At 11:33 AM 6/15/2006, Arthur Ross forwarded:
>From the week of June 19, 2006, Findorff & Son Inc. will begin to occupy
part of surrounding streets to facilitate the University Square
Reconstruction Project. The following streets will be impacted:
[snip]
* East bound bicyclists will share the North restricted lane with
buses.
* The three regular West bound traffic lanes will be shifted one
lane North.
* The East bound bike lane will be shifted one lane North,
protected by appropriate concrete barriers.
* The South side sidewalk will be closed, but the North side
sidewalk will remain open at all times.
* New traffic signals were installed at University Avenue and
Murray Mall to help facilitate pedestrian crossings and traffic.
[snip]
Arthur, et al., two comments:
1) Presumably, the email should read "*west-bound* bicyclists will share
the North restricted lane with buses."
2) delivery trucks and construction vehicles routinely (and with impunity)
block the current north bus lane, forcing buses around them into the
current bike lane. if delivery trucks and construction vehicles continue to
be allowed to do that for the next 18 months, then neither buses nor
west-bound bicycles will be able to travel along University Ave. Therefore
it is imperative for Madison PD to actually enforce the rules against
parking ANY vehicle in the north "restricted" lane, or the whole traffic
plan is untenable for two of the four modes using University Avenue.
So I really hope that Traffic Engineering, City Engineering, and the
Mayor's office emphasize the importance of enforcement activities that
Madison PD officers seem to generally view as trivial (despite the fact
that "traffic" is routinely cited by city residents and neighborhood
associations as among their highest concerns.
I brought this up at a recent meeting of the City's Ped/Bike/MV commission
meeting, and Traffic Engineering staff agreed that enforcing the no parking
restrictions would be critical to the success of the traffic plan. But City
Engineering's handling of the recent closure of E Wilson St leaves me
apprehensive about how well University Ave will accommodate bicyclists and
transit users during University Square's construction.
Thanks,
Chuck Strawser
Madison Project Coordinator
Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin
106 E. Doty Street, Suite 400
Madison, WI 53703
voice: 608-251-4456
fax: 608-251-4594
www.bfw.org
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