Category: Bike News

As cool weather approaches… Monday updates

Post author By Robbie Webber
Post date October 25, 2021

Yes, we finally have real fall weather, and a reminder that we will soon have winter as well. We’re all digging out the layers that we haven’t used since April and trying to remember what is appropriate for 45 degrees and breezy. We’ve got you!

Mark your calendar

Although we won’t have an indoor Winter Bike Fashion Show this year, we will have some events and opportunities to learn from others who already bike all winter. Mark your calendars, because Saturday, November 13, from noon-2 pm at the Tenney Park Shelter, we’ll have a meet-and-greet, lunch-and-learn, share-your knowledge event to get you excited about biking in colder weather. More details to follow, but we do know that Metro will be bringing a bus by, so you can try out those bike racks.

It’s nice to have the bus as a back-up plan for nasty weather, and too many people have told me they are worried about trying to get their bike on the bus when the driver and a bunch of people are waiting. If you come to our event, you can see how easy it is to use the rack, and you’ll be ready to rack-and-roll in no time.

The week ahead

We have extended the deadline to apply to be on the board until Oct 29. We have several vacancies, and we just know there are great people out there who can bring ideas, energy, and a new perspective to our board. If not you, then maybe you know someone that would be perfect. Here’s the form to fill out (or forward to someone else.)

Monday

At 6:00 pm we will hold our monthly Community Meeting on line. It will be devoted to hearing about, discussing, and asking questions about Bus Rapid Transit and bikes. You’ve heard that the city will have a new BRT line with larger buses, all-door boarding, level-boarding off a raised platform, pre-boardinging ticketing, fewer stops, and dedicated lanes. All this will make this line — planned to run down E Washington, then University, south on Whitney Way, and then out Mineral Point Rd. — able to travel faster along its route and carry more people.

But what does this mean for us as bicyclists? Transit and bicycling compliment each other, and adding bike facilities at transit stops makes it easier to transition between the two. But they can also compete for space on the road. This is a special session just to address these questions and give input to the city staff and consultants working on this project.

Will we be able to roll our bike right onto the BRT vehicles? What are the plans for bike parking? How will current bike lanes on the BRT route change? What’s planned to make getting to BRT stops easier? The Zoom link is https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84007649429?pwd=Qys5YjdLUnFQRlJFTEo5cTZMcDk1QT09. If you have trouble getting in, it’s Meeting ID: 840 0764 9429 Passcode: 648703

Wednesday

Madison Transportation Commission meets at 5 pm online, and they will receive and update on Public Works projects for 2022. A note on the agenda says they discuss Old Middleton Rd, the Cannonball Path, and Cedar St. There are some technical drawings attached to the item on the agenda, but not much detail. I guess we’ll have to tune in to see what these projects entail, but each one could be very important connections in the bike network. You can watch online or register to speak on any agenda item here.

Thursday

Another BRT community meeting will take place on Thursday at 6:00 pm. This time the topic will be plans for the downtown portion of the route. The city and consultants have already held meetings about the east side and west side portions of the route. These meetings go into more details about where the stations will be located, what they will look like, what streets the BRT will run on, and what lane configurations will be. The Zoom link and more details about the downtown route can be found on the city’s BRT project page.

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

South Madison Plan, W Wash progress, Complete Green Streets

Post author By Harald Kliems
Post date October 18, 2021

A beautiful Sunday to ride on the freshly repaved Southwest Path (Image: Cyclists of Madison)

The beautiful fall weather continues to hold! We hope you had an opportunity to get out on your bike. If you need some fall riding tips, check out the Madison Bikes TV episode about extending your riding season into the colder season.

Progress on West Washington Ave semi-protected intersection

Work on resurfacing West Washington Ave is making progress. Scheduled for completion in November, the design will feature a semi-protected intersection design at Bassett Street, combined bus/bike lanes as well as buffered bike lanes on sections of West Wash, as well as the continuation of the parking-protected bike lane on Bassett for another block.

