While I agree with Dave's sentiments below, I guess I am a bit confused by part of the original message. This part:
"Work may take up to several days to complete. Trail patrons may want to use alternative routes while maintenance activities are taking place." If I understand the area where maintenance will be taking place, it involves a pretty long length - about 9 miles, almost the entire length south of the Beltline. If one looks at a map, there are virtually no alternatives that allow bikes, since the Beltline is off limits, and most other roads do not go through. This is especially true in the area between South Towne Dr and Fish Hatchery Rd. Since, as Dave points out, many bicyclists use the Cap City Trail for commuting and other transportation purposes, where, exactly are the alternatives routes that can be used? If the maintenance will be closing the trail, will there be detour signs? That would be the normal process when a significant [auto] road is closed. Perhaps these detours could be posted ahead of time. Also, perhaps they could be published in the paper, as not all bicycle commuters read this email list. As an aside, closing this route would be slightly less of a problem if there was a way to get across the Beltline between Fish Hatchery and Rimrock Rd, say an overpass connecting the two halves of Perry St? This would allow bicyclists to use the smaller streets to the north and south of the Beltline without being dumped onto Fish Hatchery or Rimrock, both rather unfriendly Beltline crossings. (Long time Bikies subscribers will recognize the Perry St Overpass as a City of Madison project that was planned and funded, but failed to be built. Many people in both Madison and Fitchburg - including many business and political leaders - have pushed for this project to be resurrected. It is requested every year during public hearings, but certain political obstacles keep it from being built. A little bit of the history can be found in a blog post I wrote earlier this spring: http://bit.ly/otzo72 ) Robbie Webber On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 1:37 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello Deb Flanders: > Many of us bicyclists are very glad to hear of the maintenance schedule. We > have made choices to ride bikes on the trail not just for health and > pleasure, but also as commuters, and to make short-trip journeys that we > might make otherwise by car. A fair number of us also ride throughout the > winter, when rough trails would be especially difficult to ride on. So, we > are saving the city road repair costs that our cars would otherwise > contribute to, contributing less to air pollution, and maintaining our > health. The city and the public should be interested and pleased with your > and our joint efforts!**** > > Thanks.**** > > Dave Minden**** > > ** >
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