Fellow Bikies,
At the moment there are no specific plans for Old Middleton Road. I have
asked city Engineering to develop several alternatives, ranging from
full urban cross-section to repave it as-is to something in between.
Once preliminary plans are available, I will hold a neighborhood meeting
to present them and solicit input.
Robbie makes a good point that there are some big challenges to building
consensus on a plan, both in terms of the terrain and the neighbors, and
those challenges have thwarted previous attempts at moving forward,
which is why the street has been allowed to deteriorate so far.
Balancing everybody's needs is impossible, so there will need to be
compromises. I am looking forward to those challenges and will keep
bikies informed.
Mark C.
On 11/23/2008 5:48 PM Robbie Webber wrote:
Mark should already be aware of this, but others probably should know
this as well.
The current plan for Old Middleton Rd is to have bike lanes only "on
the uphill sections."
What does that mean?
As you are riding east or west between Capital Ave and Middleton city
limits, there are areas where you are riding uphill, and presumably
9much) slower than motorized traffic, and areas where you are riding
downhill, and at the speed of car traffic or with less of a speed
differential. The plan is to only have bike lanes on the areas where
you are riding up hill. That means the bike lanes will disappear, and
you will have to share the lane with motorized traffic.
I will note that the design of Old Middleton Rd has been quite
controversial for many years, and no city committee ever came to an
agreement about the design when it was reconstructed. There was
general agreement at all committees that bike lanes were needed on
both sides, especially because there are also no sidewalks, so the
bike lanes are expected to function as pedestrian areas as well. The
problem has always been the landscaping/trees/shrubs that are in the
public right of way and the fact that the folks living along Old
Middleton do not want to lose their buffer with the street.
So, yes, Old Middleton will be reconstructed in 2009, but I suspect
that the bicyclists will not be especially happy with the result.
There will still be inadequate pedestrian and bicycle accommodations
along this important connector, but the road surface will be
considerably smoother. Unfortunately, that will probably also mean
drivers will feel more comfortable going faster.
Comments from Mark?
Robbie
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