Intersection design for West Washington and Bassett street. Semi-protected design on the northwest corner, and a floating bus stop on Bassett

Transportation Policy and Planning Board

The draft South Madison Plan, which has been in the works for a long time now, will be on the agenda at the Transportation Policy and Planning Board this week. This is a comprehensive plan for the area between Fish Hatchery Rd, Wingra Creek, the Beltline, and Lake Monona. This is an area not well served by transit, walking, and biking infrastructure, and the plan describes possible improvements. This includes adding missing sidewalks to streets, extending the Cannonball Trail, adding several bike boulevards, and bus rapid transit on Park Street.

Map of proposed walking and biking improvements

No improvements to biking on Park Street itself are included in the draft, and neither are upgrades to existing, unprotected bike lanes on busy roads such as Rimrock Rd.

Complete Green Streets update

If you go to any city meeting or read public comments submitted about projects that reduce car parking or make driving ever slightly less convenient, you may get the impression that there is a solid majority of people who put driving and parking first. But are those voices representative?

The City is currently working on a “Complete Green Streets” planning process. The goal is to help us decide how we allocate limited public space to uses like sidewalks, trees, car parking, etc., with an eye to safety, equity, access, and climate change adaptation. A second round of public input just finished, and results will be presented at the Transportation Policy and Planning Board tonight.

The process involved both a survey, as well as targeted outreach and focus groups in BIPOC communities, and a separate survey for people with disabilities. The results seem clear: Large majorities support a hierarchy where people walking and rolling are on top, followed by transit, biking, driving and freight, and car parking at the very bottom.

Proposed modal hierarchy for Madison

Almost 80% of survey respondents agree that safety is a higher priority than convenience and speed for driving; less than 10% think that car parking is more important than space for trees; over 65% agree that safe and comfortable bike infrastructure is more important than on-street car parking. 82% of people support prioritizing the needs of historically underserved people. And so on. You can find all the results here. So yeah, maybe the loudest voices that testify at public meetings aren’t representative of our city’s values.

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!

Bike News

October 25: Let’s talk about bikes and bus rapid transit

Post author By Harald Kliems
Post date October 12, 2021

The draft route for Madison’s BRT system (Image: Metro)

Madison will soon have its first bus rapid transit (BRT) route, going from Junction Road on the west side to East Towne Mall on the East Side. How does biking fit in with BRT and local buses? Join our meeting for a presentation from Metro and an opportunity to ask questions and provide comment! Possible topics:

How are bikes are accommodated onboard buses?
What kind of bike parking should be provided at stations?
What is important for making safe and comfortable interactions between bikes and buses in bus lanes?
What improvements for biking come as part of the BRT route?

The virtual meeting will take place on October 25 from 6 to 7:30 pm. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84007649429?pwd=Qys5YjdLUnFQRlJFTEo5cTZMcDk1QT09 Meeting ID: 840 0764 9429 Passcode: 648703

For more information about the BRT project, go to https://www.cityofmadison.com/…/route…/bus-rapid-transit

Newsletter Weekly Update

Review the budget, take a survey

Post author By Marybeth McGinnis
Post date October 10, 2021

Look at those new Whitney Way bike lanes! Photo credit: Ben Sandee

Join Our Board of Directors!

We are seeking applicants for our Board of Directors! Harald covered the gig in detail here; I also tried to list as much as I could remember about the work Madison Bikes has accomplished in just the past few years. Please share the Board application with those who you think might be a good fit. If you are at all in doubt, we would love to talk with you.

Last Week

The city held a session about John Nolen Drive, which is set for reconstruction in the next few years. Take their survey if you haven’t yet, and please share with others who get around by bike, bus, wheels, and feet. So far, the city has noted that the survey indicates “John Nolen Drive should be an automobile centered corridor” route, although as someone who has witnessed crashes on the narrow trail along the causeway, and has looked wistfully over at the multiple, mostly-empty traffic lanes while the multi-use trail was packed with cyclists, children, workers, couples, and joggers, I would argue that John Nolen could actually be much more than just what it is. This is especially important given the reality that we will very likely see denser development in areas like Bram’s Addition and other surrounding neighborhoods, and we should be doing better to connect those folks to the city safely and easily (including by bike and by transit).

