Welcome to the Madison Bikes newsletter! It’s Winter Bike Week and we’re super excited to share some news and updates with you.
Winter Bike Week activities
On Tuesday morning from 7-9, Bike Fitchburg will be hosting a commuter station at the “Velo UnderRound” (where the Badger, Cap City, Southwest, Cannonball, and Military Ridge Paths intersect). Stop by to enjoy some hot coffee and bagels. There will also be minor mechanical adjustments and bike maps available. Come chat about what Bike Fitchburg is doing to help make a more fun and welcoming place to ride a bike, and how you can get involved!
Friday is International Winter Bike Day, and Madison Bikes and the City of Madison are hosting another commuter station on the Capital City Trail, just east of the Monona Terrace (near the bike elevator). From 7-9am we will have free coffee (courtesy of Cafe Domestique), donuts, and some one-of-a-kind MB Winter biking stickers!
A happy commuter at Winter Bike Day 2023 (Photo: Harald Kliems)
Finally, Friday afternoon from 4-6pm, we’ll be hanging out at Working Draft Beer. All are welcome to stop by, enjoy 10% off with your Bike Benefits sticker, and chat with us about why you love Winter biking. Working Draft has a large selection of tap beer and plenty of NA options! We look forward to capping off the celebration with you there.
Meetings: Passenger Rail and Pedestrian Safety
How exciting is it to imagine a passenger train station in Madison? On Tuesday from 6-7:30pm, the city will be hosting a public meeting on the Passenger Rail Station Study. The study aims to identify a location for Amtrak’s planned extension of the Hiawatha route. Tune in to hear about the study’s progress and where the station could be located.
Wednesday from 5-7pm, the city is hosting a virtual Community Conversation about pedestrian safety. The meeting, held by the Disability Rights and Services Program, is for learning and discussing how to reduce crashes and deaths and improve safety for anyone who walks, rolls, or rides for transportation.
Freewheel Bicycle Co. Update
Madison Freewheel Bicycle Co. is a local non-profit bike shop that focuses on education about biking for transportation. Their services include providing free and low-cost bicycles to individuals in need, bike building, low cost and DIY repair, and maintenance classes. While they had to leave their previous space at the Madison Bicycle Center in 2023, they are still going and exploring which direction to go in 2024. Along with looking for a new indoor shop space, they are planning fundraising, advocacy for better transportation, and events. To help them do those things, Freewheel is seeking new board members. If you are interested in helping the community through bicycle education and advocacy, you are encouraged to join the next meeting on Thursday, February 15th, 6-7pm on Zoom (More info) (Zoom meeting registration link).
Welcome to our new board members!
Speaking of board members, meet the newest recruits to the Madison Bikes crew!
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Jacob Bortell, Katie Nash, Pratik Prajapati, Paul Lata, and Christina Lopez join the Madison Bikes Board of Directors. Please join us in welcoming them! We are delighted to have such a great group and we look forward to their contributions and effort to make Madison an even better place to ride a bike. To read more about the new (and existing) board members, check out our Board of Directors page.
That’s all for this newsletter. Enjoy the warmer riding weather and we hope to see you out there!
2023 is almost over. It was a busy year for myself and for Madison Bikes. What did we do? What did we achieve? What went on in the city that is related to biking? The following is my personal, and certainly incomplete, account of that. Be warned: It’s long (and Mailchimp may cut some of it off!)
Madison Bike Week: Bigger than ever
Jerry Schippa, a traffic engineer with the city, nerding out about traffic signals
Writing about the 2023 edition of Madison Bike Week is a little overwhelming: It was the biggest Madison Bike Week ever and no single paragraph can do it any justice. There were bike stations, nerdy signal infrastructure rides, non-nerdy social rides, an amazing party in Brittingham Park, a cargo bikes and an e-bikes test event, bikepacking, and so on and so on. It’s always a big lift to keep all this organized, and then it’s amazing to see how it all comes together.
