I have to agree with Al. The re-do I came back to after a vacation this spring was very disappointing in its lack of creativity and ease of use, at least when traveling between Breeze and the bike path to and from the "East Campus Mall." Relegating cyclists to pedestrian mode simply is counter to reality, and not helpful. There seem to be more crossings, more hazards, and way too much wait time unless you're in a car.
Jeff Schimpff Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Madison, WI 608-267-7853 "Bus, Bike, Carpool to Work for Clean Air for Kids" "Pedestrians and cyclists are the indicator species of a healthier community" -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 4:21 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Bikies] Monroe and Regent Crossing I hate it. I had to check; was this an interim repaving or the "redo" of the intersection that we were hoping for? Sadly, it's the redo. The worst thing about the intersection is that it has too many moving parts. The two most egregious are the two slip lanes parallel to each other on the north side of the intersection. Traffic going eastbound from Regent Street turning left to go northeast on Monroe Street still cross westbound Regent Street traffic to get to the left turn lane. I can't think of anywhere else that we have a configuration like this. Traffic going westbound from Monroe Street heading southwest turning right onto Regent Street westbound have a slip lane - Little Street - that goes all the way from outbound Monroe to the edge of Breeze Terrace. The latter slip lane amounts to a freeway on ramp for cars from Monroe Street to blow past bicyclists or cars on the right, if those bicyclists or cars are continuing westbound on Regent. The eastbound turn lane puts cars in an awkward spot where they are crossing traffic in the middle of the block between Breeze and Monroe. To the extent that bicyclists are quasi-pedestrians, the redo has big marked crosswalks and little bicycle images on the walk/don't walk signs. So it "accomodates" bicyclists by downgrading them to crossing intersections in crosswalks. For big boys and girls who ride in the street, it's a hellish mess. Al Matano > I, for one, am very pleased with the way that the bike crossing at > Monroe and Regent Streets turned out. > > I remember reading about all the various more complicated, and > presumable expensive proposals (bridge? Tunnel underpass?). > > Now, how can we promote the new layout and direct other bicyclists > from crossing Monroe over to Hotel Red? > > When they do that, there's a potential dangerous conflict with all the > inbound cars that want to turn onto eastbound Monroe. > > It would be good to get our fellow cyclists using the new crossing(s) > before the next semester move-in. > > > > I saw that our former mayor wrote about this project as "a good > example of things we need to do all over our city." > > > > http://www.thedailypage.com/citizendave/article.php?article=34115# > <http://www.thedailypage.com/citizendave/article.php?article=34115> > > > > By the way, does the upcoming effort by the city to manage street > vendors near Camp Randall involve keeping the path open on football Saturdays? > > > > Tom > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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
