Movies, Lives, Not Driving, and South Park

We need you to show up for the Ride For Your Life rally on Sunday Oct 4 at 1pm at Brittingham Park. Departing at 2pm, the 6 mile ride / 1 mile walk will remember victims of traffic violence and to demand safer streets. Registration (free) helps the organizers, but please show up even if you aren’t registered and bring your friends and family.

This ride honors Sasha Rosen, a senior at Madison West High School who was killed in a crosswalk by a speeding driver in February. He and my daughter were choir classmates and ski teammates, both in their final semester of high school. The final ski races of the season had moments of silence, outpourings of grief, therapy dogs, and Sasha’s senior banner adorned with flowers. When seniors were honored at the May choir concert, the auditorim hushed when an unscripted student placed a flower for Sasha. The West High yearbook permanently records his absence with a tribute page.

In addition to Sasha, I will also be remembering Braeyla Valenza, another child killed in another crosswalk by another high speed driver.

Ride For Your Life aims to channel grief and remembrance into positive legislative action. In this case, Sasha’s Bill (AB 655 / SB 659) would let judges require GPS-enabled intelligent speed devices in the vehicles of drivers convicted of reckless driving or repeated or extreme speeding. Speeding causes more than a third of all roadway deaths, per the Bike Fed. Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology is an effective countermeasure that has seen adoption in both red and blue states.

This Week

Wednesday Sept 30 at 5 PM is the Transportation Commission. The Agenda has one very important topic: Legistar 95020 kicks off a process to update the Complete Green Streets (CGS) Guide, the policy document that informs Madison street design. That guide’s deficiencies were laid bare during the Regent Street design project in which nearly every “must” and “shall” edict was ignored. The T.C. will also discuss renaming the City’s “Traffic Engineering Division” to “Mobility and Infrastructure Division.” Personally, I prefer “Ministry of Wheels and Feet” or maybe “Roady McRoadFace“, but I think this is one of those times where public input might not be helpful.

Thursday Oct 1 is the Bike Film Festival! Gather at 5pm at Starkweather Brewing for a happy hour, arrive at the Barrymore Theater around 6:30, and expect the screen to light up at 7:00pm. More details. Get your tickets now since they’ll cost more on the day of the show.

Friday October 2 is the deadline to apply to join the Madison Bikes board of directors. Come help us write this weekly newsletter and put on cool events like Bike Week and the Bike Film Festival!

All week the Aberg Ave railroad crossing is closed for repair. The official bike/ped detour is long and unpleasant (Packers Ave sidewalk!?). I suspect most bikers will simply shoot down to Commercial Avenue and take that instead.

But I must compliment the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad on doing so many crossing replacements this summer. The new crossings are very welcome and long overdue. And they’re not done! Next up is the Highland Ave crossing, which will be done over the weekend of October 10 to minimize hospital and sporting event impacts. The Highland Ave closure will not impact the Campus Drive bike path.

Thursday Oct 8 kicks off the Week Without Driving to “help people better understand the barriers many non-drivers face when traveling to work, school, appointments, stores, and other everyday destinations.” Please encourage the drivers you know to convert at least one single-occupant vehicle trip into something better for the world. It could be walking, biking, bussing, or calling in a favor from a non-family member (since calling a family member is too easy!).

The week is mostly left to self-reflection of the individual participants, but there are a handful of related events in Madison, Middleton and Sun Prairie. Unfortunately, the signature event was last week: Alder Tishler’s Book Club co-hosted with 1000 Friends of Wisconsin featured reknowned transportation author Christof Spieler talking about the literal shape of cities. It was a fascinating presentation that stretched from modern Tokyo, Houston, and Washington DC all the way back to ancient Rome (“where was the Colosseum parking lot?”).

Near West Area Plan

The City has announced the kickoff dates for the Near West Area Plan and has also launched an interactive ideas map to gather public feedback. The area stretches from Midvale Ave to Park St and from the beltline to the lake. If you live there, shop there, or bike / walk / drive / bus / unicycle through there, the next few months are critical for you to speak up. We’ll write more about this important in coming weeks.

If you’re unfamilar with them, planners have divided the City into twelve areas, and they’ve been rotating through each developing Area Plans. Each plan focuses on the next decade of transportation and land use. Several are done already, so you can read them to see what they’re like. These plans help guide future development and transportation projects.

The aforementioned Highland Ave railroad crossing closure Oct 8 – 14 is not supposed to affect campus Drive path, though it will affect anyone using Highland Ave.

On Lakeshore path, the Limnology building bypass will have construction impacts that are now scheduled for Oct 12 – 22. I think the heaviest impacts will be towards the end of that window. Be alert for detours and be prepared to carefully and sharefully use the pedestrian path.

And looking even farther ahead, the Winter Bike Fashion Show (2025 link) will return on Sunday, November 15 at the Goodman Community Center.

Trek Bicycle West has announced a Holiday Lights Ride on Thursday Dec 10 at 6pm from Delta Beer Lab in Fitchburg. Remember that when the holiday lights are up, bicycles are always permitted. There will be no designated car-free hours this year, unfortunately. Instead, various bike groups are encouraged to organize Holiday Light rides as often as they like.

From the Social Media-verse

South Park took on e-bikes in their typical profane, childish manner — and nailed a lot of it! https://electrek.co/2026/09/21/south-park-just-took-on-americas-e-bike-problem-and-surprisingly-nailed-a-lot-of-it/

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!