Author: Ben Sandee

Back into the Routine, Safe Streets, Ride For Your Life

Post author By Ben Sandee
Post date September 10, 2023

A cyclist loading (or unloading) their bike from a Madison Metro Bus rack (h/t Cyclists of Madison)

With the first week of school over, new routes learned and fresh routines formed, hopefully there is some peace and joy that can come from a quiet week of seasonal, beautiful cycling.

This Week

On Wednesday at 5:00 PM the Transportation Commission meets virtually (agenda). Of particular note will be a review of Safe Streets Madison detailing significant improvements to Baldwin Street, Eastmorland Neighborhood, and Midvale Boulevard. On our Facebook community group, there was a robust discussion about the Baldwin Street improvement and how they could be better. You can submit your input by email to transportationcommission@cityofmadison.com, or you can register for the meeting here.

A visual summary of the Safe Street changes proposed for Eastmorland Neighborhood (source: City of Madison)

Later on Wednesday at 6:00 PM “all bodies” are welcome to participate in the party-paced Madison Queer Bike Ride leaving from Law Park.

Finally, on Friday at 6:00 PM consider joining the Bi-weekly Bike Ride for Trans Rights, also leaving from Law Park.

The City of Madison just applied to have their Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community status renewed from the League of American Bicyclists. Platinum is the second highest level, and cities need to reapply every 5 years to maintain their status. As part of the process, the League is seeking your input to gain a better understanding of local bicyclists’ experiences in Madison. Please take a minute to complete this brief survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BFC_local_Fall23

Save the date(s)

A reminder that the Ride For Your Life Madison is coming up soon. If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so at https://rideforyourlife.org. Madison Bikes is co-organizing the event, and it would be great if we could get some additional volunteers to help.

Sarah Langenkamp was tragically killed by a truck while bicycling home from her sons’ elementary school in Bethesda, Maryland, on August 25, 2022. In the wake of her death, her family organized Ride For Your Life in Washington D.C. This event joined forces with activists across the country to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety on our streets.

This fall, Ride For Your Life is coming to Madison, WI! On Sunday, October 1, 2023, cyclists will ride 5-6 miles and pedestrians will walk 1 mile through Madison to the steps of the State Capitol for a rally to raise awareness of the need for pedestrian and cyclist safety.

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.

Newsletter Weekly Update

West Area Plan, MPO and FB4K Slow Roll Celebration

Post author By Ben Sandee
Post date July 31, 2023
1 Comment on West Area Plan, MPO and FB4K Slow Roll Celebration

Cyclists Crossing the (temporarily closed) Alicia Ashman Bridge (h/t Cyclists of Madison)

We’ll start with a big random, sloppy shout-out to the city’s Bike Madison mailing list subscription, which is essential reading for any cyclist in Madison. This shouldn’t be confused with our Madison Bikes update, which is the one you’re reading now! There’s often a bit of overlap, but we certainly don’t try to cover all of the minutia of road closures and path detours for the upcoming week like they do. Get on it!

This Week

Through next weekend, the Shorewood Hills path will be closed west of the new bridge over University Bay Drive. A detour on Marshall Ct will still take you to/from the bridge.

On Tuesday the Alicia Ashman bridge @ Campus Drive reopens 🎉. If you received last Friday’s update from Bike Madison, you’d already know that the bridge in the hero image above is closed for repairs until August 1. Of course, nearly every other route through campus is already suffering from some sort of detour right now, so good luck 🤞. Let’s hope it’s all cleared up in time for the return of the students.

On Wednesday from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM the city is hosting an in-person discussion and presentation of the West Area Plan at the Rennebohm park shelter. “Development, transportation, and parks and open space and other elements for the area will be included.” Oh, and food carts, probably, so it’s sort of a party! If the weather is trending poorly, they always reserve the right to not show, but the rest of the event happens rain or shine under the shelter.

West Area Plan Limits Map (h/t City of Madison)

Also on Wednesday from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM, the Greater Madison MPO is meeting at the Water Utility-Engineering building (119 E Olin Ave) with meeting notes that would make any European used to an August vacation season recoil. Some fascinating tidbits if you dig into it.

Browsing through the meeting packet, one item that caught my eye is #8 (p. 17). It describes a bunch of funding requests/project plans with DRAFT plastered all over them, up to 2024-2028 that are probably all relevant to cyclists. “Glacial Drumlin Path”, “Rimrock Rd”, “West Towne Path”, “Connect Mid Town Road and Raymond Road on New Alignment” are all words that you will read, and so many more!

