With all due respect to John Coleman who advocated the "Missing Link" I agree with Larry Nelson. Keep it the Southwest Path. The current logical termini of the path are Monona Bay and the Capital City Trail. Keep it simple - use only one name for the entire length - the Southwest Path.
If the Badger Trail is ever built - and paved thru Fitchburg, we might take another look then at the Path name. A little bit of history on the "Missing Link". Back in about 1992 Richard Black of the WisDOT Bureau of Rails and Harbors drew up plans for a bike path along the RR line from Monona Bay to Middleton. Richard was not a bike advocate, but a saw a benefit to the railroad. It was a means to control the random and often unsafe pedestrian crossings of the railroad, especially in the UW campus area. It was also a mechanism to control encroachments and illegal parking. Larry Nelson and city had the "Missing Link" in their plans for almost the same length of time. In fact they had already made a strong commitment when the Park Street RR overpass was built. The abutments were constructed to accommodate a future bike path. The only substructure work that had to be done this Summer was the center pier. In other words it was in their plans and construction timetable. Two things helped move it up in the timetable. 1) Blackhawk Bike Path. Although this project took years to develop, it laid the groundwork for future shared used RR corridors. The railroad and the Bureau of Rails and Harbors finally realized that increased liability was not a reality, users stayed on the path and off the rails and the corridor was actually more organized and safe. 2) John Coleman's Advocacy. Many of the Paths in Madison have been built or were more easily built because there were champions. This is one of them. Unfortunately it may have delayed other projects because of city budget constraints. Nevertheless completing a downtown core is a tremendous benefit to Madison biking. Now back to the naming - keep it the Southwest Path. Thanks. Michael Rewey [EMAIL PROTECTED] "So many roads, So little time..." _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
