Category: Weekly Update

Nothing cuts the chill of winter quite like camaraderie. And a hot drink. And a fireplace. And getting the blood pumping by turning some pedals outdoors. And … you know, there are lots of ways to warm up your winter, especially if you’re willing to experiencing it on your bicycle.

Bring your bar mitts full of winter cycling joy and agony to a pair of Madison Bikes events on Feb. 9 to celebrate International Winter Bike Day:

• Hot coffee and doughnuts — donated by Cafe Domestique — just off the Capital City Trail from 7 to 9 a.m. in the Monona Terrace parking lot near the bike elevator

• A warm fire and happy hour hangout for winter biking commiserating from 4 to 6 p.m. at Working Draft Beer Company, 1129 E. Wilson St.

Bike Fitchburg will celebrate the slippery season earlier in the week, with bagels and coffee and light bike mechanical service at a commuter station from 7 to 9 a.m. at Velo UnderRound, the junction of the Capital City Trail, Badger and Military Ridge state trails and Cannonball and Southwest Commuter paths.

This Week

On Wednesday, Jan. 31, the Transportation Commission will meet virtually at 5 p.m. Their full agenda includes a long list of high-profile projects looming in the city’s near future, including adoption of the the Lake Monona Waterfront Master Plan — with its underpass routing cyclists and pedestrians beneath John Nolen Drive — and a presentation on the pilot project that would turn about three blocks of State Street into a pedestrian mall.

The Commission will also take up the state Department of Transportation’s planned study and reconstruction of Interstate 39/90/94 through the city’s east side, considering an endorsement of prioritizing safe connections for pedestrians and bicyclists across the rebuilt highway.

There are 17 crossings and potential new crossings of I-39/90/94 as it passes Madison, and the mayor and a group of city council members have proposed a list prioritizing the city’s concerns. Topping the charts are Milwaukee Street’s narrow and entirely sidewalk-less overpasses and a long-anticipated connection linking the Capital City and Glacial Drumlin state trails south of East Buckeye Road.

But wait, there’s more. The commission will peruse the annual report on Vision Zero Madison, the initiative to eliminate all fatal and serious injury crashes on city streets by 2035 (which just released its first quarterly newsletter of 2024), and the Northeast Area plan, which points out 10 sites for intersection improvements and planned infrastructure to address a “fragmented” bike network.

If you’re into paving, there are a pair of 2024 resurfacing projects ready for public information meetings:

Jan. 30, 5:30 p.m.: North Franklin and Stevens streets

Jan. 31, 6:30 p.m.: West Washington and Henry streets

Take this week with a conservative application of salt, and wheel into the next ready to celebrate cycling in the snow.

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 pag

What a week for getting around outside it’s been! With weather and road conditions like this, you’d think it was International Winter Bike to Work Day but it’s not — that’s still coming up in February. This is good practice though, if you want it. However you choose to get around this week, please do it safely and with respect and care for people around you.

It’s easy to forget how much progress we’ve made with regards to winter cycling in Madison. Policies that were relatively recently put in place (within the last five years or so) ensure that the paths are cleared even on weekends, which is particularly noticeable given the timing of this latest snowfall. It would have been made even worse by the MLK holiday on Monday, potentially delaying path cleanup to Tuesday morning.

This Week

On Wednesday, January 17 at 5 PM, the Transportation Commission will meet virtually. You can read the (relatively light) agenda here, which has a bit of bus-nerd stuff in it and some other tidbits.

On Thursday, January 18 at 7 PM, join an in-person discussion about the potential changes to Mineral Point Rd between Glenway and Midvale Blvd. The discussion will be hosted at the Midtown District Police Station, making it a border battle between districts 5 and 11. The proposed changes include safer pedestrian crossings, buffered bike lanes, reduced car travel lanes and removal of on-street parking (something already disallowed during rush hour in either direction). There was a virtual discussion about this last month and this is yet another opportunity to learn about the project.

On Friday, January 19 from 3-7 PM, drop by the first GearShift Gathering at the Bikes for Kids workshop on the south side. From the event description:

Stop by to meet your local bike organizations at this fun event! Local representatives will be available to talk with you about their work, talk about upcoming projects, and about their volunteer opportunities. Or just come and socialize with the bike community! We’ll also have door prizes?

