Hello all! Hope you've had a great summer! I'm reaching out because Monona is preparing to redo the southern leg of Winnequah Road from Maywood to Bridge Road. The first public meeting was held on 7/22. Only the people who live on that stretch were alerted to the meeting however. Now design is set to be determined after the 9/22 public works meeting and solidified at the October meeting. Other ideas like a bike boulevard or a one way street are not really being considered. This street was reconstructed just 15 years ago so many residents want to make sure we do it right this time.
I'm reaching out to see if you might be interested in speaking at the 9/22 public works meeting. This stretch of road impacts potentially thousands of Monona residents and tens of thousands of people in Dane County who ride the Lake Loop. It's imperative that we do proper planning and data collection for safety reasons. People want to see a one way for motorized traffic tested out for a few weeks. Staff says no and that it won't work. But there is no data that tells us that it won't work. I should tell you that right now the plan that is being put forth is for a sidewalk on the east side of the street. It will result in many large trees being cut down and will change the entire corridor. While a sidewalk would be wonderful, I think this could be done in a way with a bike boulevard design with a ped path on between the bike lane and vehicular traffic so trees do not have to be cut. The sidewalk results in 10-12' being cleared on the east side of the street. Residents there are vehemently opposed to this idea because of the loss of their large trees and shade canopy. Last weekend, I did bike/ped counts on that stretch and it was the first time that's been done for any street in Monona. My data for the two hour period showed an average of 82 bikes per hour and 7 joggers on the lake side of the street (west side) so likely jogging the Lake Loop. 82 bikes per hour is about 960 a day. My counts were in the afternoon and the residents told me the traffic is much higher in the mornings so it's likely over 1,000/day. I hope to get out there to do one more stint this weekend. People want the idea of declaring it a bike boulevard to be a part of this discussion. It has not really been considered. It was presented at the 7/22 public meeting as an idea that wasn't really viable. I and many others think that we should also push for encouraging bike traffic to go clockwise to create more predictability and organization on the street. That also has not been discussed but seems like it could be an important part of the discussion. Please let me know if you or someone else might be willing to make a statement at the meeting. Ultimately, what we're hoping for is to slow this process down, increase public engagement, consider other options like a bike boulevard, and consider a design that minimizes tree removal. Emailed statements are not read aloud here in Monona. I would imagine it will be a hybrid style meeting on 9/22 at 6:30pm and you would have to be present to be heard. Here is the presentation from the July PIM - http://mymonona.com/DocumentCenter/View/11591 <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmymonona.com%2FDocumentCenter%2FView%2F11591&data=04%7C01%7Crwickhem%40madisoncollege.edu%7Cf24538f9d26c4579e53b08d9630ff80c%7C33f001466fcc49e9b5687896b3069d44%7C0%7C0%7C637649742547166759%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=4UhZxeyexA4KbikhvBjD%2FCi97mhUkTe%2B%2FlM8CWdjlEI%3D&reserved=0> *Here is the link to our Public Works meeting schedule. The 9/22 meeting is not yet posted.* https://www.mymonona.com/383/Public-Works-Committee In 2018, we had an Ad Hoc Bike Ped committee work with Strand to create a report. All of the data that is being used (traffic counts) are from this document. https://www.mymonona.com/1240/Ad-Hoc-Pedestrian-and-Bicycle-Committee Please feel free to call me at the number below if you would like to discuss this. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your consideration in helping make this stretch of roadway safer for all, Kristie -- Kristie Goforth*, *Executive Director Free Bikes 4 Kidz Madison <https://fb4kmadison.org/> (608) 444-8641 [email protected] PO Box 6594 Madison, WI 53716 Follow us on Facebook! <https://www.facebook.com/freebikesmadison/>
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