On my way home last night, my habit took me right to the intersection of North Shore Drive and John Nolen Drive, and it seemed to be the case that many, many other cyclists (and pedestrians) found themselves in the same situation. (Assuming they knew about the closure, which I would bet most did not.) Many chose to ride around the barriers and through the construction site. I actually chose to backtrack to Bedford St. in order to see what it would be like to detour through downtown. With the contraflow lanes in place on Main and Doty Streets, it really isn’t too bad, though the hill appears to be a challenge for cyclists who aren’t used to climbing it.
I didn’t have a camera last night, but I brought one this morning and visited the site again, on purpose this time. Please find the photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mababo/sets/72157652015951700 The three or four cyclists I talked to claimed to have no idea that the path was going to be closed until they arrived at the site. Seems plausible to me, given that I can’t recall any mention of it in local media and could not find any mention on local web sites, save one tweet from the city, dated April 30. Though the barrier configuration at John Nolen and North Shore may now be correct, there is still a glaring lack of advance signage where opportunities exist to detour via streets. Lacking a formal detour, this seems the least the city could have done to help cyclists avoid riding through a construction zone. Speaking of formal detours, it would be very interesting to hear what was behind the decision to not bother with one. Was it cost? Some other lack of resources? While the short timeline and challenging location of this project may be obvious factors, anyone who knows anything about human behavior should have been able to see this coming. Also, what about the people who may not be familiar with Madison’s unusual downtown traffic grid? Wilson Street’s east-to-west one-way section would seem to me an obvious barrier to any out-of-towner’s eastbound roll-your-own detour effort. My hope is that a better plan will be in place when the section of path between the Monona Terrace and Blair St. is reconstructed. Best regards, Michael Lemberger Madison ----------- Grant wrote: "I hope there's some opportunity to enhance the signage and direction for users." Tue, 5 May 2015 Grant Foster wrote: Thanks, Tony. There are a few other issues that really need to be looked at as well. I came in from the eastside and had no warning of the closure until getting to the end of the terrace. Users are forced to turn around there and double back as well. We really need signs up at the elevator/path and/or at Willy/Wilson/path to let users know that an alternate route will be required before they go too far. I also agree with the need for postings up on North Shore path at SW crossing and/or at Bedford/path for eastbound traffic. Without such, users are going to go all the way down to Nolen before figuring out that there's a closure. I'm also disappointed in the decision to not mark a formal detour. I understand the complexity of the task and that a formal detour route may not be the best alternate route for all users, but this is one of our highest traffic bikeways and many users may really struggle knowing how to navigate capitol hill to get around the closure. I would have hoped for at least one primary marked detour to help users navigate and reinforce the closure. Good luck with the project and I hope there's some opportunity to enhance the signage and direction for users. _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
