Josh, The UW (whose responsibility it is to maintain the Campus Drive Path and Highland Ave north of the RR tracks) and the City (in whose jurisdiction lies the traffic signal that currently controls the intersection of Campus Drive and Highland, and all of Highland south of the RR tracks) are investigating, with the consultants for the Highland Drive reconstruction project, the feasibility of a bike specific signal head at the Campus Drive crossing, or at least changes to the traffic signal so that it is clear to path users when it is safe(r) to proceed across Highland Ave (currently path users can only tell when southbound traffic on Highland Ave has a red, but can’t see the signals for northbound traffic on Highland – and NB and SB traffic on Highland often do not have simultaneous red lights in the current signal timing).
I’ve asked for this for years, but it’s only recently been seriously discussed when the advent of the Highland Ave reconstruction. Any changes to the current signal timing and/or addition of bike specific signal heads for path users will be in addition to planned improvements to the crossing itself – namely making the refuge island in the middle longer (so that, for example, when I take my kid in a trailer to University Station I don’t have to decide whether my front wheel or the trailer is going to hang out into traffic while I wait in the middle to finish crossing Highland), and also the standard green with pavement markings that the city is using elsewhere in high conflict areas (see e.g. the university ave contraflow lane at Randall Ave). I think that one or both curbs may be bumped out a bit, but I can’t remember if that improvement survived the design process (and don’t know yet whether it will survive the actual construction process). A grade separation (bridge) would be ideal, of course, but would most likely require acquiring right of way from the federal government (either the VA and/or Forest Service Products) even just to get across Highland, but certainly to also provide a connection from a grade separated path to Highland (believe it or not, some cyclists actually get on or off the path at Highland Ave. I believe those right of way issues are why there is only the connection from the Campus Drive Path to Walnut on the east side of Walnut – a connection on the west side of Walnut would be on federal land. I’ll keep you posted, but if you ride the Campus Dr Path daily, you’ll probably see the improvements almost as soon as I know about them. 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 Josh Mayer Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 11:07 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Bikies] Lakeshore path closure Univ/Farley is not really an intersection I'd feel excited about trying to cross. With all the left-turn traffic there, I've always felt it was a pedestrian/cyclist fatality waiting to happen. The Highland/Campus Dr intersection has always been a disaster. I have ridden through there for 5 years now and still don't know who has the right-of-way and when. I've written everyone I could think of at some time or another and nothing has changed there. There really ought to be a bridge just as there it at Walnut. I'd argue that if only one bridge was financially feasible it should have gone at Highland due to its higher traffic volume, though there would need to be some grading done there. But short of that, there ought to be a walk signal or maybe one of those fancy bike signals to let the ramp traffic know there is a bike crossing there. Instead we get cars slamming on their brakes and constant glares. As for Kendall vs Old Univ, I've taken both on occasion and prefer Old U due to the lack of stop signs and speed tables and the off-kilter intersection of Kendall at Highland. ________________________________ From: "Schimpff, Jeff A - DNR" <[email protected]> To: Josh Mayer <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 10:37 AM Subject: RE: [Bikies] Lakeshore path closure Hmmm – While crossing University Avenue at Farley can be a bit of a pain, I wonder if some riders might prefer doing that and riding Kendall to avoid the Highland mess. It’s been markedly more peaceful since the closure to east-bound cut-through car traffic and the bike boulevard markings were added. People heading for campus can cross back on the Ashman bridge, taking Princeton down to Old U. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Josh Mayer Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 10:03 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Bikies] Lakeshore path closure Where the Campus Dr bike path crosses Highland is a huge mess too with no signs warning approaching cyclists or any detour. The SB lanes of Highland are closed meaning there is 2-way traffic in the original NB lanes. Cyclists cannot proceed directly through the traffic island as we used to. Most have been proceeding around the north side of the island, squeezing between the island and the stopped cars, then across some gravel (fun for a road bike!) to the other side. Cars ought to have to stop further back to allow freer movement of bikes through there. Plus a little warning/detour would be nice BEFORE you get to the problem area. ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 9:35 AM Subject: Re: [Bikies] Lakeshore path closure A section of the SW path was closed this morning. No warning. No detour. No problem! Obviously bikes are a superior form of transportation that are immune to such minor details. Quoting Mary Ebeling <[email protected]>: > I probably missed an email about this, but this morning there was a huge > job box and a big honking crane - not a winged version - and a > construction crew blocking the entrance to the lakeshore path. Right as you > go down the hill towards Limnology. Did not get any information on how long > it will be there. > > There was no advance warning. No sign. Just some caution tape at the > entrance. > > Anybody know anything about this? > > > Mary > -- darin burleigh _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
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