Did you know that the “M” in MPO stands for Metropolitan? (fyi, the rest is Planning and Organization) This means it’s more than just Madison; there are items for Sun Prairie and the Villages of Deforest and Windsor too. People deep in the transpo weeds have been hearing/discussing these for some time, but it can be interesting to watch them as they work through the various committees at different levels of government. If your interest is piqued and you want to know more about the MPO “how’s” and “why’s”, check out item #10 (p. 32) which has a review of their operating rules and procedures.

Also on our calendar for Friday from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM @ Law Park is one of the twice bi-weekly Bike Ride for Trans Rights. While we don’t always highlight every event of the week, here’s a reminder that you can get a recurring event on our calendar, if you like. See the footer of this post for how to do that.

Finally, on Saturday at 2:00 PM, Free Bikes 4 Kidz is hosting “its first annual bike ride, the South Side Slow Roll“: a three mile SAG (Support And Gear, ya’ll) ride with pre- and after- parties. Free registration is required but it’s really just an online waiver and takes mere seconds to fill out. To sweeten the deal, all registrants will receive a voucher for food from one of four food cart vendors at the afterparty. It all starts at the FB4K workshop on Coyier Lane @ 2:00 PM with Wheels for Winners doing bike checks. The ride starts at 3:00 PM. I could go on, but really, just hit up their site for details. It’ll be a great event with great organizations and individuals involved to make it fun for everyone.

Bike News E-Mail Newsletter Weekly Update

New Bridge + Quiet Holiday Week

Post author By Ben Sandee
Post date June 19, 2023

Bike Week

Jerry Schippa gives a bicycle infrastructure tour (credit: Craig Weinhold)

You’re probably sick of hearing about it and we’re definitely tired of talking about it (thus our radio-silence last week), but Bike Week is over and was a huge success! Thanks to our sponsors, event organizers, the city and most importantly everyone who attended events or otherwise participated in their own way.

Bacon Cheddar Waffles by Cargo Bikes (credit: Christo Alexander)

This Week

On Wednesday, the Transportation Commission meets virtually. You can read up on the light agenda here.

Last Week

Last week on Friday, University Bay Drive was closed to traffic overnight in order to install the new bike/ped bridge spans. Several community members were on site to capture some pictures and discussed it in the Facebook community. There’s a time-lapse video too that mostly demonstrates the resolve of the videographer and the inadequacies of modern phone batteries.

University Path Bridge being installed (credit: David Benforado)

A scouting ride today will surely show the spans in place, so go check it out yourself. Just a reminder that you won’t be able to make your way along the path and the circuitous detours remain in effect until the project completes this fall.

Bike News E-Mail Newsletter Weekly Update

Proposed TC Changes, West Side Advocacy Outreach, Bike Week Schedule

Post author By Ben Sandee
Post date May 8, 2023

A person on a bike riding on the Kendall Bike Boulevard. The photo is focused on Magnolia blooms that partially obscure the person on the bike, who is out of focus. — A cyclist surrounded by springtime (h/t Cyclists of Madison)

This Week

On Wednesday at 5pm, the Transportation Commission (TC) meets virtually to discuss all things transportation. One of these things is a proposed amendment to modify how the makeup of the TC itself is determined. To re-summarize a summary (what could possibly go wrong…):

In its current form, most of the eleven TC membership spots have specific requirements: one must have knowledge of equity issues, another must have knowledge of people facing disabilities, another must have primary transport mode of walking, and the list goes on. Of particular relevance to cycling advocacy, one must have a primary transport mode of cycling. The change, proposed by Mayor Rhodes-Conway, would revise the ordinance to say that “[t]he mayor shall strive to appoint members who represent the following perspectives or experiences: people knowledgeable about equity issues and the needs of marginalized communities; people with disabilities; bicyclists; walkers; and transit users.”

There is no doubt it can be difficult to formulate a working commission with the current disparate list of requirements, but this challenge in governing mirrors the challenges a commission like this will face in balancing the needs of a diverse constituency. Unfortunately, this proposed change removes the teeth from the ordinance, changing a firm set of requirements to a broad suggestion that can be interpreted in ways that might leave groups under-represented, or potentially outright ignored.

If you’d like to comment on this item or register your support or opposition, you can do so here while choosing agenda item #4.

If you need to relax after all that, on Wednesday at 6pm the Madison Queer Bike Ride departs from Law Park for the monthly, party-paced meetup ride.

Yet Another Wednesday activity, this time in the form of an open house for Upcoming Plans in the West Area. Drop by the Lussier Community Education Center (the third wheel of the Memorial HS/Jefferson MS/LCEC education mega-campus) between 6:30pm to 8:00pm “to hear directly from City staff about proposed improvements aimed at serving the needs of residents in West Madison, between Midvale Boulevard and the Beltline.” Families welcome, and ooh-ooh, there will be snacks, there will! You can also browse a high-level project map at your leisure, from the comfort of your own home.

