Category: Weekly Update

Last week was a busy week for bicycling in Madison!

On Sunday, we had our last bicycle book club installment for “Killed by a Traffic Engineer.” If you missed it, you can read or listen to this story from WORT-FM to find out more information.

There was a lot of action around the repaving/reworking of a lengthy stretch of Midvale Boulevard. Most of this was driven by the raucous public meeting from the week before. With all of the feedback and attention, the city has decided to postpone the work to spring 2026. For a nice overview and some extra context, check out this great Cap Times article.

Sun Prairie was awarded a Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community from the League of American Bicyclists. You can read the press release from Sun Prairie Moves for the details. Going from Honorable Mention in 2015 to Silver in 2025 is a great accomplishment! Congratulations to everyone involved!

In the Madison Bikes Slack, board member Craig Weinhold noted that last Tuesday the City of Madison held their first all-transportation department meeting in six years. I wonder what could have triggered that? You can watch the entire session on YouTube and maybe find out!

This Week

On Wednesday at 6:30 PM, the Board of Park Commissioners will meet virtually. On the agenda are first details of the proposed sidewalk and path improvements for the John Nolen Drive path so get a sneak peak:

On Friday, celebrate International Winter Bike Day with us!

• From 7-9 am: We will be at the Monona Terrace on the Cap City Trail serving up free coffee (courtesy of Cafe Domestique) and doughnuts!
• From 4-6 pm: Happy hour at Working Draft (1129 E Wilson St.). Come grab a drink and hang out! Don’t forget your bicycle benefits sticker for 10% off.

For more details I guess you can look at the Facebook event, but only if you’re still clinging to a FB account. Otherwise, tough luck I guess? I’m not bitter, really!

The City has started work to redesign and rethink Mifflin Plaza. This is the underutilized area at the top of State Street, sometimes used for festivals/concerts. It also serves as an important ped, bike and bus thoroughfare. Some of the options include exploring a pedestrian mall, which would be a big shift. The schedule shows arriving at a final design plan by September. That means that now’s a good opportunity to read up on the design considerations and complete the survey.

Pretty much unrelated to anything, but I watched the 2005 film A Bittersweet Life by Kim Jee-woon and found this surprising moment. Transportation policy strife transcends borders and time!

Coming Up

I’m already looking forward to Thursday, February 20 and a virtual lunch session led by Dr. Yang Tao, Director of Traffic Engineering, “Prioritizing Traffic Safety for All Road Users: D7 Virtual Lunch and Learn with Traffic Engineering.”

Alder Nasra Wehelie [D7] is excited to continue her Lunch and Learn session for this month, featuring Traffic Engineering on Thursday, February 20, from 12 to 1 p.m. Whether you drive, bike, or walk, this virtual Lunch and Learn will offer residents a unique opportunity to gain insights into traffic safety and infrastructure planning.

As always, you can find an overview of all bike events on our Community Bike Calendar. Email us at info@madisonbikes.org to add your events. And if you value our newsletter and other work, consider donating to Madison Bikes. For construction updates, check out the city’s Bike Madison page.

Thanks to our sponsors who make our events possible!

Sponsors for desktop

Sponsors for mobile

If you believe Jimmy the Groundhog in Sun Prairie, we’ll have an early spring. But Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania says six more weeks of winter. Depending on how you feel about cold weather and local vs national prognosticators, you can believe whichever rodent you like. Either way, it’s been an unusually dry winter, so our normal concerns about snow plowing have been mostly moot.

With a gray start to the week, it’s going to be pretty quiet as far as meetings. 

The week ahead

Wednesday: Transportation Commission

You can take a look at the agenda and how to watch or participate, but the only interesting item is the quarterly traffic safety reports by the police department. There are lots of charts and numbers about how many tickets and traffic stops they’ve made in various categories. You’ll also see slides about grants, special initiatives such as safety patrols around schools, targeted enforcement, and comparisons to past quarters and years. Each quarter, the MPD also presents a detailed analysis of any traffic fatalities. 

