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Newsletter Weekly Update

The Street Project; Midvale Bike Lanes; Atwood Construction

Welcome to the Madison Bikes newsletter! We hope you’re keeping warm this week as you pedal your way into November.

Remember, your hands and feet will be the first to feel the cold so make sure to have good gloves that keep the water out. If you don’t have waterproof gear and you have to cycle in some nasty conditions, try this. Hack : Layer your normal gloves with kitchen or latex gloves. To keep your feet warm, doubling up on socks can help, but if your shoes are already snug, you’ll want to avoid it because it can reduce circulation. I’ve also found that wind still goes right through even with a second pair which is why I prefer hack : Wrap aluminum foil or cling-wrap around your toes over your socks. It will provide a wind-resistant layer and help keep the heat in on longer rides and it shouldn’t cause well-fitting shoes to feel too tight. Plastic shopping bags can also work in a pinch.

With those tips out of the way, here’s what you should know about bike advocacy in Madison this week.

The Street Project Film Screening

Monday night, Madison Bikes along with The Congress for the New Urbanism and the Wisconsin Student Planning Association will be hosting a screening of The Street Project, a film about humanity’s relationship to the streets. The film features real stories about traffic violence and the fight to make streets safer for bikers and pedestrians. Shot with a 500mm lens, typically used for filming wildlife, the film is intended to give a fascinating, ground-level perspective of transportation and movement and capture real-life human behavior.

You won’t want to miss this opportunity to gather with other members of the biking community and get your mind churning with ideas on how we can improve our streets here in Madison. We’ll kick things off with a happy hour at the Sett Pub at 5 PM, followed by the film screening at 6 at the Marquee Cinema, both located in the UW-Madison Union South. After the film, stick around for a panel discussion with the following members of the community at 7:

  • Alicia Bosscher, Organizer, Ride for Your Life
  • Baltazar De Anda Santana, Director, The Latino Academy of Workforce Development
  • Chris McCahill, President, The Congress for the New Urbanism – Wisconsin Chapter
  • Collin Mead, Wisconsin Bike Fed
  • Juliana Bennett, Madison Alder, Dist 2
  • Morgan Ramaker, Downtown Madison, Inc.

Midvale Blvd Bike Lane Meeting

Also on Monday at 6:30 PM, Traffic Engineering is hosting a virtual neighborhood meeting regarding Midvale Blvd Safe Streets improvements. A buffered bike lane has been proposed and would require removing some parking. The purpose of the meeting is to hear from residents, discuss impacts, and answer questions. If you bike on or near Midvale Blvd between University Ave and Mineral Point Rd, your support is needed! Check out the project page on the city’s website for more details and to register for the meeting.

Atwood Ave Bike Bridge is Here

The new bridge along the Atwood Ave path
The new bridge along the Atwood Ave path | Christo Alexander

The Atwood Ave bridge over the Starkweather Creek is up and ridable. The bridge caps off a series of improvements to the bike infrastructure along Atwood on the North side of Lake Monona. The new multi-use path goes from Lakeland Ave, past Olbrich, and down Atwood Ave and is a great way to navigate the Northern section of the “Monona Lake Loop.”

That’s all for this week. Have a safe and spooky Halloween, stay warm, and keep biking!

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.

Categories
Bike News

A Winnebago Street for Everyone

This coming Tuesday (02/13/18), the city’s engineering department will host a second neighborhood meeting on the Winnebago Street (2nd Street to Bashford) reconstruction project. The first meeting was held on 01/10/18 and this earlier blog post provides most of the background on the project. At Tuesday’s meeting, Engineering staff is expected to put forward two refined alternatives for consideration.

Alternative considers narrowing the existing roadway by 2′ by skinnying up the main travel lanes and keeping the bike lanes and on-street parking as is. For people biking on Winnebago this would take what is already an uncomfortably tight environment for biking and make it even less practical.

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Here’s what it feels like to be passed by a bus with the current 11′ travel lanes and unbuffered bike lane.

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And here’s the current bike lane up against on-street car parking.

Best practice roadway design calls for 26′ of space to accommodate a bus, bike, and parked car lane. The current street only provides 24′, and this proposed Alternative would take away another foot, leaving only 23′. This will make an already stressful bike facility much more stressful, particularly in winter conditions.

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Alternative would repurpose one side of on-street car parking. With this design, appropriate shy space or buffer is included between the bike lane and travel lane, as well as between the bike lane and parked cars. This design results in a biking environment that is considered Low-Stress and appropriate for riders of All Ages and Abilities. Another significant benefit of this design is that it will allow for widened street terraces that can accommodate street trees. (Alternative keeps the existing street terraces, which are too narrow to support street tree plantings.)

Madison Bikes works to make Madison a city where anyone can ride a bicycle conveniently and comfortably to any place in the city and neighboring communities year round. At the heart of that commitment is a commitment to equity. “Anyone” means people of all ages and abilities. A Winnebago Street that only works for 10% of people that would like to bike is a Winnebago Street that doesn’t work.

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From NACTO’s recently published Designing for All Ages & Abilities: Contextual Guidance for High-Comfort Bicycle Facilities

Please consider coming to the public meeting on Tuesday and voicing your support for Alternative . For anyone unable to attend, please send an email of support for the all ages and abilities design alternative to the following:

Jim Wolfe (Engineering): JWolfe@cityofmadison.com

Christy Bachmann (Engineering): CBachmann@cityofmadison.com

Marsha Rummel (Alder): district6@cityofmadison.com