Cargo bike test event
Infrastructure highlights
Two-way off-street bike facility along Atwood Ave
A number of exciting infrastructure projects were completed or partially completed in 2023. Atwood Avenue was completely rebuilt, with fewer and narrower car lanes, new multiuse paths, continuous sidewalks, and a lot more. A little farther east, on the Lake Loop, the Dempsey and Davies project started and was partially finished: Instead of a bumpy road without any sidewalk, there is now a multi-use path on Davies St. The rest of the project will be completed in 2024.
New multi-use path on Davies St
Downtown saw the completion of the West Wilson and Broom St project. The Wilson Street corridor had been an advocacy focus for us since at least 2018, and it was wonderful to see the project come to fruition, with a two-way cycletrack on West Wilson almost all the way to Monona Terrace. The full benefit for the low-stress bike network downtown will be realized when the East Wilson portion of the corridor, from Monona Terrace to Franklin, is rebuilt next year.
Delivery of the Ubay overpass
On the west side, the University Bay Drive overpass was finished. On Hammersley Road we saw the completion of phase 1 of another multi-use path, from Brookwood Rd to Gilbert Rd. Phase 2 from Gilbert to the Beltline Frontage road, where the path will connect to the Southwest Path, is coming in 2024. And finally, another segment of the West Beltline Path, from Junction Road to Commerce Drive opened this year.
West Beltline multi-use path
Aside from these large projects, there were also a lot of smaller, less visible but no less important improvements – more rapid flashing beacons, green crossing markings, improved signal phasing, and so on. An infrastructure improvement of a different kind was the expansion of BCycle into Fitchburg. The all-electric bike share system grew by several stations and bikes, and this resulted in record ridership this year. Next year, more stations in Madison should be coming online.
Bringing federal funding to Madison
Site of a (very delayed) press conference to announce $15 million of federal funding to rebuild John Nolen Drive
If you’re following the local news, you’ll have noticed that the City of Madison was very successful in bringing in federal infrastructure dollars this year. This includes funding for the Autumn Ridge Path and overpass; for the John Nolen Causeway reconstruction; and most recently $6.2 million to implement the city’s Vision Zero action plan. These are all projects that couldn’t happen without federal dollars. Our role in all this? Probably small, but we provided support letters with the grant applications, emphasizing how the projects contribute to traffic safety, connectivity, and equity.
Candidate questionnaires
Madison Bikes is a non-partisan, educational non-profit. We don’t endorse candidates in elections. Rather, we educate about the positions of candidates so that voters can make an educated decision on who to vote for. Therefore for the Common Council and mayoral election in the spring, we sent out candidate questionnaires again. Because transportation, land use, and housing are inextricably linked, we partnered with housing advocates Madison is for People and Madison Area Bus Advocates. All three mayoral candidates and 19 Common Council candidates responded to our questions.
Madison Bikes social rides
Madison is for People X Madison Bikes social ride
It’s a little weird for a bike organization to not organize any bike rides, isn’t it? Well, when we started Madison Bikes we felt that a) there already were plenty of wonderful group rides ain Madison and b) organizing rides wasn’t our core skill set. But this year, after several years of COVID-related lack of in-person interaction, we decided to give it a try. In September and October we slow-rolled around Lake Monona with a group of 30-50 people. The conversations and connections made during and after the ride were wonderful, and we may pick these rides up again once the weather gets warmer.
Small grants
Women-trans-femme-nonbinary bike social during Madison Bike Week (photo: Sarah Perdue)
We’re a small organization and there are a lot of people and organizations out there with great ideas but a lack of funds to turn those ideas into reality. That’s especially true for folks and communities that traditionally have been excluded from or underrepresented in biking spaces. As a small step to fix this, we set up our small grants program a few years ago: A simple application, quick turnaround, locally focused. We’ve had the program in place since 2021, but in 2023 it started taking off. We supported several events during Madison Bike Week: A bike station by the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County; a shop tour and volunteer event at Bikes for Kids Dane County (formerly known as Free Bikes 4 Kidz Madison); a women-trans-femme-nonbinary ride and social during Madison Bike Week, organized as a collaborative effort between Madison Women’s Cycling Club, Radical Adventure Riders, and Bombay Bicycle Club.