If you are a data nerd, there’s lots to work with, although sometimes the categories aren’t always useful. Why are pedestrian and bike safety tickets under “hazardous offenses”? I’ve asked that before, and I don’t even remember the full explanation, but it seems any ticket involving vulnerable users is considered a “hazardous” driving offense. These are almost entirely tickets issued to drivers for not yielding to pedestrians or bicyclists, or some other driving violation, not tickets issued to bicyclists. 

Sunday: Third meeting of the book club 

The third session of the book club reading “Killed by a Traffic Engineer” meets on Sunday, Feb 9, from 4-6 pm at Machinery Row. 

The first session, on Jan 26, focused on community building and allowed participants to discuss initial impressions of the book and some areas of the city that need attention. The second session, on Feb 2, featured presentations from city Transportation, Traffic Engineering, and Engineering staff on city initiatives and how decisions are made on what our streets look like. 

The third session, Feb 9, will focus on advocacy and what we as community members can do to help build an all ages and abilities biking city. 

Speak up for what you want

During Sunday’s session with city staff, they discussed how during public meetings about road reconstructions, there are many competing interests. Sometimes even the bicyclists testifying don’t agree! There is considerable pushback to change: narrowing lanes, removing parking in favor of bike facilities, and slowing speeds. All of these changes would make walking and biking safer and more pleasant, but neighbors show up en masse to object. As bicyclists (and pedestrians and transit users), we have to be there to show support for the changes the staff has proposed. We have good city staff, but we must provide the public push to show that there is demand for these changes. 

Staff mentioned two projects specifically, both of which have been mentioned in Monday updates previously and are being discussed now:

South Stoughton Rd. This is a Wisconsin DOT project, but city staff have weighed in on the side of a slower, narrower boulevard with more crossings. But many people showed up at the public meetings and completed surveys in favor of keeping the road faster and with limited access. You can comment and see information on the project – including slides and alternatives presented at the meetings – on the WisDOT project page.

Midvale Boulevard: Neighbors insist they want parking to remain on the street, but this would make it difficult to add bike lanes between Mineral Point Rd and University Ave. You can watch a recording of the public meeting that happened on Jan 30, see the schedule for a decision on this project, and provide your input via the city project page. There was also an article about the project in the Wisconsin State Journal. Midvale Blvd will be before the Transportation Commission on Feb 19.

In proud-of-Madison-bicyclists news

Lyllie Sonnemann, daughter of former Madison Bikes board member, Emily Sonnemann, has been invited to compete in the World Cyclocross Championships in Leiven, France. Wisconsin has a proud tradition of world cyclocross competitors, with Madisonian Caleb Schwartz competing in the world championships in 2020-2021 and Racine native Kaitlin Keough competing in 2019. 

Way to go, Lyllie!

As always, you can find an overview of all bike events on our Community Bike Calendar. Email us at info@madisonbikes.org to add your events. And if you value our newsletter and other work, consider donating to Madison Bikes. For construction updates, check out the city’s Bike Madison page.

Thanks to our sponsors who make our events possible!

With the calendar layout of the holidays this year, it’ll be a quiet few weeks on the advocacy front. You can probably look forward to some end-of-year content that reminds us of all of the cycling-related news and changes of 2024, but that’s not today.

Madison LakeWay: Do you even know what that is? I certainly didn’t until I saw this note about a public meeting coming up on January 23, 2025 “to review the ongoing design work for future Madison LakeWay improvements.” Now I know that it’s the catchy, rebranded name of what we’ve all been calling the Lake Monona Waterfront Master Plan. LakeWay. 2025 and 2026 is for planning with construction starting in 2027. LakeWay. 🤷‍♂️ It could work!

Bikes for Kids Wisconsin has opened up their application process for the 2025 season. If your organization is looking to get bikes next year, you have until January 15, 2025 to apply. Sounds like there are a few changes to the process, so go ahead and read through it when you get a chance. Also, before you know it, they’ll be running the volunteer bike cleaning/repair sessions so keep your eyes out for that as the new year gets rolling.

Finally, it’s a good opportunity to revisit the aftermath of the first solid winter storm event of the season with a bit of photographic support. Because both of the photographers were based on the west side and the conditions were pretty lousy for quite awhile, the photos are all from over there. Or over here, if you’re already there, like me.

