Category: Bike News

Hard to believe that this was less than a week ago (Photo: Gordon Sussman)

On Sunday, the Tour de la Familia Latina/Tour of the Latin Family, had a great ride, with more than 50 folks riding bikes in Madison while biking up trash they found in recognition of Earth Day.

This week, after what felt like fourth winter, it seems that spring is finally here. If it felt warm on Sunday, it was – we finally broke 60 degrees and lots of folks were out on bikes taking advantage. Weather should be in the 50’s and 60’s so we should see lots more folks getting out and enjoying riding.

Awesome weather aside, there are a few meetings, including one very important meeting of the Joint Pedestrian Bicycle Motor-Vehicle Commission and Long Range Transportation Planning Commission on Tuesday. The planned diverter at Blair and E. Mifflin is on the agenda for approval at this meeting. There are also a slew of fun events on Saturday celebrating biking through bike demos, socializing with bikes and beer, and music with a bicycle themed performance of UW Madison Madrigal Singers and Chorale.

On Monday, April 23 Bike Fitchburg holds its monthly meeting at Fitchburg Public Library, 5530 Lacy Rd, Fitchburg, WI 53711, USA, 6:30pm –⁠ 8:30pm. Anyone with input on improving cycling in Fitchburg should attend.

On Tuesday, April 24 A Joint Meeting of Pedestrian Bicycle Motor-Vehicle Commission and Long Range Transportation Plan Commission will decide on making the diverter at Blair St and East Mifflin permanent. This diverter is the first real change to the design of the E. Mifflin Bike Boulevard and will improve the safety of the roadway for all users. As Jonny Hunter, member of the Marquette Neighborhood Association’s traffic committee, noted, “[Developer] TWall has been putting up significant opposition to this and has hired a lobbyist to fight the diversion.” It will be key to have folks show up in support of the traffic calming project. Also on the agenda: The consultants for the John Nolen/Blair project are presenting their final report.

The meeting begins at 5:00 pm and is in the City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Room 201, Madison, WI 53703. The full agenda is available here.

After having to reschedule because of the snow, on Wednesday, April 25 the Madison Bikes Advocacy Committee meets from 6pm–⁠8pm at Bendyworks, 106 E Doty St #200.

On the weekend, you have several options for fun bike events. On Saturday, April 28 you can test ride mountain bikes at Quarry Ridge. For more information check out the event’s Facebook page here.

From 11:00am to 3pm check out Bike Day at Working Draft Beer Company at 1129 E Wilson St, as it celebrates bikes, beers, and better weather! Neff Cycle Service will be hanging out in the parking lot from 11am-3pm offering FREE bicycle safety checks and helping tune up bikes for Spring. Working Draft will have a full lineup of beers. I mean all the beers (hoppy, malty, lagers, ales, GF – you name it). Come get beered, socialize, and get the bike ready for the season! More info here and here.

At 7:00pm join the UW Madison Madrigal Singers, Chorale & Jazz Quintet for the concert: “Free Wheeling: A Tribute to the Bicycle” The performance is at Mills Concert Hall, 455 N. Park St. The UW Madrigal Singers and Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Bruce Gladstone, will join forces to present “Free Wheeling: A Tribute to the Bicycle”, Saturday April 28 at 7pm in Mills Concert Hall. The concert opens with no less than five world premieres, written specifically for this concert. There are two works from John Stevens, veteran composer and UW-Madison emeritus professor. “Toasting Song” is a rollicking number about the pleasures of both cycling and wine. “A Bicycler’s Song” takes a poem in praise of bicycles and cycling. Free and open to the public. Event Description here.

https://youtu.be/myLCH1KGM6g

Last week

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A post shared by The Cargo Bike Shop (@thecargobikeshop)

The Wisconsin Bike Fed is changing its organizational structure to become more effective in their advocacy. Last Wednesday, the Bike Fed’s executive director Dave Schlabowske met with Dane County bike advocates and presented his plans and ideas. Stay tuned for further announcement online or at the Wisconsin Bike Summit.