On Saturday, January 20 from 9 AM to 1 PM, experience the legendary 2024 edition of the Brazen Dropouts Bike Swap. It’s always a fun time and a great way to connect with other cyclists in a warm setting during the coldest months of the year.

Abandoned Bikes PSA

There’s been a bit of discussion on our Facebook Community about what happens when the city collects abandoned bikes. First of all, you can report abandoned bikes to the city using this form and also to our aforementioned Facebook community and/or the Bike Index. According to Renee Callaway, City of Madison Pedestrian Bicycle Administrator:

Whenever [Madison Police Department] receives requests for bike donations they donate bikes and if they still have some after that that are in good/great shape they auction them off. The bikes that are heavily damaged or that are missing a lot of parts they do send off to city metals recycling.

Parting Gift

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.

Now that we’ve had our first real snowfall — with more to come — I hope that everyone has figured out or remembered how to bike in the winter.

The city Bike Madison page (as opposed to this Madison Bikes page…. confusing…) had a nice set of suggestions about biking in winter. It’s really great to have supportive partners at the city, even if we sometimes want them to do more or go faster. We also had a nice call out from the City Traffic and Parking Facebook account that linked back to Harald’s end-of-year roundup. And they even suggested that people subscribe or follow us to keep up to date.

By the way, subscribing to the city Bike Madison page helps you stay up to date about construction, detours, and other official information. That’s why we try to put a link at the bottom  of our update each week. 

Unfortunately, we also saw two examples of “bike lash” in the paper this past week. First was an article in the Cap Times about the loss of urban trees, but also took aim at both the new wider sidewalk along Mineral Point Rd and the proposed multiuse path through the Sauk Creek Greenway. Then later in the week, a letter to the editor claimed that bicyclists don’t pay for the new infrastructure we are seeing. (This is untrue in multiple ways, but it’s a common misconception.)

This week

Things are still pretty quiet this week, with no big public meetings and not a lot of rides scheduled. Madison Bikes has been planning some exciting topics for our community meetings in the coming months, but those will be featured in future updates. There are a few items of interest coming up this week.

Wednesday

At 5:30 pm, Board of Public Works will be discussing two projects of interest to bicyclists, although there doesn’t seem to be much controversy around the projects, so no need to testify. (Unless you want to.) Agenda and Zoom link here.

The reconstruction of E Wilson St and E Doty St will add a two-way cycle track to E Wilson and new buffered bike lanes to E Doty St. This will complete the two-way bike facility on Wilson that Madison Bikes pushed for as one of its first projects. 

The final piece of the Lake Mendota Dr project will be also before the board, but the plans were already approved last year. This stretch from Spring Harbor Dr to Epworth Ct will add sidewalks, some bumpouts, space for a rain garden, and a traffic circle.

The monthly Queer Bike Ride meets the second Wednesday of the month at 6:00 pm. You can follow on Instagram for more details. All bodies are welcome.

Thursday

Freecycle will hold another Zoom meeting about what may be in their future. It looks like they’ll be doing this monthly after they started the conversation before the holidays. If you would like to join the conversation at 6:00 pm, you can get more information and sign up here.

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.

*mumbling to myself* Argh, I don’t know. Studs? Too soon? Yes, too soon. Don’t overreact. *deep breath* Just try to get past the next few days and we should be good again for a bit.

This week

On Monday at 6 PM, join an online session hosted by Madison Bikes (registration) where we’ll be on the receiving end of a presentation from city transit officials about how bikes and the BRT systems will complement each other. This one will focus on the North/South (“B”) route that’s in active planning mode. From Robbie’s event description:

Madison’s first bus rapid transit (BRT) route, going from Junction Road on the West side to East Towne Mall on the East side, is still under construction. But the city and Metro are already preparing for a second route, connecting the north and south side. If all goes well, the route could be in operation as early as 2028.

The project will involve a reconstruction of Park St, and potential changes to the setup of streets such as Fish Hatchery Rd, Packers Ave, and Sherman Ave. A lot of these changes will have an impact on people biking, and getting the route and the design right is important for improving our city’s all-ages-and-all-abilities bike network. Join our meeting for a presentation from Metro and an opportunity to ask questions and provide comment!