Last Week

In case you missed it, the Bike Week event list went live last week. We’re processing new events almost every day so keep checking back. Bike Week runs from June 3 to June 10 and of particular note, on Friday, June 9 from 4pm to 7pm we’ll have our big end of week party at Brittingham Park with free food, music, and probably some fun. Mark your calendars!

Last Wednesday, May 3, City Traffic Engineering held a Safe Streets public meeting focusing on Midvale Blvd between University Ave and Mineral Point Rd. If you missed it, you can see the presentation and feedback summary. [Author’s personal feedback: It’s a stretch that I ride often (usually downhill/NB from Sequoya Library to University Ave). It takes a modicum of vigilance and determination, requiring regular diversions into the main travel lanes while negotiating parked cars. Alternatives can be scenic and enjoyable but add some tiresome crossings, a few poorly maintained roads and/or significant time and distance increases.]

Bike News E-Mail Newsletter Weekly Update

Advocacy Aplenty

Post author By Ben Sandee
Post date March 27, 2023

A cyclist rides and waves near the John Nolen Dr/North Shore Dr intersection (Cyclists of Madison)

Last Week

madisonforall produced an excellent video detailing and commenting on the city’s four proposed design alternatives for John Nolen Drive @ North Shore Dr. This one of the busiest bike/ped/car intersections in the city and there are several components of its current design that can make it rather treacherous for bicyclists and pedestrians. Spoiler: Several of the proposed alternatives are just as bad and there’s important work to be done!

Seairra Sheppard posted a thoughtful article to strongtowns.org discussing the state of the city’s Vision Zero initiative. If you’ve not been keeping up with all the ways Vision Zero is affecting development around the city, this is a great way to catch up. Also, Madison Bikes board member quoted in the article? Check!

This Week

On Monday, Bike Fitchburg is hosting their monthly meeting from 7pm-8:30pm at KL Engineering, not too far removed from Military Ridge Trail @ McKee Rd.

The city posted an update regarding planned bike boulevard improvements to W Main St and there’s good and bad news. The beacon and median island at Proudfit St/W Main St are on track for construction this summer but the remaining work will be delayed with no concrete ETA at the moment.

Bicycle Benefits organizers are looking for ambassadors who would be willing to “ride around the area to see if they have signage up, BB stickers stocked and employees [that are] in the know.” If this sounds like your jam then hit up ian@bicyclebenefits.org.

Next Week

Transportation Policy and Planning Board is meeting next Monday, April 3 @ 5pm. No specific agenda posted yet, but they will probably cover items from the last meeting that was cancelled.

E-Mail

Spring 2023 Elections: Candidate Questionnaire Responses

Post author By Ben Sandee
Post date February 15, 2023
1 Comment on Spring 2023 Elections: Candidate Questionnaire Responses

Spring 2023 is election time. The Spring Primary is on February 21; Spring Election is on April 4. The results of those elections can have a great impact on biking, walking, transit, and housing. Madison Bikes, together with Madison is for People and Madison Area Bus Advocates, reached out to all candidates for mayor and common council to ask them about their positions on transportation, housing, and sustainability.

Thank you to the 21 (as of this posting) candidates that took the time to respond. You can read all of their responses here: https://www.madisonbikes.org/madison-spring-elections-2023/

Madison Bikes is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and does not endorse or oppose any candidate.

Newsletter Weekly Update

Still Talking Snow; West Area Plan Meeting

Post author By Ben Sandee
Post date February 13, 2023

A masked cyclist pedals a cruiser bike with gray tires down the southwest path. They are wearing mittens and a colorful hat with the poof on top. — A well-dressed winter cyclist on the southwest path (Photo: Cyclists of Madison)

It’s worth noting that our local Cyclists of Madison photo bot has a new home on Mastodon. There’s plenty of other bike and transit-focused discourse on the Fediverse as well, so check it out you’re looking for a broader place to discuss. As always, enjoy our community for a Madison-focused group!

This Week

On Monday at 6pm, join a virtual meeting discussing the West Area Plan.

A map that shows the area bounded roughly by the area west of Midvale Blvd, Shorewood Hills, to the northwest by Middleton and the beltline to the south and west. — The bounding area for the West Area Plan region (Image: City of Madison)

The in-person meeting was cancelled last week due to weather and will probably be rescheduled soon. In the meantime, you can make comments on the interactive map. It’s a good opportunity to highlight areas where you enjoy biking or where you wish there were better connections.

In case you missed it last week, the Bike Fed’s summer youth camp programs are open for registration. Also, plenty of good info on the site even if a youth camp isn’t your bag!