Bombay Bicycle Club had their annual spring membership meeting on Sunday, and their 2018 ride calendar will be available shortly. We’ll work with them to also get those rides on our Community Bike Calendar.

This week

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Current plans for Atwood Ave reconstruction

The big advocacy event this week is a public involvement meeting on Atwood Avenue. The street is going to be reconstructed between Fair Oaks and Cottage Grove Road, and one goal of the project is to improve conditions for people walking on biking in the corridor. Right now, Atwood forms a barrier between the residential areas and the park and lakefront. Crossing the road is difficult, and vehicle speeds are high. Bike access is limited to a narrow sidewalk shared with people on foot. The city has proposed a number of improvements that would address some of these issues. But some important questions remain — for example, do we really need two lanes in both directions on Atwood? Will the new road design lead to slower vehicle speeds and allow safe
crossing? Why does the city want to allocate more space for car parking? So please attend the meeting and help the city get this
project right. Monday, 6:30-8 pm at Olbrich Botanical Garden. You can also send questions and comments to the project staff:
cpetykowski@cityofmadison.com and bwilkinson@msa-ps.com

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Current state of Atwood (Image: Google Maps)

Sun Prairie Moves, the local bike advocacy group in Sun Prairie, also meets on Wednesday. On the agenda: Updates on planned events, on a planned network of off-street paths, and on a new official bike map in Sun Prairie. Wednesday, 6:30pm at Colonial Club Sun Prairie.

An area that also could use improvements for those who don’t get around by car is the “Milwaukee Street Special Area“. The planning efforts for the area are still in the early stages. Learn more at the first open house at Whitehorse Middle School on Thursday, 6:30-8pm.

On Saturday, you can again join the folks at Cafe Domestique for their rain-or-shine Spring Rides. Meet at Cafe Domestique at 8:30am. A more mellow ride option starts at noon at Freewheel Community Bike Shop: This kid- and family-friendly ride will go to Elver Park and include a potluck picnic. And if you’d rather stay inside on Saturday, consider attending Terrace Town at Monona Terrace: Dane County elementary school kids have build a small-scale city with a focus on sustainability out of recycled materials, and now they’re eager to present their work to the public. 10-4 at Monona Terrace.

And on Sunday, bike out to Warner Park for the Annual Bird and Nature Festival. Or finally get that tax return done…

For details on any of these events, head to the Madison Bikes calendar. If you have an event that you’d like added, send the details to info@madisonbikes.org.

Last Week

On Tuesday, Jim Wolfe from Engineering presented two options under consideration for this summer’s Winnebago Street reconstruction to the Pedestrian, Bicycle, Motor Vehicle Commission. If you haven’t been following along, you can get more background on the project on the city’sproject page or by reading this Madison Bikes article from February. For those that couldn’t be there in person or catch the live stream, you can watch a recording of the discussion here thanks to City Channel.

Option 2 for the Winnebago Street reconstruction

Public comment at the meeting was split between those that worried about the impact of lost parking on adjacent residents and businesses (supporting Option #1) and those that supported Option #2 for its positive impact on our urban canopy and the improved bike access for people of all ages and abilities. Commission members received 27 emails in support of Option #2 and 0 emails in support of Option #1 in advance of the meeting.

After close to an hour and a half of comment and discussion, the commission voted 5-1 in favor of Option #2. The project is expected to be in front of the Board of Public Works on April 18th and a final decision will be made by the Common Council on May 1st. Watch for additional action alerts for both of these meetings and please consider adding your voice to this important discussion.

This Week

Tuesday: Remember to ride your bike to your polling place and vote in the spring elections! The Madison Bikes Communications Committee will also meet up at the Memorial Union at 6pm. Check out the About Us section of our webpage for more info on any of the Madison Bikes Committees.

