The first few dry leaves have fallen off my birch tree. My daughter has a dorm move-in date. My son is wrapping up his summer internship in Boston. NO! NO! NO! It can’t be fall yet! It’s still summer, right!? Let’s all make a pledge to have a few more Chocolate Shoppe Bicycle Benefits Waffle Cones, a few more lazy evenings at the terrace, and a few more sublime, aimless miles on our bikes. September can wait.
N. Sherman Ave Railroad Crossing closure
The rough railroad crossing on N. Sherman Avenue will be closed for two weeks beginning Monday, August 17. See the City notice for details https://www.cityofmadison.com/news/2026-08-07/n-sherman-avenue-closure-for-railroad-crossing-replacement
The official signed detour on Packers Ave is only for cars. Luckily, a brand new road by the ice arena should make for a groovy, low-stress detour. The northern half has a multi-use path. The entire length has a sidewalk. If you’re a regular rider on N. Sherman, can you give the Roth / Huxley / Commercial detour a try this week to see if there are any hiccups?
In other N. Sherman Ave news, the planned reconstruction near McGuire has been re-scoped and pushed to 2027. See the project page for details.
Milwaukee Street
At this week’s Transportation Commission, the one topic of high interest is Milwaukee St between the Garver Path and Woodman’s. This is the area that is seeing heavy Voit Farms development just to the north.
The files are in Legistar #94298. In a nutshell, the City is proposing a north-side multi-use path coupled with a south-side, eastbound bike lane.
I really like the asymmetric layout. Side paths are nice for all ages & abilities, but they’re often “meh” when they’re on the opposite side of the street from where you are or want to be. This design solves that.
And we all must celebrate that the City is keeping Milwaukee St traffic to one lane in each direction. That’s all the current traffic volume demands, and it will establish Milwaukee St as a “Community Main Street” that will much better serve the new neighborhoods being built up there.
John Nolen Drive
The City plans to re-open North Shore Drive to cars on Wed, Aug 12 with some traffic flows allowed at the intersection with JND. There will be no bike or pedestrian crossings allowed there. The return of traffic to North Shore Drive will make the current detour crossings of that street more hazardous.
See the Latest Project Update (and sign up!) for more details.
This Week
On Monday Aug 10, you ought to take 15 minutes to listen to WORT’s Moving Beyond Bikes: Youth Advocacy and the Transportation Ambassador Program, where Colleen Hayes speaks with high-school Bike Fed Transportation Ambassador Maggie Benton about knuckleheads, RRFBs, and youth advocacy.
On Tuesday Aug 11 at noon, come to the University Bicycle Resource Center (just west of the Memorial Union) for a free session on Getting to Campus Without a Car. This is just the first of a series of fall clinics on fixing flat tires, brakes, and winter biking.
On Tuesday Aug 11 at 6:00pm, the Women’s Cycling Club meets at the Olbrich Biergarten for a Taco Tuesday ride. See their instagram page for details.
Also on Tuesday, Vote.
On Wednesday Aug 12 at 5pm is the Madison Transportation Commission, mentioned in Milwaukee Ave above. The agenda has details and sign up info. But, why attend a dry City Zoom meeting when the Capital Brewery E-bike ride meets at 5:30pm and the Motorless Motion Taco Ride meets at 6:00pm?
On Thursday Aug 13*, your job is to review the Downtown Area Plan so far. The City will soon release draft recommendations but, with so many downtown stakeholders vying for ink, bicycling risks taking a backseat. If you have ideas about how to make bicycling better downtown — practical (two-way cycletrack the length of Broom St), lofty (Capitol Square pump track), or specific (close Gilman St where it crosses State Street) — now’s a good time to put your ideas into words and make the case. * You don’t have to wait until Thursday!
On Friday Aug 14 at 11am is the Machinery Row Lunch Bunch e-bike ride. Where will they eat this week? Come and find out! (and don’t forget Machinery Row’s Sunday 8am Century Training ride. AKA long-distance riding for the rest of us)
For more detail on any of these, visit the Madison Bikes Community Calendar.
SW Commuter Path notes
The City flipped the stop signs at the Commonwealth Ave crossing! This is a most welcome and sensible change. Commonwealth sees a roughly equal number of cars and bikes each day (about 2000 of each), yet for bikers it’s the equivalent of the beltline highway.
The City will reduce the Odana Rd speed limit to 25 mph between Whitney Way and Monroe Street. The SW Path crossing of Odana Rd has poor visibility and a stubbornly high number of crashes (five since 2021, compared to zero at Glenway St which handles a similar number of vehicles). Let’s hope the speed reduction helps.
Construction is underway on the Zook Park Connector (ruminated about last December).
Moovapalooza, Hippy Christmas, …
Madison’s annual celebration of U-Haul and out-of-state license plates is upon us. As always, let’s welcome our new neighbors. Yes, they will block bike lanes, they will drive the wrong way, and they will signal right while turning left. Please be tolerant, give them space, and maybe offer a helping hand.
Teejop Community Art Project
Finally, the Madison Art Commission just innagurated the Teejop Community Art Project, a series of indigenous artworks placed at parks around Madison. The displays will stay out until November. What does that have to do with biking? Well, nothing except that bicycle is the best way to see them!
I put together this 26-mile ridewithgps route that visits them all and has links and descriptions of the artists taken from this guide. The artworks intentionally don’t have information signs, so keep the links handy to learn about what you’re seeing.
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!