Improving bike infrastructure data at an OpenStreetMap mapathon (Photo: Stephen Kennedy)
Outside of Madison Bike Week we provided support for a “mapathon”:Local cartographer Stephen Kennedy of LATLONG.SHOP hosted a Madison Bike Mapathon in November focused on adding bike-related data to OpenStreetMap. Nearly 20 community members—most of whom had never contributed to OSM—showed up to learn the editing process. The group added data related to road speed changes, road crossing elements like islands and RRFBs, Bcycle stations, and bike parking infrastructure.
And our biggest small grant that is still ongoing is a video production project by La Comunidad News ONLINE and Madison Vibra: “A Pedaleando Juntos: Inclusive Biking for All in Madison.” The results should be coming in early next year.
In 2024, we will continue and expand the grant program. If you have an idea or know anyone who does, please go to the small grants page on our website.
New people supporting weekly update
In an organization without paid staff, a lot of the work gets done by our amazing board of directors. But of course we can’t do it all, and we have wonderful help from volunteers. Our weekly newsletter is something I’m very proud of, and writing them is a lot of work (I’d estimate that on average it takes me at least an hour to write one newsletter). This year we reached out to our community to recruit new writers. Chris and Daniel responded to that call and are now part of our rotation of newsletter writers. A big thanks to them, and the other members of the team: Ben (another super volunteer), Christo, Kyle (emeritus), Robbie, and Connor.
The Streets Project
Panelists at The Street Project: Collin Mead (Wisconsin Bike Fed), Baltazar de Anda Santana (Latino Academy for Workforce Development), Morgan Ramaker (Downtown Madison Inc), Alicia Bosscher (safe streets activist and organizer of Ride for your Life Madison). Not shown: Chris McCahill (Congress for the New Urbanism)
In October we hosted a film screening and a panel discussion. The Street Project tells stories about “humanity’s relationship to the streets and the global citizen-led fight to make communities safer. Digging deep into the root causes of traffic violence, the filmmakers engage a diverse array of experts. These expert interviews are interwoven with the stories of real people working to make their communities safer.” To make the connection to what’s happening in our city more explicit, we invited a panel of local experts and activists to discuss the movie and respond to audience questions. The event drew about 120 people and the panel discussion was lively. Stay tuned for some exciting film screening news in 2024!
Winter events
Winter Bike Anywhere Day
We actually had two successful Car-free Holiday Fantasy in Lights events this year. One at the very beginning of the year, and another one in November. Hundreds of attendees got the opportunity to experience the lights on foot or bike, without having to worry about cars. Our other traditional winter event is celebrating International Winter Bike Anywhere Day in early February. We teamed up with the City and served warm beverages and snacks in front of Monona Terrace on a very crisp-but-beautiful weekday morning.
Ride for your Life
Video from Ride For Your Life Madison (https://youtu.be/flAgCa3jhqg)
October saw what was likely the largest bike and walk safety rally that Madison had ever seen: The Ride for your Life, instigated and organized by Alicia Bosscher, who lost her sister to traffic violence, and a team of the Wisconsin Bike Fed, Trek, Madison Bikes and numerous volunteers. Hundreds of people rode their bikes through the city to demand more safety for vulnerable road users. This was a powerful demonstration for how much support for safer biking and walking there is. Which leads me to the next topic.
Vision Zero
Madison’s Vision Zero policy and action plan have been in place for a few years now. As a reminder, Vision Zero posits that the only acceptable number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries is zero, and Madison’s action plan has a goal to reach 0 by 2035. The good news: After the devastating loss of the lives of three cyclists last year, nobody in Madison was killed while biking in 2023. Four people on bikes were seriously injured, which is the same number as in 2023. The larger picture, however, looks less rosy: After we had seemingly made progress last year, the overall number of fatalities and serious injuries is up again, and the number of fatalities is the highest since at least 2017.
