. Imagine if your family member, colleague, friend, or neighbor could finally stop worrying about that bad intersection or the gap in the network that keeps them from biking to work, restaurants, social activities, or shopping. Imagine if you didn’t have to hear, “I’d bike, but‚Ķ.” That’s what we’re working toward. Donate or sign up to volunteer on our website.

So what’s coming up?

The Monday Meathead rides are still on the calendar for Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Meet at Ford’s Gym at 7 pm for a no-drop ride around Lake Monona.

Friday, January 4 at 6:00 pm at HotelRED, we will be hosting an event with Downtown Madison, Inc. From Madison to Berlin and Back: Civic Activism For a More Livable City. This isn’t just about bicycling, it’s about becoming more involved in your city and making it more sustainable and livable. We hope you can join us for a discussion with Dirk von Schneidemesser, who is on the board of the Berlin based Organization Changing Cities. More information at the link above.

We are also gearing up for the Winter Bike Week, starting Feb 2 with the Frozen Assets Festival on Lake Mendota. Madison Bikes will again have a table out on the ice and will offer fat bike-towed sled pulls. Here’s a great event where we can use your help.

During the week following the festival, there will be commuter stations and other activities to encourage everyone to keep biking al winter long. Keep your eyes out for the full list of activities and opportunities to help out.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has been there for us the past year, and we all hope you have a safe and joyful biking year to come.

In case you missed it on our Facebook group:

Christmas Tree by Bike

Dane County announces funding for local bike projects

People for Bikes names their best new bikeways of 2018