Joe,
It is not just a delay of funding, nor worry about problems we will never have.
Most likely $1 million would have to be reimbursed to the WISDOT for the design study
already completed and another $1 million spent to do another design that may not fit
in the width of the existing right-of-way. This is money the city really doesn't have
right now considering that basic services may well be cut in the next few years.
> Is it really true that we can't have a grand entrance to > Madison, a healthier
> neighborhood, and transportation
> sense because we are unwilling to wait for another round > of funding? This seems
> like too much worry and
> we all know what worry is. Worry is the price you pay
> for problems you may never have.
It might be argued that we can just reapply and wait for another round of funding
in the future. However, there is no guarantee of this because as I said, funding is
competitive. Also, more is being done than just reconstructing the street in segment
one. The sanitary sewer is being replaced as well. This cannot wait until new
funding is obtained. Thus, you incur the cost and disruption to the neighborhoods of
ripping up the street twice.
It is also important to remember that the mayors plan is just a concept; there
are no detailed plans. That is why a new design at City expense would be required.
In addition to seeing if such a design could be made to fit in the right-of-way, there
are important operational issues such as how the intersections would function with
this design.
> Bulb outs are often good for pedestrians and bad for
> cyclists.
The bulb outs would extend into the parking lane, not the bike lane.
> Bike lanes are not needed if the slow lane is wide enough.
>
> While we might like bike lanes because they visibly
> encourage bicycle traffic, we should not forget that the
> measurable safety benefit is negligible at best.
The mayor was contemplating eliminating the bike lanes to decrease the overall
width of his proposal so there would not be an extra wide slow lane if the bike lanes
were eliminated.
Finally, if this design concept cannot be implemented for East Washington Avenue,
it could still be brought back for other arterials in the city such as University
Avenue. I think we will see this plan again.
Mark Shahan
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