Biking stats: Not great
Aside from safety, one of my goals for bike advocacy is getting more people to bike more. And so every year I look at several indicators on how that’s going in Madison. What’s the proportion of people biking to work? What do the bike counter numbers tell us? How is BCycle ridership doing? And how does Madison compare to other cities? The very short version for 2022 (2023 numbers won’t be available for another while): It’s not great, but other cities are doing even worse. You can dive into the details in this blog post.
Board comings and goings
Our board of directors is the core of our organization and we are very much a “working board.” Everything we do relies on the volunteer labor of our board members. A few board members had to step down because they moved away or had too many other responsibilities. Thanks to Caitlin, Connor, Kyle, and Sam for all your work! We miss you. We also have an exciting roster of incoming board members who will start their terms in January. Stay tuned for a blog post to introduce them. And finally, a big shout-out to the board members and officers who have been and will continue to be part of our organization: Aaron, Beth, Christo, Craig, Eleanor, Liz, Mark, Pete, and Robbie!
Looking forward to 2024
I’ll end here and want to thank you, dear reader, for your support. Maybe you volunteered for Madison Bikes, attended a public meeting, forwarded our newsletter, emailed your alder, supported us financially, told your neighbor how awesome biking is, shared your knowledge in our Facebook group, or just kept biking. I look forward to 2024. Tailwinds!
Welcome to the Madison Bikes newsletter! It’s the time of year when we get the least amount of sunlight, so if you can, be sure to take some time for yourself during the day. A short walk or bike ride in the middle of the workday can be an effective energy booster. As I like to say, you’re only one bike ride away from a good mood! Anyway, here’s what you need to know about biking in Madison this week.
Community Meeting Recap
Last week, some Madison Bikes Community members met to brainstorm and plan community meetings for 2024. Our goal is to have a meeting each month in the form of a get together, ride, learning opportunity, etc. and last Thursday we asked you for input and help. We got a lot of great ideas for meetings with themes like Spring bike cleaning and maintenance, restaurant hopping bike rides, dogs on bikes, and more!
Community meetings typically occur on the last Monday of the month, but you can see the complete schedule on our calendar. Sometimes we may combine the community meeting with other events, like during Bike Week in June. Keep an eye on this newsletter for details on all upcoming events. We look forward to seeing you there.
New Wilson and Broom St. Cycletracks
Some hot new bicycle infrastructure just dropped along Wilson and Broom streets! Two cycletracks were built as part of the city’s reconstruction and replacement of utilities along those corridors. This is a big win and important step towards connecting the Cap City Trail near Machinery Row to the Capitol area. We want to extend a huge thank you and congratulations for those of you who advocated for this improvement back in 2019.
Check out this video from Jerry Schippa for a tour of the new facilities!
Broom and Wilson Street Cycletrack 2023 | Jerry Schippa on YouTube
That’s not all. Last week, the Transportation Commission presented preliminary plans for even more improvements in this area. The plans included extending the cycletrack Eastward to King St, along with other changes. The construction is expected to begin in May 2024 and take 6 months. You can find more plan details in the full presentation.
This is proof that showing up to meetings or even sending emails can make a big difference in the way our city’s transportation is designed. Once again, thank you to those who pushed for this and hooray for reclaiming more space for people.
Alder Slack Resigns
On Friday, Alder Kristen Slack announced her resignation from the Madison Common Council due to family health issues. The resignation will take effect January 10th and the Council is looking for applicants to backfill that role. If you’re wondering if you are eligible, the city has a page to check which district you live in. If you are a bicycling ally, live in District 19, and want to become an Alder, now is the time to apply! Applications are due by January 9th. You can find more details on how to apply in the link at the beginning of this paragraph. The newly appointed Alder will serve the remainder of the current term which goes until April, 2025.