Speaking of surveys, take the second Let’s Talk Streets survey. In direct contrast to the John Nolen discussion, this survey is looking for your approval to move forward with a vision of our streets being first for people and their safety. Really, take the survey!

This Week

Whoosh! It’s budget season. You might want to spend time brushing up on the Executive Budget, both capital and operational. Finance Committee hearings kickoff this week. On Monday, October 11, the Finance Committee will hear about Transportation (Public Works will come on Tuesday, October 12). Meetings start at 4:30 pm. I’d recommend checking out the map of the Capital Improvements budget items. Dane County also has a proposed Executive Budget out from County Exec Joe Parisi; I’m actually going to pass you over to Madison Bikes Community Facebook member Craig Weinhold, who summarized the bike-related items in that budget well here. You can read the budget memo here (bike stuff on pages 19-20).

Also on Wednesday at 6:30 pm, the Parks Commission will meet. A few of its items are relevant to the biking community, including options for a new multi-use path through Olbrich Park. You might also be interested in learning more about the PARC and Ride grant from Dane County.

There’s a lot going on with transportation in Madison and Dane County these days, and it’s hard to follow. I wanted to shout out to Madison Bikes’ President Harald Kleims (who also serves on the Transportation Commission) for writing a great Twitter thread about his perspective on the Bus Rapid Transit discussion and stop options. I’m the first one to jump into some jokes on this issue, but if you haven’t been following, I think Harald lays out clearly why no options are perfect (turns out, nothing is!), but why State Street is generally a better routing option.

Wow, did you get all the way to the end of this post? Sounds like you might be a great fit for our Board of Directors. We’d love to have you.

Tags MPO, TPPB, Velo Underround, Weekly Update

E-Mail

Join our board!

Want to become more involved in local bicycle advocacy? Consider joining the Madison Bikes board of directors.

Madison Bikes is looking for people who are dedicated, passionate, strong communicators, good compromisers, organized, and able to commit time and energy to promote biking as a priority in the city of Madison. There are no paid staff and everything we do—from fundraising to advocacy to communications to events—is done by our 15-member volunteer board and volunteers.

We are currently accepting applications for at least one seat on our Board of Directors, with elections taking place in December.

Our organization is committed to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic board committed to equity and anti-racism in our work. We strongly encourage applications from people of color, women, and other groups who are underrepresented in bike advocacy.

The Madison Bikes board is an all-volunteer working board. At a minimum, we expect board members to:

Attend our monthly board meetings (6-8 pm every third Monday of the month, virtual for the foreseeable future), and our community/work meetings (6-7:30 pm on the fourth Monday of the month)
Commit to doing work outside of meetings, for example organizing Madison Bike Week, attending public meetings, or writing for our blog.
Have a passion for our organization’s vision: Making Madison a city where anyone can ride a bicycle conveniently and comfortably to any place in the city and neighboring communities year-round.
Be committed to be on the board for at least one year

Other examples of things our board members do:

Write for our blog
Plan, organize, and promote events like Madison Bike Week, Winter Bike Week, or the Winter Bike Fashion Show (online or in-person events when those return)
Attend city-held meetings (public input meetings, City Council meetings, local and regional transportation committee meetings)
Mobilize the community to advocate for bike projects
Meet and liaise with community partners (neighborhood associations, non-profits, other bike advocacy groups)
Contribute to fundraising and organizational development efforts

If you are interested in joining our board, please complete this application form by October 22. If you would like to nominate someone other than yourself, please forward this post/email to them and ask them to apply.

Are you unsure whether being on our board is right for you? We’d be happy to answer questions by email or schedule a Zoom chat with one of our current members! Just email harald@madisonbikes.org.

Newsletter Weekly Update

Velo Underround Opens, Meetings

Post author By Jim Wilson
Post date October 4, 2021

Velo Underround. Photo credit Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District

Last Week

As of Friday, the bike roundabout that links the Capitol City, Military Ridge, and Cannonball trails, commonly known as the Velo Underround, has been officially reopened! The roundabout had been closed for several months this summer to improve storm water drainage from the site. According to the MMSD, this project finished two months ahead of schedule.

