Along with Tim's input, I certainly hope that extending the Capital City Trail to the village of Cottage Grove has not been abandoned. I know that property has been purchased from landowners whose property abuts the rail line between Madison and Cottage Grove. I also know that despite ample monetary offers, Union Pacific has refused to sell right-of-way for bike trails within the city of Madison. Is significant right-of-way necessary from Union Pacific to complete the path to Cottage Grove?
--- On Mon, 9/7/09, tim wong <[email protected]> wrote: > From: tim wong <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Bikies] Biking Infrastructure > To: "Larry D. Nelson" <[email protected]> > Cc: "BikiesSubmissions" <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, September 7, 2009, 3:56 PM > Speaking of biking infrastructure, the east > side rail corridor trail is in bad need of > reconstruction/paving between Marquette and, I think, > Tulane. Some short sections were redone this summer, but > the trail seems to be coming apart at the seams. Those > "bumps" where the two seams no longer meet are > really hard on a bike, especially a road bike. The trail > should probably also be widened at least two feet. > > > On 9/7/09, Larry D. Nelson <[email protected]> > wrote: > With the important exceptions of a stronger connection to > the North side and > the Northeast side of the City of Madison, the > infrastructure is largely in > place to offer those in SOV to bike. > > The emphasis now is to connect the system to other > municipalities and there > > are three major projects on the boards to do just that: > > 1. The Lower Yahara Trail, which will connect the > Village of McFarland to > Madison; > > 2. The Cannonball Trail, which will connect Fitchburg > and Verona to Madison > > (and the residents of Madison south of the Beltline > Highway to Madison); > and, > > 3. The paving of the Badger Trail, which will connect > Paoli and Bellville > to Madison. > > In addition to expanding the system, we need to maintain > the current system, > > which was initially laid out in the early 1970s. When > the pavement is > replaced or resurfaced, the corridors are brought up to > current standards > for safety and traffic projections...just like roads. > > What is the range that we can expect most users to > consider for commuter > > biking? Perhaps the maximum is 10-miles, one way. The > SW Trail was measured > last year with 2500 users, which is equivalent to a > collector street. > > Planners for biking infrastructure need to be cognizant > that, while Madison > > may enjoy a growth in population, jobs within Madison may > not be growing. > We, unfortunately, need to await the results of the > decadal census, which we > will not have the results until 2012 but it is likely that > these corridors > > will be used by Madisonians to commute to jobs outside of > the City. > > Fortunately, funding for bike paths has been available > since the 1990 ISTEA > Act. But, a good plan and public support is required to > obtain funding. > > Frankly, one of the challenges of constructing biking > infrastructure is that > veteran bikers often want to compete with cars on > roadways and the people > we want to offer an alternative to the SOV are not aware > of the potential. > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > > > > > -----Inline Attachment Follows----- > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