Mineral Point “Road Diet” Meeting
Last week, we talked about how Mineral Point Rd is due for resurfacing in 2024 and the city is considering a “road diet,” meaning they want to reduce travel lanes, eliminate parking, and add bike lanes. The project spans from Midvale to the Speedway/Glenway intersection. If you want to learn more, we encourage you to read this post from the city website. The page contains a link to attend the virtual meeting at 5pm on Tuesday, December 19th. If you can’t attend but want to show support, you can email Alder Tishler at district11@cityofmadison.com.
That’s all for this newsletter. Have a wonderful week ahead!
This week, consider giving the gift of your input on city transportation projects and planning. But first, the rampaging:
Wisconsin Bike Fed’s Santa Cycle Rampage rolled through the Isthmus on Saturday, bringing cheer to all the good children and cargo-bike-adapted dogs. The event put a bow on many a newscast, because the only thing more fun than riding in an itchy, fur-trimmed hat is watching scores of Santas pedal by.
Mineral Point widened sidewalk: It’s happening!
The Common Council last week made a final decision on the fate of the widened sidewalk along the north side of Mineral Point Road (for details, see last week’s action alert). After much public comment and debate, the Council did the right thing: Alder Figueroa Cole made a motion to adopt the Transportation Commission’s proposal (i.e. 8-10 ft of sidewalk along the whole stretch, except along Nautilus Point Park, where a separate path will be built). This resolution passed 13-4-1 (yes/no/abstain). Thanks to everyone who emailed the council or spoke at the meeting. Consider sending your alder a note of appreciation if they voted in favor.
The 10-year guide to land use, transportation, parks and open space for the chunk of the Madison bounded by Midvale Boulevard and the Beltline comes before three city commissions this week. The plan includes the Sauk Creek Corridor’s contentious bike path, a road diet with lane reductions for portions of Gammon and Old Sauk roads — with space to be repurposed for a side path and added buffering for bike lanes — and new connections between dead-end streets and establishing rights of way for potential future public roads. Nick Davies posted a brief summary on the Madison Bikes Facebook group.
The three commissions (with links to agendas and virtual meetings) on the calendar are:
The Transportation Commission will also consider plans for the reconstruction of East Wilson Street, scheduled for 2024, which could include a two-way, sidewalk-level bicycle path on the south side of the street. Details (in a pdf) here.
The Madison Bikes board meets today from 6 to 8 p.m., in the virtual way (Zoom link here).
More importantly, you are invited to join an in-person community meeting for 2024 event planning, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in Room 104 of the Madison Public Library’s Central Branch, 201 W. Mifflin St. It’s an opportunity to brainstorm and begin planning events for next year’s calendar:
We want to hear from you! Do you have a specific bike-related skill you can share with the Madison Bikes community? Are you interested in volunteering to teach a class or lead a ride? Sign up to share your expertise (or the thing you wish you knew) on a topic related to biking that will benefit our community! Also, there will be pizza.
Wednesday from 6:00PM – 7:30, join a virtual city meeting discussing S. Park St. redevelopment for BRT. Thursday from 5:30PM – 7:30 PM, there will also be an in-person meeting on the same topic in Fitchburg.
Madison Bikes board member Craig Weinhold mentioned these meetings two weeks ago in an in-depth blog post about the sacrifices bicyclists and pedestrians have had to make to avoid disruptions to single occupancy vehicle traffic as BRT is expanded. Bicyclist safety and accessibility on S. Park St. is key to overall safety and accessibility on the S. side. It is important to show up often to city meetings to ensure the city fully explores options to allow bicyclists and bus riders safe and convenient roadway access, instead of pitting bikes and buses against one another while refusing to prioritize safety over single occupancy vehicle convenience.
Transportation Commission updates
The Mineral Point Rd. “widened sidewalk” plans are going to TC this Wednesday. The compromised state of the bike facilities included in this project were also mentioned in Craig’s blog post (link above). Feel free to send a written comment on “Agenda Item 2” to share your thoughts on this, instructions on how to do this are always included in the TC agenda.