This Week

On Monday, the City’s Transportation Policy is meeting online at 5:00 PM. Much of the agenda will be focused on transit planning. There will be at least two semi-bike related items. The first is a discussion item on the lowering of speed limits on East Washington. The second is about the Draft Vision Zero Action Plan.

On Wednesday, the more region-focused Greater Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization is meeting at 6:30 PM. On the agenda is adopting the five year 2022-2026 Transportation Improvement Program. This is a planning document that goes into detail about projects that should be considered over the next five years in Madison and Dane County. There will also be an update on the Connect Greater Madison Regional Transportation Plan 2050. This is a more forward thinking plan about where we would like to see Dane County’s transportation network by 2050.

Tags MPO, TPPB, Velo Underround, Weekly Update

Newsletter Weekly Update

Whitney Way Bike Lanes and a few September Meetings

Post author By Ben Sandee
Post date September 27, 2021

Completed buffered bike lanes and new zebra pedestrian crossing markings at Langlois

Whitney Way

Late last week, work finally began on adding the long-discussed buffered bike lane improvements to Whitney Way. These changes extend from Old Middleton Rd to Tokay Blvd, which the city has identified as an important cycling transportation corridor to improve, connecting the Westgate and Odana Rd areas (and points south of that) with the Old Middleton Rd area (and points north and west). The project has undergone several public meetings, neighborhood meetings, council votes, it’s been tied to BRT and then severed from BRT and now here we are — it’s really happening!

Tom Lynch, Director of Transportation for the City of Madison, has often said that “paint is cheap” so you can see where it’s being used liberally attempting to separate bikes from cars.

An abundance of direction and paint, southbound on Whitney Way @ Tokay where the buffered bike lane ends

Work continues Monday morning, as you can see with from these fresh pics.

Paint crews completing buffered bike lanes northbound on Whitney Way

Not limited to the buffered bike lanes, new pedestrian striping and new green box indicators at the high-traffic intersections will help drivers and cyclists understand how traffic is intended to flow.

New zebra pedestrian crossing at Whitney Way @ South Hill, plus new green boxes indicating the continuation of the buffered bike lane across the intersection

Casual observations this morning show a bit of confusion on the part of drivers, probably wondering where their usual right turn lane has gone. It will take some time for all of the work to be completed, and, as we are creatures of habit, it will take even more time for traffic to adjust.

Additional components to the larger project include the removal of parking from Whitney Way and reducing the speed to 25mph north of Mineral Point Rd and 30mph south of there. It’s unclear if that’s happening as part of this particular set of work or a future effort. Eventually, dedicated BRT lanes and stations will be routed through most of this corridor, which will mean even more paint and construction projects too!

This Week

On Monday at 6:00pm, check out the monthly Madison Bikes Community Meeting via Zoom. Topics for discussion are still being worked out, but might include some combination of a brief Bike Week debrief and/or this year’s Winter Bike Fashion Show or who knows what else? After a summer of being focused on Bike Week, it will be nice to look forward to new projects and events.

On Monday at 6:30pm, Bike Fitchburg is having their monthly Board meeting at the Fitchburg Public Library. Over the weekend they held their Pick Me Up At the Border fundraiser/ride to the Illinois border, and during bike week they put on a great Bike Rodeo event for the community.

On Tuesday at 4:30pm, log in to the Forward in Energy Forum to “learn about initiatives in Wisconsin and around the world that are focused on making transportation equitable, clean, and safe.” Panelists from the Bike Fed, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin and the State Smart Transportation Initiative will be led by moderator and associate professor of planning and landscape architecture Carolyn McAndrews, from UW-Madison. Join via Zoom, registration required.

Next Week

On Monday, October 4, the Madison Transportation Policy and Planning Board (TPPB) will meet and on Wednesday, October 6, the Greater Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) will meet.

Thanks to our sponsors who make our events possible!

Newsletter Weekly Update

TC and TPPB

Post author By Kyle Hanson
Post date September 19, 2021

I hope you were able to join in the Madison Bike Week festivities last week, including the end of week party on Friday and Tuesday ride with the Mayor. Its great to see so many people and businesses supporting biking in Madison.

Bike Week post press conference ride with the Mayor.