Last Week

On Friday morning, many hearty cyclists came out and stopped by our bike station despite the attempted knockout blow delivered by the big, wet Thursday snowstorm. It was somewhat treacherous conditions for all road, path and sidewalk users due to the late-night freeze following a day of sloppy conditions.

An smiling individual with long hair, wearing a high-vis coat and a high-vis hat, celebrates their free Madison Bikes blue face buff with the sun rising on the frozen lake behind them. A sign reads "no motorized vehicles past this point". — Who doesn’t love SWAG? (Photo: Harald Kliems)

With warmer temperatures than we’ve had in the past, it was good to see faces (both old and new) and sunshine. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, along with our sponsors and partners for the coffee and good times.

A group of five individuals wearing winter clothes are gathered around a table with merchandise. One of the people is writing on a piece of paper. Another is holding their bike. There is a black and white Madison Bikes banner flying in the breeze and a red sign pointing to public stairs and the bike elevator. — The path conditions look pretty good, all things considered! (Photo: Harald Kliems)

Finally, Groundhog’s Day was two week ago, but we still seem to be in this time loop where we get the same big storms on Thursdays. Until then, we’ll see great melting conditions that should leave paths and sideroads pretty rideable (sorry skiers). Watch out for refreezing, but otherwise enjoy!

Newsletter Weekly Update

Plan Commission; Winter Riding

Post author By Ben Sandee
Post date November 21, 2022

It’s a short week for many, but we have some interesting and timely stuff to discuss.

Last week we all got a taste of slippery, variable winter conditions. It’s a great reminder to consider your winter riding plans and experiences and if you have a Facebook account, our community is a great place to start. Look below for more details about our annual winter cycling forum, taking place next week Monday.

This Week

On Monday at 5:30 pm, the Plan Commission meets to discuss establishing a new Transportation Demand Management ordinance. As Harald writes in his post:

Heads-up that the new Transportation Demand Management (TDM) ordinance will be in front of the Plan Commission on Monday. What is TDM? “Transportation Demand Management” means that when a new building of a certain size/in a certain area is built, the developer has to take measures that reduce the number of car trips that the new building generates. E.g. by reducing the number of car parking spots, offering residents transit passes, or having a BCycle station at the building. Sounds great? Yes, but developers often don’t like these kinds of rules. So if you support or oppose the TDM ordinance, you can register in support/opposition, speak at the virtual meeting, or submit written comments.

You can register your support or opposition and/or ask to speak (Meeting: Plan Commission 11/21/2022 and Agenda Item: 2) or send comments by email.

Next Week

Heads up that next Monday, November 28 at 6pm we will host a virtual community forum discussing winter cycling in Madison:

For this month’s community meeting, join us to find answers to your questions about keeping warm and safe on your bike through the winter months.

Whether you need to know how to keep your face and extremities warm, how to keep fog off of your glasses, how to stay upright on ice and snow, how to find safe winter routes, how to keep rust off your bike, or anything else on your mind, we’ll help you find answers.

You can join using the zoom link. If you have questions you’d like to see answered, you can add them as a discussion for the event or email Connor directly.

Newsletter Weekly Update

Bike to School Week for Some, Transportation Commission

Post author By Ben Sandee
Post date October 10, 2022

A rider flies over the barrier at the Trek CX Cup in Waterloo over the weekend (Credit: Harald Kliems)

First, I’ll re-up two requests from previous weeks.

City of Madison District 18 Alder Charles Myadze is seeking input on improving cycling infrastructure on the north side. See last week’s update for more details on how to give feedback.
This week is the last week to get your application in to join the Madison Bikes Board. The deadline is Friday, October 14.

This Week

All week we’ve got Bike to School Week for Lapham Elementary, Marquette Elementary and O’Keefe Middle here in Madison. Thanks to board member Kyle for helping organize these events.

On Wednesday at 5pm the Transportation Commission meets virtually. You can check out the full agenda, but probably the most interesting discussions will be centered around two Vision Zero items. First, a discussion comparing safety data between the first six months of 2021 and 2022 (spoilers in images):

Crashes down 5%, Fatalities and serious injuries down 29% — Citywide Vision Zero 2022 vs 2021 (City of Madison)

Crashes up 6%, Fatalities and serious injuries down 33% — E. Washington Ave Vision Zero 2022 vs 2021 (City of Madison)

The second item of note is an update on the city’s application for vision zero grant from the federal government. Included in that update you’ll find a letter of support from Madison Bikes.

Coming Up

On Saturday November 19, be ready for the next bicycle collection drive supporting Free Bikes 4 Kidz. Last Saturday (October 8) marked the start of their season with a collection drive at six locations around Madison.