Welcome to the Madison Bikes newsletter! We hope you’re keeping warm this week as you pedal your way into November.
Remember, your hands and feet will be the first to feel the cold so make sure to have good gloves that keep the water out. If you don’t have waterproof gear and you have to cycle in some nasty conditions, try this. Hack #1: Layer your normal gloves with kitchen or latex gloves. To keep your feet warm, doubling up on socks can help, but if your shoes are already snug, you’ll want to avoid it because it can reduce circulation. I’ve also found that wind still goes right through even with a second pair which is why I prefer hack #2: Wrap aluminum foil or cling-wrap around your toes over your socks. It will provide a wind-resistant layer and help keep the heat in on longer rides and it shouldn’t cause well-fitting shoes to feel too tight. Plastic shopping bags can also work in a pinch.
With those tips out of the way, here’s what you should know about bike advocacy in Madison this week.
The Street Project Film Screening
Monday night, Madison Bikes along with The Congress for the New Urbanism and the Wisconsin Student Planning Association will be hosting a screening of The Street Project, a film about humanity’s relationship to the streets. The film features real stories about traffic violence and the fight to make streets safer for bikers and pedestrians. Shot with a 500mm lens, typically used for filming wildlife, the film is intended to give a fascinating, ground-level perspective of transportation and movement and capture real-life human behavior.
You won’t want to miss this opportunity to gather with other members of the biking community and get your mind churning with ideas on how we can improve our streets here in Madison. We’ll kick things off with a happy hour at the Sett Pub at 5 PM, followed by the film screening at 6 at the Marquee Cinema, both located in the UW-Madison Union South. After the film, stick around for a panel discussion with the following members of the community at 7:
Alicia Bosscher, Organizer, Ride for Your Life
Baltazar De Anda Santana, Director, The Latino Academy of Workforce Development
Chris McCahill, President, The Congress for the New Urbanism – Wisconsin Chapter
Also on Monday at 6:30 PM, Traffic Engineering is hosting a virtual neighborhood meeting regarding Midvale Blvd Safe Streets improvements. A buffered bike lane has been proposed and would require removing some parking. The purpose of the meeting is to hear from residents, discuss impacts, and answer questions. If you bike on or near Midvale Blvd between University Ave and Mineral Point Rd, your support is needed! Check out the project page on the city’s website for more details and to register for the meeting.
Atwood Ave Bike Bridge is Here
The new bridge along the Atwood Ave path | Christo Alexander
The Atwood Ave bridge over the Starkweather Creek is up and ridable. The bridge caps off a series of improvements to the bike infrastructure along Atwood on the North side of Lake Monona. The new multi-use path goes from Lakeland Ave, past Olbrich, and down Atwood Ave and is a great way to navigate the Northern section of the “Monona Lake Loop.”
That’s all for this week. Have a safe and spooky Halloween, stay warm, and keep biking!
Madison’s Transportation Commission meets at 5 p.m. Wednesday to take up an agenda that includes a pair of Bikeways 2023 projects. The Bikeways program covers “small improvements and repairs to the city bike network,” and the projects up for review fit the bill. Each is just a skinny block long and meant to ease bikes past higher-traffic interruptions in otherwise lower-traffic routes.
One of the two projects — both scheduled for construction in 2024 — would add an off-street bike path along Seminole Highway between Manitou Way and McCaffrey Drive, providing an easier entrance to the UW Arboretum. The other project would reconfigure West Lakeside Street between Gilson and Rowell streets, removing street parking on the south side of West Lakeside and replacing it with an off-street, two-way bike path close by Franklin Elementary School, Bernie’s Beach Park and Goodman Pool.
This stretch may be fresh in the minds of bicyclists, as it was part of a detour last week while the Cap City Trail was closed for repairs along the John Nolen Drive causeway. Here’s a reminder that after a break for the weekend, those repairs restart for the work week, and this portion of the Cap City is to be closed again Monday, Oct. 23, through Friday, Oct. 27. The detour will get even more use in the planned future, when it’s time to replace John Nolen bridges.