There are many transportation meetings this week, because both the Transportation Policy and Planning Board (TPPB) and the Transportation Commission (TC) are meeting this week.

Monday

Transportation Policy and Planning Board (TPPB) is meeting virtually at 5pm. The agenda includes a review of the Draft Greater East Towne Area Plan. The presented “street ideas” add generous protected bike boulevards and cycle tracks to East Towne, High Crossing and Zeier Road. I believe the City did a nice job on this and I look forward to seeing this plan move forward. The big topic for this week is the 2022 Capital Budget, which is dominated by the $166M BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) project (71% is federally funded). Plus, I am pleased to see the Mayor also included $2M for Safe Streets Madison (combination of Neighborhood Traffic Mgmt., Safe Routes to School, Ped/Bike Enhancement and Vision Zero) and $613k for the city wide 20 is Plenty implementation. This budget proposal clearly shows Mayor Satya’s steadfast support of non-automobile modes of transportation Madison needs to thrive and be an enjoyable place to live.

Wednesday

The Transportation Commission (TC) is meeting at 5pm virtually and you must pre-register if you wish to speak at the meeting. The beginning of the meeting is mainly focused around authorizations for the east-west BRT project. Followed by authorization for the Judge Doyle Square Development Project and an update to parking restrictions on 1080 Walsh Road. The item of most interest to cycles is likely the #10 2022 Public Works Transportation Projects List. The following list is a summary of the bike bike/ped projects planned for next year. The plan also includes numerous road construction, reconstruction, and resurfacing projects.

Path resurfacing
New Sidewalks 2022 (not sure where)
Safe Streets 2022
Old Middleton Underpass @ Craig Ave
Quiet Zone 2022 @ East Isthmus
Cannonball Path @ Fish Hatchery Rd to Wingra Dr
W Main Bike Blvd 2023 @ Proudfit
W Towne Path Ph 3 2023 @ Commerce to S Junction Road

Thanks to our sponsors who make our events possible!

Newsletter Weekly Update

It’s Bike Week 2021!

Post author By Robbie Webber
Post date September 11, 2021

Just in case you haven’t heard yet — in which case we’ve been doing a terrible communications job — Madison Bike Week 2021 is already underway! While technically it doesn’t start until Sunday, there were a few prologue events on Saturday.

Starting Sunday, there will be commuter stations, movies, bike check-up opportunities, fundraisers, classes, happy hours, social rides, and so much more.

There is simply too much to list individually, but we wanted to highlight a few major events. To see what is happening each day, head on over to the Madison Bike Week 2021 page. The events are neatly color-coded by type of event, and there is even a way to bookmark your favorite events and sync them with your phone or calendar.

Oh, and if you’re subscribed to our newsletter but not actually in Madison: Of course it’s also the Wisconsin Bike Fed’s Bike Week all across the state. Find out more here.

There is more infrastructure news, but we are concentrating this week on the Bike Week events. A good place to find out about Madison projects is the city link at the end of this blog post.

Madison Bike Week activities

Monday-Friday

There are multiple commuter stations, where you can pick up some eats and/or beverages, have your bike checked out, and just generally hang out with other bicyclists. Motorless Motion will have an afternoon commuter station every — for the less morning-oriented among us — while others will be doing the regular morning bike commute station with coffee and such.

Also, discounts are available all week at Pasture and Plenty, BCycle, and Bicycle Benefits. Information on these discounts and all the events can be found on the Madison Bike Week 2021 page.

Tuesday

The Mayor will hold a press conference at 8:30 am in front of the Municipal Building on MLK Blvd downtown, and then go on a short downtown bike ride at 9:00 am. All are welcome to join us.

There are also a ton of other activities on Tuesday, including an open house at the Madison Bike Center to see the beautiful new facilities, a bike maintenance check up and neighborhood ride at the Lussier Center, and a couple of no-drop social rides. Also not to be missed is the morning Cheddar Bacon Waffles commuter stop on the Cap City Trail at Dickinson.

Wednesday

At Lodgic Everyday Kitchen, Forward Madison will hold a fundraiser for Dream Bikes. The event runs from 5:00-7:00 pm, and there is a suggested donation. In addition to food and beverages, there is valet bike parking at the event, a silent auction and raffle, and bike safety checks and a complimentary bike wash. More info and tickets at the link above.