On Monday at 7 PM, Bike Fitchburg is hosting their monthly meeting at the Saris facility off of Verona Rd. In addition to the normal meeting agenda items, attendees will get a tour of the facility from Jeff Iverson, Saris Director of Engineering. Sounds fun! From Bike Fitchburg: “All who live, work, and/or bike in Fitchburg are welcome to join their voices with ours to make our city an easier, safer, more fun, and more equitable place to bike!”

On Wednesday at 5 PM the Transportation Commission meets virtually. You can watch online here and check out the full agenda. One item to note is that the city is applying for federal TAP funding (2024-2028) for the following bike path projects:

1. Moorland Rd Shared Use Path – Capital City Trail to Wayland Dr: Improvements include new shared-use path and improved bus stop safety and accessibility.
2. W Beltline Frontage Rd Shared Use Path – East of Seminole Hwy to Landmark Pl: Improvements include continuation of shared-use path to fill gap in pedestrian network and continue all ages and ability bike connection to neighborhood. Improved safety and accessibility of bus stops.
3. Woodland Dr Path – Sheridan Dr to Marcy Rd: New shared-use path along Woodland Dr to connect to Sheridan Dr path, Warner Park path at Forster Dr and Marcy Dr.
4. E Rusk Path Extension – N Rusk Ave to Rimrock Rd: New shared-use path that will connect to new paths planned for construction along N Rusk/W Badger and Rimrock Rd.

Last Week

On Tuesday the Board of Public Works met to produce their recommendation on the layout of the proposed multi-use path along the North side of Mineral Point Rd. One issue under discussion is where and how often the path would be narrowed to 5′ vs the 8′ baseline. Previously, recommendations had been produced from both city staff and the Transportation Commission with the city staff preferring more reductions to 5′ widths along the corridor and the TC preferring fewer reductions that require a few more tree removals (see slide).

In this case, the Board of Public Works voted to recommend a middle ground between the staff and TC recommendations (leaning more towards the city staff recommendation). They suggest requiring 8′ at Clock Tower, but settle for 5′ at Kwik-Trip, Nautilus Park, and Isle of View Apts. Alders Slack, Conklin and Tishler all expressed opposition to the TC plan (and presumably support for the city staff plan).

The work now heads to the Common Council who will take the three different recommendations into account when deciding on the final layout.

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.

It was quite a week for events involving Madison Bikes. I hope everyone had a chance to attend one or more of them.

Week in review

First up was our Car-Free Holiday Fantasy in Lights on Tuesday (check out the link for a great video from the evening.) The weather couldn’t have been better, and we ended up with about 900 people walking, biking, running, and strolling through. It seems that people spread the word via bike groups and clubs, neighbors, print and TV media, word of mouth, as well as our Facebook group and event. There were tons of families with little kids, a few dogs, friends chatting, bike and running groups going through together, and lots of smiles and laughter. 

After our two-hour car-free time slot, we headed over to the Sheraton on John Nolen Dr for socializing, special drinks, and even VIP indoor bike parking. Thanks to everyone who helped out, and to Wonderstate Coffee for hot beverages in Olin Park and the Sheraton for rolling out the red carpet and providing hot chocolate.

Wednesday evening was Be Bright with the UW Police Dept. and the City of Madison on W. Dayton St near Union South. At this event, the UWPD stops bicyclists without lights, but instead of a $150 ticket, they are escorted over to tables where volunteers provide them with a free set of lights and attach the lights to their bikes. Thanks to our volunteers for stepping up at the last minute the day after our big Olin Park event.

Tour of Atwood facilities. I also had an opportunity on Wednesday to join a tour with city staff to the new Atwood path. We learned about some of the innovative path, intersection, and signal treatments that the city has installed. I wish I had recorded the explanations each time we stopped, because there was just too much to remember. But Atwood should be much easier to cross — at least north of Walter Street — as there is only one lane southbound, the intersections are much narrower than before, encouraging slower speeds. Several intersections have green paint to draw drivers’ attention to where pedestrians and bicyclists are likely to be crossing. 

Thanks for for inviting me to ride along. It’s great that about a dozen city staff all traveled by bike to learn about how Madison is making this corridor safer and more intuitive for bicyclists.

Thursday I spoke at the World Day of Remembrance press conference at the top of State St. Shoes were painted white and hung up next to the Veterans Museum to honor the 68 people who died in traffic crashes in Madison over the last five years. You can watch the entire press conference online.