Thursday: The Wisconsin Film Festival kicks off on Thursday and runs through April 12th. Two movies that feature biking this year include Makala and Not Without Us. You can read a brief summary and watch the trailers after the fold. Just remember to save yourself the headache of car parking and ride your bike!

Saturday: Cafe Domestique Spring Rides continues on Saturday with this rain or shine series. Coffee at 8:30 and roll out at 9:00a. And if you’d rather ride inside, come to the season finale of the Capital Goldsprint Series at Octopi Brewing at 7pm.

Sunday: And on Sunday, Bombay Bicycle Club hosts its annual Spring Member Meeting. RSVP required by Monday, April 2nd.

For details on any of these events, head to the Madison Bikes calendar. If you have an event that you’d like added, send the details to info@madisonbikes.org.

Makala: In Emmanuel Gras’s stunning new documentary, charcoal-maker Kabwi-ta Kasongo and his wife Lydie live in a southern Congolese town, and they need money for their child’s medicine. Immersive cinematography tracks Kabwita’s arduous journey as he creates charcoal, travels to the market, and attempts to sell it so he can afford his family’s needs. Gras balances an eye for expansive landscapes, with distant views of flickering fire in deep darkness, and granular details, like the texture of cooling charcoal or the contours of chopped wood. In sustained observational sequences, the film follows Kabwita’s back-breaking processes, including cutting down enormous trees and traveling with an impossibly overloaded bicycle through difficult terrain.

Not Without Us: Sigrid Klausmann’s moving documentary follows sixteen children from fifteen countries across five continents. Each child is interviewed while under-taking their unique journeys to school, including trips by foot, bike, bus, boat, subway, donkey, skateboard, and skis. Interesting, and maybe unforeseen, is that however different their living environments, however different their personalities, the fears, hopes, and dreams of these children seem to be the same.

Spring is definitely on the way and the ramping of activities for this week’s update shows it.

• We have an important meeting on the planned reconstruction of Winnebago Street (discussed in more detail below).
• Madison BCycle is back after being away all winter. To celebrate and give everyone a taste of the subject, you can ride free the first week of April. There’s a promo code to use, so follow the link for more information.
• North Hancock St from E Johnson to the E Washington will be closed for three weeks for reconstruction, starting April 2. In addition, the intersection of E Mifflin and N Hancock will be close. Yes, that’s going to be a pain when you are using the bike boulevard! The city says you’ll be able to get through by bike, but you’ll have to get off and walk.
• A report on the results of the East Mifflin Diverter test is available. Although the city received some pushback, they are recommending that the diverter be made permeant.
• A stolen bike Boy, does it suck when someone takes off with your beloved ride. Let’s bring Kelsey Walsh’s bike home!!

The reconstruction of Winnebago Street is on the agenda of the Madison Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Motor Vehicle Commission (PBMVC) when they meet Tuesday evening. The meeting begins at 5:00 pm in Room 201 of the City-County Building. The PBMVC will consider two proposed designs for the reconstruction of Winnebago St between Second St. and Bashford Ave. The public can speak for three minutes on this item (or any item on the agenda.) You can also find the list of Commission members here, in case you want to email them.

Thanks to Grant for creating a comprehensive overview of the project and its implications for people walking and biking on Winnebago here. Plans proposed by the city seek to create a more neighborhood-scale street profile that would benefit residents and street users alike. Option 2 offers more positives for everyone using the street:

• Better access for walking from southeast side of street, especially with the elimination of the current grade separation,
• Better, shorter crossings for people on foot,
• Buffered lanes for bikes,
• ADA accessible bus stop at Fourth St,
• Narrower lanes for motor vehicles to encourage lower traffic speed,
• A wider terrace on southeast side of the street would provide space for bigger, canopy-type street trees.

If you can get to the PBMVC meeting on Tuesday to voice support for Option #2 that would be great. If you are unable to attend, consider sending an email in support of Option #2 to the members of the PBMVC, city engineering, and Alder Marsha Rummel before the Tuesday meeting. Here’s the list of all those emails, so you can cut and paste them, if you want.