Here’s an interesting one, taken first thing on Friday morning by Craig Weinhold. These are the flagship 🎉 protected bike lanes that arrived with this year’s Segoe Rd rebuild (stretching from Regent St to University Ave). I don’t know exactly when they were eventually cleared, but I suspect sometime during the day on Friday… 100% by Saturday morning because I rode them myself!

Judging by the shadows, an hour or so later Harald Kliems snapped this pic of a nicely cleared Southwest Path. You barely even need studs, but they do seem like a good idea if you’ve got them. Still, pretty nice riding. Side note: If you do have studs, isn’t it just so flippin’ pleasant when you hit that perfectly thin layer of snow and your ride quiets down to nothing? If you know, you know!

If one were so inclined, one might try to keep track of who’s responsible for the various types of snow removal (streets division, parks department, etc) on any given stretch of bikeway, but the truth is that nobody knows. OK, that’s technically a joke but you’d be forgiven if you didn’t know because it’s confusing. I certainly don’t know! Keep that report-a-problem site handy.

As always, you can find an overview of all bike events on our Community Bike Calendar. Email us at info@madisonbikes.org to add your events. And if you value our newsletter and other work, consider donating to Madison Bikes. For construction updates, check out the city’s Bike Madison page.

Thanks to our sponsors who make our events possible!

Sponsors for desktop

Sponsors for mobile

We had your first real blast of bitterly-cold weather, which prompted questions on our Facebook Community group about how to cope with winter weather. We seem to get the same questions every year: gloves/mittens/cold hands, foggy glasses, studded tires, etc. But that’s OK, because the community discussion group is here for you. Ask all your winter biking questions, and someone — or many people — will have an opinion on the best way to keep biking all year.

The East High School bike repair club got some wonderful media coverage this past week. The club helps members keep their bikes in good shape and teaches skills, cooperation, budget management, as well as helps fellow students with their bikes.

You may see some familiar names in the article, including Bike Fed High School Education Manager, Ben Varick, and former Madison Bikes board member, Emily Sonnneman.

The week ahead

This week has some opportunities for input — to Madison Bikes, Traffic Engineering, and Wisconsin DOT. Plus some positive moves by the city, which is a great chance to tell your representatives that you approve. As always, your voice makes the city and region better. It’s important to speak up.

Monday: Community meeting/brainstorming session

Join us on Monday for our December Community Meeting at the Central Library on West Mifflin St, Room 301. This month we will have a brainstorming session for what you would like to see at community meetings in 2025. Last year we had a ton of great suggestions, ranging from, “Legal dos and don’t if you get into a crash,” to “Combining biking and paddling.”

This is your chance to make suggestions for future topics and activities, and maybe even have a chance to help make it happen. A talk, a ride, a movie, or any other event — it’s up to you.

Even if you don’t have any ideas, come by to meet others from the community. Maybe a great topic will pop into your head when you hear from others.

Tuesday: District 5 traffic safety meeting on Zoom

The Regent Neighborhood Association on the near west side is partnering with city Traffic Engineering to host a Q&A event about traffic safety. You can join via Zoom at 5:30 pm. Although this is geared to alder District 5, it is a chance to bring up for any concerns you might have for bicyclists and trouble spots. Traffic Engineering staff will take back your suggestions and identify future opportunities.

Tuesday: BCycle closes 

BCycle normally closes on Dec 15, but because falls on a weekend, the bikes will stay out until Dec 17 to allow staff to finish removing them from the kiosks and docks. So you have a couple more days to use the BCycle before they are gone until March 15. With the acquisition of BCycle by Bicycle Transit Systems, the winter break will probably also be used to rebrand the system. 

Tuesday: Autumn Ridge ribbon cutting – 2nd try

Due to the bitter cold last Thursday, the ribbon cutting for the Autumn Ridge path and overpass was delayed until this Tuesday, Dec 17, at 8:30 am. If you would like to attend, head over to 4346 Commercial Avenue. More about the path and the ribbon cutting event can be found on the project web page.

You can check out what the new path looks like via this great video Nick Davies made of his ride.

