I did a tour of "Madison Bike Racks in Winter" a few years ago and there is an amazing correlation between bike racks and snow dumping grounds. My opinion is that this is the result of poor placement of the bike racks.
The companies that are contracted for snow removal only care about one thing: Clearing the area as fast as possible. That means choosing a clearing pattern that runs the longest length of the lot, with as few passes as possible. In most cases, bike racks in Madison are placed in such a way as to hinder the most efficient method of snow removal - so they end up being where the snow is dumped. Bike racks could just as easily be placed in such a way as to benefit from snow removal - but this takes a lot more foresight. A quick summary of my recommendations: 1) If possible, pick locations in close proximity to pedestrian walkways that are going to be cleared in winter. The best example I found were the pole-style racks and the United Way building on Atwood. Not only were they adjacent to the sidewalk, but the pole design allows snow-blowers easy access, and that means they get cleared with minimal effort. 2) If possible, place bike racks on a surface elevated from the remainder of the lot (with a nice ramp leading into it). None of the elevated areas I ran across suffered from snow dumping. Many were not cleared at all, but this is better than being a dumping ground. An example of this: the WPS building near the 51/30 intersection. 3) If you must place a bike rack away from ped areas and at lot-level, place the rack parallel to the obvious snow removal path. This will at least allow most of the rack area to be cleared by the plows. 3a) Bad Example: the racks at the Camelot shopping area (Einstein bagels). They are placed right at the long end of the lot facing the opposing side, meaning the plows are going to be pushing the snow right into the racks. 3b) How to fix it: Rotate the rack 90 degrees and move it to one of the adjacent corners. This allows the snow plows to clear part of the parking area not obstructed by the rack. I'd love to see these guidelines incorporated into the zoning code. I'd also love to see the Zoning Administrator actually enforce them (and all the other ordinances they currently ignore) > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > If anyone's riding around with a digital camera or one of those camera phones, and wants to take a picture of where Madison is letting bicyclists _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
