I was out of the office all last week, and did not receive the email below until today.
The official word from Transportation Services is: "Beginning Monday, June 18, 2012 and lasting approximately 3 weeks, concrete repairs will close the east-bound lane of Linden Drive between Charter Street and Babcock Drive." Actually, concrete work will alternately (but not simultaneously) close one lane or the other during the repairs, but regardless of which side of the street is passable, traffic will only be permitted in the westbound direction. Linden is often congested in that area when there is not construction, so congestion is virtually assured during these repairs. That alone will probably mean that cyclists who cannot avoid the area will be tempted to use the sidewalks (since through access for pedestrians will be maintained). I would suggest that anyone who can avoid the area do so, and if you can't, park your bike outside the congested area and walk to your destination. The road has to be repaired sometime. And the concrete repairs are just the beginning; my understanding is that soon after the concrete repairs are done, the asphalt will be resurfaced (or possibly even reconstructed) and the situation will not improve much for most of the summer. Chuck Strawser Pedestrian & Bicycle Transportation Planner Commuter Solutions Transportation Services UW-Madison Room 124 WARF 610 Walnut St Madison WI 53726 608-263-2969 www.wisc.edu/trans From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Robbie Webber Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 5:33 PM To: Bikies Subject: [Bikies] Linden Dr to be closed to eastbound traffic June 18 Maybe Chuck can fill us in a bit on this. Madison.com is reporting that Linden Dr between Babcock and Charter will be closed to eastbound traffic for two weeks starting June 18. It says the detour is Observatory Dr. http://host.madison.com/news/local/closures-coming-to-uw-s-linden-drive/artic le_bdc3c990-b4be-11e1-a07f-001a4bcf887a.html Fortunately, we bicyclists can also take the lakeshore path, because Observatory is sort of a pain in the rear (or knees as the case may be) when one is hauling heavy commuting/work stuff on one's bike. However, I don't suggest that if your destination in ON Linden or Charter, because that climb over the hill to transition from the lake to Linden is a bear. (Say the woman who works in Social Sciences and makes a partial climb every morning.) The counterflow lane on University is also rather inconvenient if you have to cross University Ave twice just to go a few blocks. Not sure what people who work on Linden in this stretch are going to do if they are coming from the west. The article does say that pedestrian traffic will not be affected. Wonder how many bicyclists will just take to the sidewalk to avoid a hilly or long detour. Robbie Webber Transportation Policy Analyst State Smart Transportation Initiative www.ssti.us <http://www.ssti.us> 608-263-9984 (o) [email protected]
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