Published by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance of Dane County.
Click here for the October, 1995 issue of Spoke-N Word.
by Michael D. Barrett
The county-wide Visions 2020 planning process is gearing up in the region and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance intends to engage it by communicating-- through this newsletter and other means-- that we intend to keep this county bikeable, both in and outside urban areas. In the past two decades, area bicyclists have lost significant cycling territory to suburban sprawl. The past losses will pale in comparison to the losses we face if sprawl continues unabated.
Sprawl is merely the imposition of outrageous distances between destinations. Its chief cause is over-accommodation of automotive space and speed. When distances are stretched so as to be unwalkable, unbikeable and unbussable, living conditions invariably go down for the community as a whole as the well-wheeled drive wedges between themselves and the less-well-wheeled. It is not in the best interests of bicycle transportation advocates to have "distance wedges" put between themselves and their destinations. This issue of the Spoke'n Word addresses sprawl from several perspectives; Scott Rose reports on a recent Regional Planning Commission transportation forum; guest contributor Todd Litman provides a dollar for dollar cost/benefit analysis of the automobile/sprawl subsidy; and this au- thor comments on the social, economic and aesthetic costs of sprawl. BTA will continue to engage the sprawl beast in future issues of the Spoke'n Word as well as in other public fora. The BTA strongly encourages its members to get involved. Dane County supervisor races are heating up; tell the candidates you want a bikeable Dane.
by Scott Rose
BTA Treasurer and Membership Coordinator
About 100 people attended the transportation forum held by the Dane County Regional Planning Commission (RPC) on the very rainy November 1, 1995. The event was held as part of the Vision 2020 planning process.
Jim McLary, an independent transportation consultant, discussed various transit technologies. The funnel effect of Madison's isthmus makes feasible some technologies which might otherwise require a larger population base.
Paul Larrousse, head of Madison Metro emphasized Madison's high level of bus service for a city of its size-- comparable to cities with a population of 750,000 (we have about 200,000). According to Larrousse, Metro provides 9.5million rides a year, or about 42 thousand a day. Twenty percent of downtown trips are made via Metro.
Two factors account for the one-third reduction of ridership levels in the '80s: demographics and the relocation of MATC. Buses lack flexibility for the rising number of two-income families with kids. With respect to MATC, the acres of parking lots that were constructed, complete with shuttle service from the outlying lots to the campus core, has made driving to MATC a very attractive option.
The state gives Metro $0.42 for each dollar they spend- that adds up to about $1.4 million. Larrousse noted that no transportation mode pays its way from user fees-- certainly not automobiles, which use roads funded from property taxes. The funding for Metro has not kept pace with the increase in the urban service area; the service levels are about the same as they were a decade ago. This certainly is not true of the road system.
Rob Kennedy, of the New Transportation Alliance spoke about Madison's Light Rail Transit (LRT) Feasibility Study, which was completed in 1992 and has been on hold since. Richard Wagner addressed commuter rail.
Light rail differs from commuter rail in that light rail has more stops, shorter headways, the trains are lighter and can start and stop faster, and the operating cost is lower. The capital cost for light rail, however, is higher. And it is intended to provide mobility within the city rather than to the city. It was noted that both light rail and commuter rail could share the same tracks or corridors, so there is not necessarily a final and fatal choice between the two.
The high capital costs of light rail require certain land use patterns (higher density) to make it feasible, but the existence of light rail can itself influence land use patterns. Correctly guessing the extent of that influence is part of the voodoo of determining feasibility.
The price tag for a minimal system? $180 million [Editor's note: That is less than one-quarter the cost of one interstate interchange in Milwaukee].
According to Tom Huber, state pedestrian/bicycle coordinator, WisDOT had a state bicycle plan in place by the 1991 implementation of ISTEA (such a plan is mandated by the act). That gave Wisconsin a head start in applying "enhancements" funds provided for bike and pedestrian projects.
Huber emphasized that providing for bicycles-- be that via bicycle lanes, wide outside lanes, underpasses, or shoulders-- is inexpensive if it is included at the time of construction. The same project would be several times more expensive if it is added after the fact. Hence, bicycles must be part of the early planning process. [This is a wakeup call for Madison bicycling advocacy, which is stuck in a primarily reactive mode].
Bob McDonald, RPC staffer, spoke about roads, armed with a set of Real Scary Numbers about development and commuting trends. 10,000 people commute daily into the Madison central urban service area (CUSA) from outside Dane County. And while the population within the CUSA has increased, a lower percentage of Dane County residents live there, a lower percentage work there, and those that do work in the CUSA are increasingly driving in from out of town.
McDonald presented a series of maps showing roadways that are at or approaching "level of service D" (LOSD)-- which basically means congested to an uncomfortable degree. Thou h LOSD im lies that a road requires "improvement"-- which others, including Your Reporter, might see as "fighting words"-- McDonald was encouraging attendees to view the numbers as calls to action to formulate alternatives to road-building.
Indeed, Madison Alder Ken Golden declared that no matter how much traffic gets pumped through, the city will not bend in its resolve to maintain residential amenities such as on-street parking on streets like Regent and Monroe, and that there will be stiff resistance to widening of streets.
On the bicycle front, an attendee asked about bike racks on Metro buses. Apparently there had not been many requests for such provisions. Huber commented that more than a dozen cities nationwide now provide for bicycles on buses on a routine basis. [Another call to action for the bicycling advocacy community?]
