Did you stop by our free ice cream stop at Bernie’s Beach last week? We had perfect weather, and it was great to see how many people biked by or stopped for some ice cream!
School Streets future unclear
What is a school street? Streets in front of schools are often chaotic during school pickup and drop-off. One solution to this that has become increasingly popular in other cities is to keep cars off the street that is right in front of a school. It creates a safe space, encourages biking and walking, and distributes car traffic more widely. In Madison, the city and school district tested the concept at Marquette Elementary. How did it go? Apparently parents, kids, and neighbors gave positive feedback–but the program required city staff time to an extent that made it seem unsustainable. For now, the program is on hold and the cars will be back. Read this news article for more detail:
Stoughton Road alder meeting
The reconstruction of South Stoughton Road provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the road into a more urban boulevard, with safer crossings, bike and pedestrian connections, and the potential for development. The two alders for the area, Derek Field and Sean O’Brien are holding an in-person public meeting on Thursday (9/3). The meeting will be in the cafeteria of La Follette High School (702 Pflaum Rd). Light refreshments will be provided. Please register in advance in Eventbrite.
During this meeting, staff from the City Planning and Transportation departments will provide information about the project, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Also check out the website for Better Streets Madison, a coalition of local advocacy groups that want to make sure Stoughton Road will be a human-centered project: https://betterstreetsmadison.com/
Ride for Your Life: Sign up and volunteer
It’s a little over a month until the Ride For Your Life, honoring Sasha Rosen, who was killed by a speeding driver, and other victims of traffic violence. The ride relies on a lot of volunteers, and so if you’re available to help, please sign up here: https://events.hakuapp.com/173ba995d4a37d68d05a
If you just want to participate in the ride or walk on October 4, you can sign up here.
PSA: September can be dangerous
If you look at the statistics, the number of bike crashes peaks in September. The weather is usually still good, school is back on, and a lot of new people will be out there on the roads and path. So drive carefully and watch out for people on bikes.
RoundTrip Smart Trips Challenge starts tomorrow
As we mentioned last week: Tomorrow is the first day of September and the start of the Smart Trips Challenge! You can still sign up.
RoundTrip Greater Madison’s fourth annual Smart Trips Challenge, September 1-30, celebrates sustainable, affordable, and healthy transportation choices. Replace as many drive-alone trips as you can with carpooling, bicycling, riding the bus, and walking or rolling for
chances to win weekly and grand prize drawings.
The Smart Trips Challenge is free and open to everyone ages 18+ in Dane County. To participate, register with RoundTrip and log your eligible trips all month for chances to win. There will be 20+ prize drawings and the first 50 to log a trip receive $10 to Ian’s Pizza.
MTB demo
Want to try out various mountain bike models on actual trails? ERIK’s is hosting a demo event at Quarry Ridge on Tuesday (9/1) from 3 to 7 PM (if the trails are rideable).
Come out to Quarry Ridge in Madison to spend the day demoing mountain bikes from Specialized, Transition and Aventon on the trails they’re actually built for. This is a free, open-to-everyone event. Whether you’re a seasoned rider or you’ve never touched a trail, our crew will get you set up on the right bike and help you find what fits. No showroom, no pressure. Just you, some of the best bikes we carry, and a great stretch of singletrack.
Wright Stuff Century
Our friends from Bombay Bicycle Club is running the 49th edition of the Wright Stuff Century on September 6. Route options range from 35 to 65 miles. It covers some beautiful roads west of Madison, and for a century ride it’s very affordable. Just make sure to bring your climbing legs.
More area plans: Near West
The process for creating an area plan for the Near West area is starting to rev up. No public meetings yet, but the city released a cool set of maps about the area: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9274538dbd844111acdf48c4129bd2b6
Book Club
The City of Madison’s director of transportation is also a book author. His latest book, Transportation and the Shape of Cities, co-authored with David Copeland Loredo and Mandi Chapa, will be the topic of Alder Bill Tishler’s September book club on September 23 (i.e. not this week).
Drawing from the book, Spieler will discuss how transportation shapes cities, with a focus on Madison’s evolving transportation network. The book examines the five major nodes of U. S. transportation, from walking and bicycling to automobiles, trains, and transit, and explores how they influence urban design and community development.
This free event is co-sponsored by 1000 Friends of Wisconsin(external). All are welcome to attend, and prior reading of the book is not required. A few copies of the book and printouts of the book’s introduction(external) are available for loan at the Ask Desk at Sequoya Library, first-come first-served.
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!