Friday deadline: Stoughton Rd input to WisDOT

We posted about this in our Facebook Community group, but here’s another reminder. The deadline to provide input on the redesign and rebuilding of the southern portion of Stoughton Rd/Hwy 51 is this Friday, Dec 20. A recording of the last public meeting on November 19, plus all the information about the project is available on the WisDOT project page. 

WisDOT has divided rebuilding Stoughton Rd into two separate projects, and this survey covers the area from just south of Hwy 30 to just south of the Beltline. This portion has neighborhoods on both sides and a frontage road on both sides that provide access to the businesses and other land uses. It’s horrible to cross without a car, and the frontage roads aren’t much fun by foot or bicycle either. LaFollette High students need to cross the road if they live on the east side of Stoughton Rd. /shudder/

We have a chance to rebuild the road as an urban boulevard, and city staff are supportive of this alternative, but your input is very important. City staff is practically begging people to fill out the survey in favor of alternative 4 or 5, but many of the neighbors and businesses are supporting keeping the road as a high-speed highway with frontage roads. If you would like to see the full city presentation on this project from the Transportation Commission last week, including the current feedback results, I’ve bookmarked where to start in the meeting recording. 

Neighbors may be afraid of traffic in their neighborhood if additional crossings and connections are built, as suggested for the slower-speed alternatives. And they may just like being able to jump on a fast north-south connection. But if we want connections across this road and a chance to make it more pedestrian and bicyclist friendly, we need to make our voice heard. 

If the majority of public input supports a big, fast, limited-crossing option, it will be hard for the city to argue that WisDOT should reduce the cross section, lower the speed limit, and add additional street connections. Please fill out the survey before next Friday.

Also: City kicking off 20 is Plenty

The city plans to lower the speed limit on residential streets – generally streets with no center line – to 20 mph. Right now, the default speed limit is 25 mph, and while 5 mph may not seem like much, it can make a huge difference in how a street “feels” to those walking, biking, or playing in the neighborhood. 

Although most people are in favor of safer, slower streets in their own neighborhood, there has been a lot of negative feedback on social media and in the press. This would be a great opportunity to send a note of support to your alder. Letting them know you like a policy or change is just as important as contacting them when there is a problem.

As always, you can find an overview of all bike events on our Community Bike Calendar. Email us at info@madisonbikes.org to add your events. And if you value our newsletter and other work, consider donating to Madison Bikes. For construction updates, check out the city’s Bike Madison page.

The year is nearing its end and we had the first seriously cold weather recently. So one may think that bike news would be slowing down. But they are not!

Winter Bike Social, and planning for future community meetings

We had a great Winter Bike Social last week. Over 40 people congregated at Working Draft and chatted about how to keep hands warm, goggles condensation-free, and how glorious it can be to ride on freshly fallen snow. Given the success of the event, we may do another one of these later in winter. Thanks to everyone who showed and to Working Draft for hosting us.

Speaking of community meetings: Pretty much every month this year, Madison Bikes organized a community meeting. Topics and format varied: We biked through the Arb with experts on native plants; we talked about how to combine paddling and pedaling; we had city staff report on the latest biking initiatives, etc. We want to keep this going in 2025, and for that purpose we invite the community to a planning meeting next Monday. If you have an idea for an event or would like to help others to implement their ideas, join us at the Central Library in Room 104 on Monday, Dec 16 from 6 to 8 PM. We’ll have some refreshments available.

Transportation Commission: Mifflin St Diverter

It’s the last Transportation Commission meeting of the year, and one of the items on the agenda is the Mifflin St diverter. This diverter was installed at Mifflin and Paterson as an experiment to reduce motor vehicle volumes on the Mifflin St bike boulevard. The city collected car speed and volume data during the experiment, as well as resident feedback through a survey. The results are in and will be presented at the Transportation Commission. If you would like to submit comment on the topic, send an email to transportationcommission@cityofmadison.com or register in support/opposition/to speak here https://www.cityofmadison.com/city-hall/committees/meeting-schedule/register

Autumn Ridge Path ribbon cutting

Celebrate Madison’s latest addition to its multi-use path network: The Autumn Ridge Path and overpass appear to be done, and the city is celebrating:

