When the full redesign of the intersection was being discussed, I went to some of the meetings. The project never actually happened because the stakeholders couldn't agree on a design.
One of the biggest issues, as I recall, was the future of Little Street. The University wanted to get rid of the street to build a new plaza at that corner with sculpture (hopefully not like what they put at the Breese Terrace corner) and a re-graded approach to the Fieldhouse. But a lot of others wanted to keep Little Street, and some of them -- perhaps surprisingly -- were bike advocates. I was one of the people who wanted to get rid of the flying right turn, but I can understand the other side's reasoning. Little Street creates conflicts for bikers heading southwest on Monroe St., but it keeps the right-turning cars from getting in the way of bikes coming down the path. If the flying right is gone, cars will turn on green, right in front of the bikes crossing Regent (also on green). I guess my preference would be to remove Little Street to protect Monroe St. bikers, and use signal changes (or whatever) to manage the rise to the Southwest Path bikers. But it's still a trade-off, and there are two sides to the argument. (Also, as a neighbor, I think a plaza in front of the Fieldhouse would be a nice improvement -- though that might depend on the sculpture. But that's not really a discussion for the bikies list.) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Evans" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2011 3:46:26 PM Subject: Re: [Bikies] Monroe and Regent Crossing I agree I pass through here multiple times each day The better marking, wider separate bike/ped access make it a pleasure to roll through. I don't even consider crossing to the Red Motel. It's easier and more pleasant to just wait for the light and cross to the wider island. The turn slots off Monroe to WB Regent and the left from Regent to Monroe... nnnh how else are they going to deal with that? As a driver and biker I have no problem with them... just keep my distance. Around town, I still think the 'flying right turns' should be eliminated. Bad for Peds and cyclists West Bound John Nolen from North Shore John Nolen to Willy St Even the right turn arrow from Monroe to east bound Regent is harrowing. just my two cents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:49:19 -0500 From: Kevin Luecke <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Bikies] Monroe and Regent Crossing Message-ID: <cajbhdmcwbsxdu7gxaynkmc8xvtivxtbonjqfpcqmnoqafxw...@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hello All. A few comments on the intersection as I understand it: - This "re-do" of the intersection is a relatively quick and easy fix for many of the bike problems until the intersection is actually rebuilt. Given that we are a number of years off (and millions of dollars) from a complete rebuild, the city's fix solves many of the conflicts there. - As has been pointed out, the majority of bike traffic passing through the intersection is on the path - it makes sense to make that route as simple and clear as possible, which I think the city has largely done. The green paint that will be going down shortly will also help out. - The intersection is still challenging for those in the street. I think some bike boxes could help out, particularly for people headed north on Monroe. Overall, I think this came out pretty well. The city has been listening to concerns of bicyclists, and took an interim action here that addresses many of the concerns in a relatively inexpensive manner. Hopefully bikes and peds will be even better served when the intersection is eventually rebuilt, but this is a nice fix in the mean time. Kevin -- Follow Wheels for Winners on FACEBOOK Read the Bike Wisconsin BLOG _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
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