Re 2: as we know, there are two driveways, and cars exiting via the eastern one (the one next to the Machinery Row building) can't see westbound bikes coming down the Willy St. bike path until the front of their vehicles is already blocking the path. There's really no way to fix this problem, short of knocking out a corner of the building, so I'd like to see that driveway closed to exiting cars -- the other driveway is hardly perfect, but it has a much better view of bike path traffic.
For a while, the east driveway was closed, but the city put up signs warning everybody -- bikers on the path a motorists in the driveway -- to be careful. A nice sentiment, but evidently it hasn't fixed the problem. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mad City Biker" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 5:25:55 PM Subject: Re: [Bikies] Another Cyclist Injured 5/19/10 at Machinery Row Entry/Exit In my opinion, two things would improve this interchange considerably: 1) Bicycle-specific signals that are coordinated with the traffic signals to ensure that only one group is moving through the intersection at any given time 2) Prominent, as in knock-you-upside-the-head-prominent, signage to instruct motor vehicles to stop WELL BEFORE the bike path. I'd estimate that one of every two cars I see there stops only AFTER they've entered and completely blocked the bike path as they're trying to make a right turn onto Willy St. Just my two cents. -MCB From: India Rose Viola <[email protected]> To: Dan Ross <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected] Sent: Fri, May 21, 2010 5:07:27 PM Subject: Re: [Bikies] Another Cyclist Injured 5/19/10 at Machinery Row Entry/Exit Dan, As far as I know, right now cars can legally turn left from both Willy St. and Blair St.- but certainly not safely. If there is any anti-business tone to my posts, they are likely out of frustration that the Machinery Row business owners have not stepped up to push for more to be done to make the entry to their parking lots safer sooner. I find it ironic that one of the hotspots for cyclist-car crashes is in front of a bike shop. That said, I am all for restaurants, bike shops, and other businesses being located next to the Cap City Trail with good bicycle/ped/car/bus access. I don't think that moving the driveways further down the lot would impact the park, but that would definitely be a design issue to consider. -india On 05/21/10, Dan Ross < [email protected] > wrote: > I'm reading some anti-business tone in these postings. (I'm not a > business owner, and I've never owned a car.) Let's be accurate: the > driveway(s!) are for park access, too! > > I walked by that intersection today, and unless I'm mistaken, there > are two driveways there, about what, 30 feet apart?, one hugging the > Machinery Row buildings, the other before the crosswalk across John > Nolen, which join in a common road. > > They both serve not only Machinery Row, but the parking lot for Law > Park (is it still called that?) and its boat launch. They are heavily > used by waterskiers, boaters, hikers, and yes, even people who drive > in with their bikes. > > I agree that the congestion and design there are extremely unfriendly > to bikes and peds--I feel like I'm getting whiplash when I ride across > that stretch, looking around for other vehicles that are not watching. > The design change sounds reasonable, although it may reduce park > parking and increase traffic through the "park". > > I don't know why we need a U-turn/signal for westbound traffic on John > Nolen---I don't think westbound traffic can turn into Machinery Row at > present, can they?--so that would only be > > Here's the Google Maps satellite view, to show the two driveways, the > park and its parking lot and boat launch, and what appears to be a > median along all of John Nolen up to Williamson St. > (Make sure it's all on one line.) > > http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=john+nolen+dr+and+williamson+st,+madison,+wi&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.863178,53.261719&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=John+Nolen+Dr+%26+Williamson+St,+Madison,+Dane,+Wisconsin+53703&ll=43.07542,-89.375668&spn=0.002077,0.003251&t=k&z=18 > > > > --Dan > > On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 3:31 PM, < [email protected] > wrote: > > Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 17:37:55 -0500 > > From: Matt Logan < [email protected] > > > To: India Rose Viola < [email protected] > > > Cc: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [Bikies] Another Cyclist Injured 5/19/10 at Machinery Row > > Entry/Exit > > > > India > > > > ?I second your recommendation! I sent exactly the same recommendation > > (move the entrance for machinery row to further down JN) to Traffic > > Engineering the last time they were evaluating how to improve that > > intersection. I am sure the businesses at machinery row will object to > > the move, but someone needs to ask them how many bicyclists need to be > > injured so their customers can have platinum-level automobile access. > > > > On Thu, 2010-05-20 at 14:50 -0500, India Rose Viola wrote: > >> Yesterday (Wed. May 19, 2010), a bit after 12pm I was biking westbound on > >> the Cap City Trail and saw the very fresh aftermath of YET ANOTHER > >> auto/bike collision at the entryway/exit to Machinery Row. > >> > >> A cyclist was hit by a red pick-up truck that was entering into the > >> parking lot. Because I did not see the crash happen, I don't know which > >> direction either the bike or truck were traveling from, or what > >> specifically precipitated the crash, but what I DO know is that there will > >> continue to be cyclists injured at that driveway entry/exit. > >> > >> When I passed by, the EMT's hadn't shown up yet, but there was a small > >> crowd of folks who had gathered and were using a cell phone to call for > >> help. The truck and bike were still positioned in the middle of the > >> path/driveway intersection where they had collided. The cyclist was > >> sitting down, holding his head, which was bleeding quite profusely. > >> > >> How many "accidents" need to happen in one location before a major design > >> change is initiated?? > >> > >> The Willy/Blair/Wilson/Cap City Trail intersection is already amazingly > >> congested and complex. There should NOT be an auto entry/exit to > >> businesses at Machinery Row on that corner. We need to block off that > >> driveway and make the entry/exit further down on John Nolen. The issue of > >> creating a U-turn and/or signal for westbound auto traffic to turn left > >> off of John Nolen into the lot will need to be worked out. > >> > >> C'mon Madison, let's not wait until there is a death. The blood is already > >> on our hands. > >> > >> -India Viola > >> Cyclist, Pedestrian, Auto Driver, Citizen > >> > >> cc: Mayor Dave Cieslewicz via < > >> http://www.cityofmadison.com/mayor/contactMayor.cfm > > >> > >> "How can we learn from our mistakes if we don't first acknowledge them?" > >> -Anonymous > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org -- India Viola Stretton Lab 115 Zoology Research 1117 W. Johnson St. Madison, WI 53706 608.262.3336 "How can we learn from our mistakes if we don't first acknowledge them?" -Anonymous _______________________________________________ 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
_______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