• aaron.crandall@yahoo.com,
• eclewandow@aol.com,
• grantxyz@gmail.com,
• district2@cityofmadison.com,
• hiwayman@chorus.net,
• district9@cityofmadison.com,
• district18@cityofmadison.com,
• devos@ssc.wisc.edu,
• JWolfe@cityofmadison.com,
• CBachmann@cityofmadison.com,
• district6@cityofmadison.com

A detailed discussion of Madison Bikes review of the alternatives for Winnebago is available in a recent blog post.

Here are the week’s calendar, at a glance:

Monday, March 26

Bike Fitchburg monthly meeting, 6:30 –⁠ 8:30 pm at the Fitchburg Public Library, 5530 Lacy Rd.

Tuesday, March 27

Pedestrian, Bicycle, Motor Vehicle Commission meeting, 5:00 pm, Rm 201 of the City County Bldg, 210 Martin Luther King Blvd.

Wednesday, March 28

Middleton Pedestrian/Bicycle/Transit Committee, 6:30 pm at Middleton City Hall, 7426 Hubbard Ave.

Thursday, March 29

Olbrich Park Public Input Meeting, 6:00 –⁠ 8:00 pm at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. The City of Madison Parks Division is hosting a public input meeting to discuss improvements at Olbrich Park focusing on the Garver Feed Mill – North Plat and the Olbrich Botanical Gardens operations area. At this meeting, City staff will review current site conditions and seek input from area residents and project stakeholders on the proposed improvements. If you have questions or comments but are unable to attend the meeting, please contact Mike Sturm at (608) 267-4921 or at msturm@cityofmadison.com.

Saturday, March 31

Spring Rides

Cafe Domestique, 1408 Williamson St, Madison. This ride rolls rain or shine. The folks at Café Domestique are riding! What better way to guarantee that you’re going to ride than have a group hold you accountable? Meet at Domestique at 8:30 for Coffee, 9am roll out. Moderate 15mph pace, almost all pavement unless the group is feeling adventurous. Plan for the weather to be lousy. Distance 30 – 50 miles.

In Case You Missed It

Here are a few of the most popular posts on the Madison Bikes Facebook Group this past week:

After an autonomous vehicle killed a pedestrian in Arizona, a lot of people had an opinion about what that means for human-powered transportation.

A great story about how a stolen bike brought out the kindness and community in Brooklyn.

Researchers at UWM have a bike survey about where and when you ride and how safe you feel.

Madison Bikes Board member Harald reports some impressions from his recent stay in Germany. This article was originally published on Harald’s blog, Ride or Pie?!

I grew up in small-town Germany. Welzheim, my home town, is a city of 10,000 people. It’s on the edges of the Stuttgart metro region (population 2.7 million), about 30 miles from Stuttgart itself. My parents still live in Welzheim, and I visited them for a week this March. And, of course, I rode my bike.

Lovely small roads make for great biking

So as Welzheim is in Europe, there obviously is a lot of bike infrastructure, right? And nobody drives a car. Well, note quite. Germany with good reason is known as a nation of cars (Mercedes Benz and Porsche have their headquarters in Stuttgart). And in a small, rural town like Welzheim, there’s actually not much obvious bike infrastructure to speak of. There are zero protected bike lanes, bike parking is pretty mediocre, and even on-street bike lanes don’t exist, with the exception of an advisory bike lane on two streets. And yet, the biking experience is much better than you’d expect.

Traffic calming is one big reason for this. On most residential streets, the speed limit is 30 kph (19 mph). More importantly, the streets are built so that people by and large actually drive at that speed. The streets by default are much narrower than a typical US residential street. So when a car is parked on the street, two cars generally can’t pass each other, keeping speeds down. Further, intersections are usually unsigned, meaning that the person coming from the right has the right of way. Effectively that means that at each intersection you have to be prepared to stop. Actual stop signs, on the other hand, are so rare that my navigation app actually gave me a voice notification the few times that I did encounter one.

