Summer’s finally here, with a small dose of spring and the riding has been good! A relatively quiet week ahead on the events front, but plenty to chew on from the past few days, including a northside advocacy gathering, a fresh look at the Regent Street redesign, and some job opportunities that might be interesting to you.
Last Week
A great crowd of around fifty people turned out for the northside bike advocacy event at Cool Bikes North. Keep your eyes peeled for a writeup by board member Katie Nash over Northside News!
On Slack, Harald flagged a WORT interview with Tom Mohr about the Regent Street redesign and how it played out at the Board of Public Works. The piece is titled “Pedestrians, parking take priority in Regent Street redesign” which, well, tells you a lot of what you need to know about how the conversation went. If you’d rather read than listen, there’s a transcript over on Pastebin. The continued prioritization of free parking of private vehicles on a street that desperately needs better bike and pedestrian accommodations is, predictably, a big part of the discussion.
The City of Madison’s Vision Zero team published its Spring 2026 Quarterly Newsletter, covering how crash data is used to shape safer streets. Highlights include the MPO’s draft Active Transportation Plan, informed by 3,400+ survey responses, and Madison’s new High Injury Network map identifying corridors where safety improvements are most needed.
More planning: the city’s aspirational All Ages and Abilities (AAA) Bicycle Network draft plan remains out for public comment until May 11. The intro meeting happened last week and there will likely be more opportunities to discuss this.
John Nolen Drive Updates
Here’s a bit of reporting from Craig over on Slack re: the John Nolen Drive corridor. Broom Street is now fully closed to cars in both directions, though the Broom St crossing remains open for bikes and peds. The North Shore Drive crossing is also still open for bikes and peds, but continue to be vigilant because there’s a lot of distraction/confusion with the construction and cars are still in a hurry to make that slippy right turn.
The bigger news is that the new north-side path from Bedford to Broom has been paved. It’s not fully connected to Broom St yet, but once it is this segment will be a key piece of the bike detour we’ll all be taking when the causeway path closes later this year. In the meantime, once opened it will provide a more convenient connection from the SW Commuter Path toward campus than ever before.
If you want to keep tabs on this project from all angles (Bike, Ped, Car), the city puts out a weekly John Nolen Drive newsletter with construction updates, closures, and what to expect in the week ahead. Here’s an archive link to the latest one from this morning.
Jobs!
A couple of bike-adjacent job openings to mention, if you or someone you know is looking. The city is hiring a Sustainability Program Coordinator, which isn’t strictly a bike job but absolutely touches on the kind of transportation and climate work we care about. And BCycle’s parent company Bicycle Transit Systems is hiring field techs in Madison (seasonal and year-round) over on their jobs page.
This Week
On Monday at 7:00 PM, our friends at Bike Fitchburg hold their monthly meeting at the Fitchburg Senior Center, 5510 Lacy Rd. They’ve asked that folks park (bikes or cars) on the north side of the Senior/Community Center. If you ride south of the Beltline, their meetings are a good way to plug in and meet like-minded folks.
On Wednesday at 5:00 PM, the Transportation Commission meets virtually, with at least two items of interest on the agenda to people who bike and walk: a WisDOT Park Street discussion and the Quarterly Traffic Safety Report. Full agenda and registration to speak available here.
Coming Up
On Sunday, May 3rd at 5:00 PM, the Monthly Bike Advocacy Meetup returns to Machinery Row Bicycles. The goal, as always, is to create a space for community building, idea sharing, and figuring out where to push next on bike infrastructure and policy in Madison. Bring your gripes, your wins, and your wish list.
We’ll continue to bang the drum about Madison Bike Week 2026, from May 30 through June 7. It’s looking stacked already with 35+ events already registered. We’ll have the preliminary schedule launched soon; if you want your event in that list then register it now!
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!
