One section of road crying out to become a bicycle boulevard is the 1100-1300 blocks of East Wilson St. This is where the east rail corridor bike path joins East Wilson for three blocks. The problem here, as usual, is motorists, who perceive that they are saving a few seconds by taking East Wilson between Ingersoll and Baldwin. I suspect the time savings is non-existent, but the speeding cars on East Wilson, especially the 1100 and 1200 blocks, are very problematic for bike path users, especially in winter, when they ice down fresh snow and do not share the road (due to their huge size) well with bikes. I know Arthur has several ideas for how to calm this stretch of road (a bike tour several years ago when Central Park was first conceived), but nothing has happened to date. With this mammoth apartment building going up at the corner of Ingersoll and Wilson, we need to prevent through traffic from going down this stretch.
Also, I suspect Spaight St. is a better bike boulevard than Jenifer, because of both the buses and the number of neighborhood commuters who turn off of Williamson at Livingston and roar down Jenifer to Baldwin or the river. Spaight has the same problem as Jenifer with neighborhood traffic looking for a "short cut," but is one block farther from Williamson, so not as busy. "It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong."--Voltaire (1694-1778) Direct Cost of U.S. War and Occupation of Iraq $496,885,238,875 >>> Mitch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 3/5/2008 12:08 AM >>> Madison has a number of "naturally-occurring bike boulevards." I think Jenifer St. and E. Mifflin Streets could be described that way on the Isthmus, and the Breese Terrace - Oakland Ave. - Mound St. chain near campus might also work as a bike boulevard, with a few modifications. I think it would be nice to see a bike boulevard on E. Mifflin (or perhaps E. Dayton) from North Ave to the Square. This would require a connecting path at the river and some fancy footwork at East High, but it would be very useful in an area that has less bike access than it should. Are there any other potential bike boulevards that people would like to add to the wish list? On Mar 4, 2008, at 2:46 PM, Ross, Arthur wrote: > There are several benefits of bicycle boulevards. The main one > being that they provide a similar experience for the bicyclist as a > bike path and thus serve as an incentive to get more people on > bikes more often. There is not space - right of way corridors > independent of existing streets - in all parts of the city for bike > paths. Bicycle boulevards are an option in these areas. In most > areas with grid street networks, you have to stop every block or > two when bicycling on the minor streets. Well designed bicycle > boulevards eliminate many of these stops with traffic calming > techniques while at the same time not encouraging increased motor > vehicle traffic on those streets. Another problem with bicycling > on the minor streets even in a grid network is that when you get to > a major street there is generally not a traffic signal so crossing > the major street can be difficult. Well designed bicycle > boulevards include ways to make these crossings easier and safer. > In areas without a grid street network, like much of Madison > outside the isthmus and near east and west sides, creating > neighborhood connector paths to complete the grid and allow through > bicycle traffic other than along the arterials is important. But > even with a good grid, through bicycle travel off the major streets > can be difficult. I have ridden bicycle boulevards in Portland and > Berkeley, haven't made it to Palo Alto yet (birthplace of the > bicycle boulevard). Portland's were impressive. I would be glad to > organize a field trip if there is interest. > > Minneapolis is about to install several bicycle boulevards as part > of their non-motorized transportation pilot project. > See http://www.tlcminnesota.org/Resources/NTP%20Program/bwtc.html > > Arthur Ross, Pedestrian-Bicycle Coordinator > City of Madison Traffic Engineering Division > 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Suite 100 > PO Box 2986 > Madison, WI 53701-2986 > 608/266-6225 > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