The public is invited to a ribbon-cutting at 2 p.m., Dec. 12, 2024 on Madison’s east side to celebrate the City’s newest multi-use path, Autumn Ridge. The ribbon cutting will be located at 4346 Commercial Avenue

The Autumn Ridge Path will create a shared-use path connection between Milwaukee St. and Commercial Ave (north of Highway 30), including a new bridge over Highway 30. The project will improve safety and accessibility for non-motorized modes of transportation to cross Highway 30, better connecting neighborhoods on either side of the highway. The Autumn Ridge Path expands the greater bike network of the area, as the path connects (via local streets) to the existing overpass over Stoughton Rd (Highway 51) at Portland Pkwy, through the Eastmorland neighborhood to the recently constructed Garver Path, and finally to the Capital City Trail and Downtown Madison-area. Long term plans include extending this path network further to the northeast.

Book Club: Killed by a Traffic Engineer

Madison Bikes is teaming up with the Bike Fed, Machinery Row, and District 11 alder Bill Tishler to host a book club this winter. The book is Wes Marshall’s “Killed by a Traffic Engineer.” Marshall highlights the role of the traffic engineering profession in creating infrastructure that’s not safe for people walking and biking (or even driving), and how a lot of their practice is based on questionable data and models.

The Bicycle Book Club is free, open to the public, and will take place over three Sunday afternoons at Machinery Row Bicycles, located at 601 Williamson St. If you buying the book is a hurdle to participation: Madison Bikes bought a limited number of copies that you can pick up at Machinery Row. Here’s the schedule:

We will plan advocacy efforts around infrastructure improvements that you want to see. We’ll be drafting proposals and emailing elected officials! Bring your hopes and dreams! (and a laptop or notebook)

Sunday, January 26th: 4-6pm

We will discuss the book and our reactions to it while identifying both problematic and well-designed infrastructure in our city.

Sunday, February 2nd: 4-6pm (Virtual option available)

We will discuss the pieces of infrastructure that we identified in the first meeting with engineers to explore the specific street design choices that impact the safety and comfort of people outside vehicles.

Sunday, February 9th: 4-6pm

We will plan advocacy efforts around infrastructure improvements that you want to see. We’ll be drafting proposals and emailing elected officials! Bring your hopes and dreams! (and a laptop or notebook)

BCycle seasonal closure

Heads-up that BCycle is approaching its annual hibernation date. The system will close down on December 15 (and usually the closure will take place over a couple days before that date).

Santa Cycle Rampage

Are you ready for another year of the Madison Santa Cycle Rampage? Join hundreds of other Santas to ride around the city and spread holiday joy. Tickets are $15 for adults; $5 for children. Meet at Breese Stevens starting at 10 AM; roll-out at 11.

Bike Fed is hiring

The Bike Fed is hiring for a Government Affairs Manager position.

The Wisconsin Bike Fed is seeking a full-time professional to serve as Government Affairs Manager. Ideally located in Madison, WI, the Government Affairs Manager reports to the Executive Director and advocates for the legislative agenda of the Wisconsin Bike Fed. The ideal candidate exercises sound judgment and thrives in diverse work environments. They are also highly organized, outgoing, have excellent written and verbal communication skills, and are comfortable working in a fast-paced environment. The Bike Fed is one of the largest statewide bicycle advocacy organizations in the country. This is a great opportunity for a highly motivated, professional and creative individual to help grow the bicycle advocacy movement.

The posting closes on December 20.

Provide input on WI Outdoor Recreation Plan

The Department of Natural Resources is drafting a statewide outdoor recreation plan and is requesting input by December 15. Let’s make sure the DNR hears from people who bike, hike, and walk through our beautiful Wisconsin outdoors.

Are you an avid cyclist, runner, or hiker? Maybe just a general outdoor enthusiast? The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wants to hear from you!
The DNR is seeking input on the draft Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan. The public is encouraged to submit comments using the online public input form on the DNR’s Wisconsin Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan webpage. Comments may also be sent by mail, phone, or email. Submit comments by Dec. 15, 2024 to:
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
 C/O John Pohlman, DNR Property Planner
 101 S. Webster St.
 PO Box 7921
 Madison, WI 53707
John.Pohlman@wisconsin.gov or 608-264-6263