Unfortunately, if we have one more fatality in 2023, this will be the deadliest year in the last 15. Traffic fatalities have been up across the country since the COVID shut down. Fewer people may be driving to work, but with emptier streets, speeds are up, which has led to more dangerous roads. Over 46,000 people died as a result of traffic violence last year! In most years, between 30,000 and 40,000 people die on our streets due to motor vehicle crashes. As I’ve said before, any other consumer product with that kind of safety record would be pulled from the market in a week.

City budget. Among all the events last week, the city also passed a budget in one evening, which is highly unusual. Alder Isadore Knox introduced a last minute amendment to cut funding for the important Autumn Ridge Path project that will allow pedestrians and bicyclists to travel from Milwaukee St to Commercial Ave and provide a bridge over Hwy 30 east of Stoughton Rd. Presently, making that journey requires negotiating two roundabouts on Thompson Dr at Hwy 30 that tend to be very high-speed and unfriendly to all not driving. Fortunately, the motion failed. Thanks to those who wrote to support this project that has already received federal funding.

The week ahead

The week ahead will be fairly quiet because of a short week for Thanksgiving. 

Monday

The Board of Public Works will be discussing the Mineral Point Rd project. Although the Transportation Commission recommended that an 8-10 foot path be built the entire length of the project, the BPW could recommend something else before it goes to Council. It would be great if a few people drop them a note or testify via Zoom about why we need at least an adequate path along Mineral Point Rd. This is already a compromise over what was promised when BRT and changes to Mineral Point Rd was first discussed. The option that was proposed before the Transportation Commission meeting would have narrowed the sidewalk/path to only five feet in sections.

Reminders and announcements

Monday, Nov 27

Bikes and N/S BRT. This is just a save-the-date reminder that we will be hosting a focus group on the north-south BRT line and bicyclists’ needs for the corridor. More information and a registration link can be found here.

Cooperative Carshare Survey

A local group is trying to reduce car dependency in Madison by expanding access to carshare. Their goal is to help others make the leap to being car-free or car-light households, paving the way for the city to become an even more biking- and pedestrian-friendly place to live. They are interested in knowing how people might use car-sharing and what you do/don’t like about this option. You can take their survey and let them know a few things about your driving habits and needs for carshare.

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 highlight of this week is definitely our Car-Free Holiday Fantasy in Lights event. On Tuesday, you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy Holiday Fantasy in Lights for two hours without having to worry about cars. Our Facebook event has over 1,800 people “interested,” which may be a record for any Madison Bikes event! From 5-7 pm, come bike, walk, or roll with us in Olin Park and enjoy a free coffee or hot chocolate provided by our friends at Wonderstate Coffee! And after you’ve done a loop or two, ride over to the Sheraton Madison for a social gathering from 6-8pm in their recently renovated lounge/bar space called the HUB! There may be drink specials. Please consider throwing some cash into the Holiday Fantasy in Lights collection boxes if you enjoyed the event.

Transportation Commission approves Mineral Point Rd widened sidewalk

The proposal to add a partially widened sidewalk to Mineral Point Road as part of the bus rapid transit (BRT) project was on the Transportation Commission’s agenda last week.

You can read an in-depth analysis of the project in a previous post. Here’s a high-level overview: BRT buses will be running in the center lanes of Mineral Point Rd rather than in the outside lanes. This avoids buses getting stuck behind right-turning cars. The City decided that cars will continue to get the two remaining travel lanes in each direction. This would leave Mineral Point Rd without any bike facilities. However, the City identified the street as part of its all ages and all abilities bike network, and there have been several fatal and serious injury crashes involving people walking and biking along the road. The proposed compromise solution: expand one of the sidewalks into a shared use path. However, some alders and members of the public have opposed the project because it involves removing trees.

On Wednesday, the Transportation Commission unanimously voted to go forward with the widened sidewalk along the whole stretch of Mineral Point Rd, from Whitney Way to the Beltline. The one exception, to preserve trees, is a stretch along Nautilus Park. There the 5-foot sidewalk will remain for now but eventually be replaced by a path going through the park.

The next step for the project is the Board of Public Works meeting next week Wednesday, and then the Common Council will make the final decision.

Save the date: North-South BRT and bikes

Speaking of bus rapid transit: Save the date for our upcoming November 27 virtual meeting on the planned North-South BRT route and what it means for people on bikes. Find more information and a sign-up link here.