Mineral Point Road “Widened Sidewalk” meeting tomorrow
Monday, Oct. 30, Madison Bikes, the Wisconsin Student Planning Association, and the Wisconsin chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism present “The Street Project,” a story about humanity’s relationship to the streets and the global citizen-led fight to make communities safer, at 6 p.m. in the Marquee Cinema at Union South, 1308 W. Dayton St. Before the film screening is a happy hour at 5 p.m. in The Sett Pub, also at Union South. After it, a panel discussion. Admission is free, but please RSVP here.
Photo: Harald Kliems, Bike Parking at Great Taste of The Midwest at Olin Park
SUNDAY: Ride For Your Life
Ride for Your Life Madison is finally here this Sunday, October first. The ride has been discussed quite a bit in previous blog posts this summer. It is being held in memory of the tragic death of Sarah Langenkamp, as well as countless other cyclists and pedestrians killed by drivers in a country that has long prioritized motor vehicle convenience over public safety.
The ride is Sunday, October 1, 2023. Bicyclists will ride 5-6 miles at a slow pace, and pedestrians will walk 1 mile through Madison to the steps of the State Capitol. A rally to raise awareness of the need for pedestrian and cyclist safety will then be held. Ride staging begins at 2:00pmat Brittingham Park, and riders will depart at 2:30pm. The ride will end on the steps of the Capital with the rally ending at 4:00pm.
The city Finance Committee will vote on capital budget amendments on Monday. Alder Verveer has proposed two amendments that would significantly improve the John Nolen Drive project for bikes:
Amendment 6 would extend the project’s scope, allowing construction of a new multi-use path on the north side of North Shore Drive, from JND to Bedford
Amendment 7 would allocate $1M for design and another $4M for construction of a bike/walk underpass of John Nolen Drive at North Shore Drive, connecting to the path from Amendment 6, creating a safe route between downtown and the lakefront path that doesn’t rely on the bike elevator.
Send comments to financecommittee@cityofmadison.com
The Bassett neighborhood has several overlapping path projects, all of which create a network much more connected to downtown. See a map of all existing and proposed projects below, courtesy of board member Craig Weinhold.
FB4K Bike Drive
Free Bikes 4 Kidz Madison is hosting its first Fall bike drive Saturday, September 30 from 9am-2pm, with a goal of 400 bikes donated. They will spend the winter refurbishing them before giving them to folks unable to access their own. Please also volunteer to help unload bikes at the drive if you can. Gently used bikes of all sizes and styles are accepted. Bikes that cannot be saved can be dropped off with a $20 disposal donation. Bring bikes to 354 Coyier Lane, Madison, WI 53713 near Rimrock and the Beltline Highway. If you are unable to donate on the 30th, drop off Monday-Friday between 9:30-3pm at the same location. If you live in an apartment complex and see unused bikes at your bike rack, FB4K suggests asking your property manager to donate them before throwing them away!
Madison Is For People Ride
After a very well-attended first event, Madison Bikes is again co-hosting a group ride with Madison is For People. Both of our organizations believe in a Madison where safe and equitable car-free transportation is accessible to all. See the event page for more details.
The ride is roughly 7.5 miles, starting at Law Park off John Nolen Dr., near the B-Cycle station at 6pm. We’ll go counter-clockwise along the Lake Loop and end at Garver Feed Mill where we can hang out, chat, eat and drink. The pace will be leisurely, around 10 mph. Nobody will be left behind. This is a great opportunity to meet your fellow housing and bike advocates and have fun!
Sunset will be at 6:45pm, so you must bring bike lights!
The Lower Yahara River Trail – A great place to ride a bike | Christo Alexander
Welcome to this week’s update! Here’s what you need to know this week about bike advocacy in the Madison area.