Traffic signals are also much rarer than in the US. The whole town of Welzheim has not one signal. Roundabouts, on the other hand, are plentiful. Starting in the 1980s, new intersections on busier streets often were built as roundabouts, or old ones were retrofitted. On the 8-mile drive from the nearest train station to my parents’ house, you will encounter no fewer than 10 roundabouts. Now in the US, among bike advocates and the general population, roundabouts have a bad rap. Much could be said here, but it’s important to note that German roundabouts are built smaller than US ones, and multi-lane roundabouts like the one we have on Mineral Point Road in Madison are very, very rare. More narrow lanes means people driving have to slow down more and aren’t tempted to pass people on bikes on the roundabout approaches or in the roundabout.

Some residential streets are designates as “traffic-calmed area,” a concept similar to the Dutch woonerf. Cars must drive at walking speed, and people walking and biking are entitled to the whole street. Again, those streets are usually built in a way that makes it clear that people must drive slowly.

What about commercial streets? Welzheim’s main street looks like this:

The speed limit is 20 kph (12 mph), and as a pedestrian you can easily cross the street wherever you like. Through strategic placement of planters or on-street parking spots, there will be locations where two cars can’t pass each other, keeping speeds down.

Going one step further, some cities have pedestrian malls in their city centers. This is Schorndorf:

Biking is sometimes restricted in these areas, either banning bikes at specific times or asking people to bike at walking speed. Deliveries by car or truck are permitted only during a short time window each day.

Bike parking is not that great by Madison standards. If there are bike racks at all, they often default to what Germans call the Felgenbieger (rim bender) style of rack. This is probably one reason that kickstands are very common on bikes, allowing people to just park their bike wherever when they go for a quick trip to a shop.

E-assist bike on a rim bender rack

Note the wheel lock on the bike on the right. Good enough for a quick stop.

At train stations and in larger cities, bike parking facilities tend to be better. For instance, at the Bad Cannstatt train station, there is a “bike station” where you can valet your bike (and also have it repaired while its parked there). With the Judge Doyle Square bike center, Madison is poised to get similar facilities. We’ll have to see how well they work without a transit location.

The bike station is run by a charitable enterprise, training and employing people with disabilities or other challenges

Farm road

Forest service roads are usually unpaved

The green signs point show bike bike route destinations and distances; the small square signs underneath them are for touristic bike routes; the yellow sign is for hiking.

I want to be clear that there are some problems with these routes: Welzheim is in a rather hilly area, and the easiest routes up those hills are often taken up by roads. So if you follow a bike route, you should always be prepared for steep climbs. The routes also do not get cleared of snow in the winter. And finally, sometimes the routes are geared more toward recreational biking instead of providing the most direct route. But overall, they provide an amazing low-stress network for people biking, for recreation and transportation alike.

Some snow left on this forest road

Are there any takeaways for bike advocacy in Madison? Obviously some of the things I have described we can’t recreate here. The issue of traffic calming may offer some lessons, though. Many advocacy efforts here in the US focus on creating protected bike lanes as a way to enable people of all ages and abilities to bike. And there are good reasons for that. But at the same time we shouldn’t lose track of the fact that traffic calming can also create spaces that are great for biking and walking (and have other benefits such as reduced noise). This applies not only to residential streets, but also to commercial corridors. This does require being serious about it, though. Merely slapping a 20 mph speed limit sign on an otherwise unchanged street is not going to be enough. And neither is the occasional speed bump or sporadic enforcement. Diverters that prevent cut-through traffic, reducing the width of a street, creating bump-outs at intersections–these are some measures that may transform a street into one that many people will feel comfortable biking on.

A second takeaway is that good signage can add a lot of value at little cost (financial and political. In a way, the farm roads in Welzheim are similar to, say, the network of multi-use paths in Fitchburg.

Fitchburg path network (Map: OpenStreetMap contributors)