At 11:33 AM 11/16/2005, Michael Rewey wrote:
A reminder that there is a Badger State Trail Open House tonight in
Oak Hall at the Fitchburg Community Center, 5520 Lacy Road from
6 to 8 p.m. [snip]
according to the DNR website:
http://dnr.wi.gov/master_planning/badgertrail/ the Open House tonight will
take place at 3911 Fish Hatchery Rd, but perhaps Dana can confirm that.
Thanks for the reminder, Mike.
[snip] It seems like every state I go to - Florida, Ohio,
Iowa, Minnesota - there are no trail fees. Why can't we do that in
Wisconsin? At a minimum find local governments or non-profits
that will maintain without charging a fee. Fitchburg would be a an
excellent candidate for the hopefully paved section that lies within
the corporate limits.
I have looked at the Wisconsin state statutes and the DNR
administrative code and find that while there is a mechanism to
allow for an admittance fee for vehicles, it is not a requirement.
State Parks are individually listed by name in the code, trails are
not. Let's take a serious look at the trail fee. Wisconsin is losing
its early edge as a trail leader to other states that do not charge.
Perhaps for starters do not collect fees in urbanized areas.
In many cases, the DNR does not maintain State Trails, the local
municipality maintains them, and the DNR allows the local municipality to
decide whether to require a State Trail pass. The City of Madison has
decided not to require a State Trail pass for the portions of State Trail
within their jurisdiction that they maintain. Conversely, Dane County DOES
require a State Trail pass for the parts of the Capital City State Trail
that they maintain, which is essentially every part of it outside the City
of Madison, despite the best efforts of local advocates to suggest that it
is extremely short sighted to discourage bicycling by requiring tolls for
bicycle roads (trails) while simultaneously encouraging driving by not
requiring tolls for cars. I believe Dane County Park's policy decision was
more or less pushed through the Dane Co Parks board by then director Ken
LePine's assertion that the state trail pass was necessary to fund
maintenance of the path. But several advocates questioned the amount of
money Ken claimed was necessary to maintain the path (NOTE: "Maintenance of
the path does NOT include plowing the path in winter, even though a bonded,
licensed contractor for the county had offered on several occasions to do
it for FREE, but that's another discussion). And even if Ken's numbers were
in the right ballpark, it was/is the contention of many advocates that the
$20-25k annually he claimed was required should come from the Dane Co
Highway dept budget, since that figure represents the costs to fill a few
potholes. We advocates were successful enough that Dane Co finally
"compromised" by agreeing to subsidize (from the Highway dept budget) state
trail passes for anyone who signs an affidavit that they use the Cap City
Trail for commuting. (a link to a pdf of the affidavit can be found here:
http://www.countyofdane.com/lwrd/parks/bicyclists.asp )
While I am glad that Dane Co has compromised somewhat, I still think it is
inequitable to require bicyclists to pay a toll for using a (nonmotorized)
road built with transportation funds, while simultaneously encouraging
motorists to drive by not requiring a toll for the use of county roads that
allow motorized vehicles. As an added insult, the affidavit asks where one
is traveling to and from, which, IMHO, is none of their business. No one at
the DMV asks me where I'm going when I got/renewed my driver's license.
Besides, I used to buy a state trail pass every year anyway, so that I
could do things like bike and cross country ski at places like Blue Mound
State Park (and I'm happy to pay for that, since those are clearly
recreation, not transportation, facilities). But now Dane co Highway
subsidizes my state trail pass every year since I often use the Cap City
State Trail for commuting. So Dane County has gone from getting 70% of what
I pay for a state trail to paying the State for the pass. Seems like not
requiring the pass would actually be more economical than subsidizing
enough of them, especially given alternatives like the one's you suggest,
Mike, or one Robbie suggested years ago - put a voluntary donation box at
the trailheads instead of making it mandatory and spending (the DNR's)
money enforcing it (I never see County employees enforcing the pass - it's
always DNR employees)
Perhaps Darren Marsh, who replaced Ken as Director of Dane Co Parks, would
reconsider the decision to require a state trail pass, and perhaps discuss
with the Dane Co Transportation (Highway) dept the possibility of a
Transportation corridor being maintained from the Transportation dept's
budget. What do you think, Mr. Marsh?
thanks,
chuck
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