Campus area commuters needed
If you bike around the Madison campus, your help is needed to evaluate how bike friendly it is! UW-Madison has applied to renew its status as a Bicycle Friendly University and TheLeague of American Bicyclists (LAB) is sending out the survey to students and any other users of the bike infra around campus. If that’s you, please take the survey here! The input received will help the LAB award their final decision and will anonymously be included in feedback to the university. Your feedback is appreciated. To learn more about what it means to be a Bicycle Friendly University, check out the LAB website. Note: the survey closes Tuesday, Oct 10th at 11:59pm PT.
September Community Ride
Not this week, but next Friday, September 29th, we will be co-hosting another community ride with Madison is for People! The ride will meet at 6pm at Law Park near the BCycle station, take the lake loop counterclockwise at a casual pace, and end at Garver Feed Mill for food and beverages. The days are getting shorter so remember to bring lights!
In addition to riding your bike and having a great time, it’s a good opportunity for anyone interesting in joining the Madison Bikes board (see below) to chat with current board members and get your questions answered. Check out the event on Facebook and let us know if you can make it. We’d love to see you there!
Looking ahead to October 1st: The “Ride For Your Life”, a 5-6 mile advocacy ride will be taking place. The ride is in memory of Sarah Langenkamp, and any cyclist who has needlessly lost their life on the road. It’s long overdue that everyone stands up and demands safer places for biking and walking. The ride will meet at Brittingham park at 2pm, with a departure time of 2:30 and end at the Wisconsin State Capitol, to rally for congress to fund safer infrastructure. If you can make it, be sure to register on the website. The ride is free and open to all. Volunteers are also needed to help with crossings and other support. We hope you can participate. If you do, you’ll be helping make biking safer in Wisconsin and standing up for something you believe in, which is pretty cool.
We want you to join the board!
Yes, you! If you enjoy biking infrastructure, advocacy, volunteering for a good cause, or you just want to see fewer cars in your life, consider filling out an application. The application is not a commitment. It’s just to let us know you’re interested in getting involved.
We’re seeking members from all areas of the Madison community. We want your perspective and ideas on how to make Madison a more comfortable and safe place to get around!
A cyclist loading (or unloading) their bike from a Madison Metro Bus rack (h/t Cyclists of Madison)
With the first week of school over, new routes learned and fresh routines formed, hopefully there is some peace and joy that can come from a quiet week of seasonal, beautiful cycling.
This Week
On Wednesday at 5:00 PM the Transportation Commission meets virtually (agenda). Of particular note will be a review of Safe Streets Madison detailing significant improvements to Baldwin Street,Eastmorland Neighborhood, and Midvale Boulevard. On our Facebook community group, there was a robust discussion about the Baldwin Street improvement and how they could be better. You can submit your input by email to transportationcommission@cityofmadison.com, or you can register for the meeting here.
A visual summary of the Safe Street changes proposed for Eastmorland Neighborhood (source: City of Madison)
Later on Wednesday at 6:00 PM “all bodies” are welcome to participate in the party-paced Madison Queer Bike Ride leaving from Law Park.
The City of Madison just applied to have their Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community status renewed from the League of American Bicyclists. Platinum is the second highest level, and cities need to reapply every 5 years to maintain their status. As part of the process, the League is seeking your input to gain a better understanding of local bicyclists’ experiences in Madison. Please take a minute to complete this brief survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BFC_local_Fall23
Save the date(s)
A reminder that the Ride For Your Life Madison is coming up soon. If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so at https://rideforyourlife.org. Madison Bikes is co-organizing the event, and it would be great if we could get some additional volunteers to help.
Sarah Langenkamp was tragically killed by a truck while bicycling home from her sons’ elementary school in Bethesda, Maryland, on August 25, 2022. In the wake of her death, her family organized Ride For Your Life in Washington D.C. This event joined forces with activists across the country to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety on our streets.
This fall, Ride For Your Life is coming to Madison, WI! On Sunday, October 1, 2023, cyclists will ride 5-6 miles and pedestrians will walk 1 mile through Madison to the steps of the State Capitol for a rally to raise awareness of the need for pedestrian and cyclist safety.