Thursday

If you or any family or friends need a little refresher on bicycling — maybe it’s been awhile since you’ve been on a bike? — MSCR will hold a series of classes to get folks feeling comfortable on a bike. They are held at several locations around the city, and there is a nominal fee, but you can attend one or all the sessions for the same cost.

In the evening, make sure to head over to Capital Brewery to see “A Bikers Ballad”, hosted by the brewery and Capital Off-Road Pathfinders. This movie is an ode to mountain biking of all sorts. Tickets and more information at the link.

Friday

Friday, the big event is the Final Bike Week Party at Brittingham Park from 5:00-8:00 pm. There will be music, beverages for all ages (yes, beer too), food trucks, community groups, a bicycle-based mini library, bike check ups, and general fun and celebration. Family-friendly, and all are welcome.

By the way, we still need volunteers to help us set up, run the event, and clear everything afterward. We are an all-volunteer organization, so we rely on you to get this done. You can sign up and see the shifts here: https://forms.gle/Yj7aczSCTxyftKbk6

Saturday

We aren’t done yet!

Free Bikes 4 Kidz will be holding a donation drive at multiple locations. If you or a neighbor have an unused or unloved bike in the garage or basement, you can give it to Free Bikes 4 Kidz and help families experience the joys of biking. Kids come in all sizes, so even though we often think of this as collecting “kids’” sizes, older kids can use your bigger bikes. (Free Bikes 4 Kidz also takes financial donations.)

Finally, we want to give a big shoutout to a great organization and event — a chance to try out some adaptive bicycles for kids with special needs. Padres e Hijos en Acción will be holding Bicicletas y Jardinería event at Quann Community Garden, at the corner of Bram St and Koster St, 11:00am-1:00pm.

Phew. That’s a lot of celebrating bicycling. Thanks to all our sponsors and supporters, and to everyone who bikes every day, whether it’s to work, school, errands, meetings, the library, to see friends, or just because you love to go for a spin. This week is a celebration of you, too.

Madison Bike Week sponsors:

Trek/BCycle
MGE
Wheel and Sprocket
Black Saddle Bike Shop
Scwinn

Newsletter Weekly Update

A short week; then Bike Week!

Post author By Harald Kliems
Post date September 7, 2021

I hope everyone had a restful Labor Day weekend. Our newsletter took the day off as well, and here we are, on a Tuesday. The long weekend also meant that not much is happening in terms of city meetings. But! Madison Bike Week is just around the corner. Technically, Bike Week starts on Sunday, but there will be three “prologue” events on Saturday:

Fitchburg’s Jamestown Neighborhood is hosting a bike rodeo — if you can volunteer, please sign yourself up
The Badgers are having a home game, and as per usual, the Bike Fed provides valet parking right next to the bike path
And finally, Delta Beer Lab and Hop Haus Fitchburg are hosting the second edition of the Madison Brewery Bike Race. “There is no marked course – just get from one brewery to the other and back as fast (or slow) as you can. Race for time or ride for fun.” Pre-registration is required.

Find more info about those events and everything else that’s happening during Bike Week on our website: https://www.madisonbikes.org/events/bikeweek/

The next edition of our newsletter will go out on Saturday and cover the whole rest of Bike Week. I hope you are as excited as we are! I also want to send a big thank you to the amazing community that powers Madison Bike Week, and of course to our generous sponsors: Trek and Madison BCycle, the MGE Foundation, and Wheel & Sprocket, as well as Black Saddle Bike Shop and Schwinn.

Looking for Bike Week Party volunteers

One way in which you can help make Bike Week a success is by signing up for a volunteer shift at the Madison Bikes Bike Week Party on Sep 17, from 5-8pm. We need help with setting up/breaking down, handing out drink tickets and pouring drinks, and a few other things. You can sign up here: https://forms.gle/Yj7aczSCTxyftKbk6 Thank you!

Oh, and if you’re subscribed to our newsletter but not actually in Madison: Of course it’s also the Wisconsin Bike Fed’s Bike Week all across the state. Find out more here.