The RPC is Dane County's Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which means that these are the folks who are charged by the feds to develop various transportation plans-- including a bicycle plan-- in order for Dane County to qualify for matching funds under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) legislation. If the planning isn't done, the money won't come.
Here is an online copy of a document that the RPC uses to describe itself.
by John W. Sharpe
The wounds can begin to heal now that a temporary bike path along John Nolen is open.
Madison cyclists were promised that the path would remain open for the duration of the construction. But anyone who had tried to get through in the last year would have noticed the promise was not kept.
The path closure forced cyclists to ride out of their way in order to avoid traffic and exhaust, or to ride right in the busy street with the cars since there was not a shoulder. The trip simply was not as pleasant as it was along the Law Park Path.
According to Arthur Ross, Madison Pedestrian and Bike Safety Coordinator, this was not a malicious attempt to madden cyclists. Ross says that it was a lack of communication between project coordinators. The Convention center project alone should not have bungled up the path access. But the combination of the center and the road construction made space too limited to keep the path open.
The newly opened path will not be the final finished product but will be a safe access through the area. 'Mere are still some uncertainties about the final product. Ross says that the new path will definitely be wider. In places where people have to cross John Nolen Dr., the traffic islands will be larger so people can wait safely.
There were rumors that an elevator would be used as the only access around the convention center. There might be an elevator, but not for bicycling around the center. The elevator would potentially be for additional access between Law Park and Wilson St. at Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Tim Wong, a year-round bicycle commuter and chairman of the Ped/Bike Subcommittee, is still concerned that the path will be clogged with conventioneers. Steve Goldstein is concerned with safety of the path during bad weather. The area of pathway around the Convention Center will arc out over the lake. During cold an windy days waves can spray 50 feet inland and then freeze on the supercooled suspended path.
Ross realizes there has been a lot of miscommunication, but he is optimistic. Where many see this all as a loss for cyclists, Ross sees this as a little victory. The convention center issue galvanized cyclists and now the City Council is better aware of cyclists' needs.
[Editor's note: The reopening was a major victory-- partial though it was-- for Madison advocacy. The BTA led Political Mass demonstrations, vigorous testimony at public meetings, letters to the editor and to politicians all pushed City Hall to find a way to keep the closure to a minimum-- from 2-1/2 years down to 8 mos.]
Reports have conic in from variousious commuters and it seems that there are a few problems to be ironed out. Complaints about construction workers' cars blocking the newly opened bike path detour underneath the convention center prompted Mark Shahan (BTA Action & Research Coordinator) to call Findorff. Shahan was told they would reiterate to their workers that the path must be kept open.
Shahan advises that if peoplee continue to have problems with cars blocking the path, call the construction site at 250-6240 and ask Larry Brenneman, the site supervisor, or Larry Thomas. Shahan also asks that you let him know of any more problems so he can let the City of Madison Ped/Bike Subcommittee know about it. Shahan can be reached at 274-9367 or via email: mnshahan@facstaff.wisc.edu.
by Lisa E. Goodman
The plan for the permanent bicycle lane around the convention r] center looks something like this: As the bicycle path passes the Convention Center, there will be a 12 foot wide path for bikes (nearest to the building) and a 7 foot wide pedestrian path outside this, along the edge of the lake. Between these two paths there will be about a one foot transition between bike path and pedestrian walkway with some sort of "pavement distinction" to guide traffic to correct lane.
The approximate elevation will be 4' 6" above lake level. This is the same elevation as the exhibit floor of the Convention Center, a large area where trade shows will be held (with space for booths etc). Between the bicycle path and the exhibit floor there will be a lobby with elevator and escalators and a number of doors to the outside. These are intended to be posted "emergency exit only" to control entry to building. This level of the center will be for paid events; entry will therefore be controlled.
At the outermost point of the arc around the center, the path will split to miss support columns, westbound will be against the building, eastbound will be adjacent to the pedestrian path. Just east of the center the path will blend back in with the original path.
As to whether this will flow well, city planner Urich states, "I'd be the first to admit it's a tight fit ... there isn't a lot of space to accommodate the kinds of activities that will be happening there."
A major concern for year round cyclists is the proposed treatment of the wall along the lake. Specifically, will we have ice problems from lake spray during the winter?
For specifics, you can stop by the planning office (in basement of Madison Municipal Building, Martin Luther King It. Blvd) to see the drawings of the convention center and path design.
by Michael D. Barrett
[Editor's note: The Dane County Regional Planning Commission is soliciting citizen input for the Visions 2020 planning process. The following is intended to give that planning body a clue as to what cycling advocates want thirty years from now.]
We do not want sprawl. We do not want the highways which induce sprawl. Face it folks, people are coming here, not so they can live in another Elgin, or Schaumberg or some other Chicago sprawlburb; they are coming here to live in close-knit neighborhoods such as Dudgeon-Monroe, Tenney-Lapham, Vilas, Schenk-Atwood, or Marquette (etc.). The market bears this out over and over again. Houses in these mixed-use neighborhoods out-sell homes in any of Dane County's sprawlburbs. Newcomers are rejecting the anonymous developments in the middle of cornfields in favor of places where one can easily move about under one's own power and easily get to know one's neighbors.
Only one recent developer in this area has recognized the growing rejection of mind numbing, highway-based suburbs. Middleton Hills will be every bit as successful as any of Madison's downtown neighborhoods. I say this with one caveat: It cannot succeed in isolation. It must be closely connected with similar developments around it, otherwise it will just be an isolated quirk.
A case in point: At a recent pedestrian-bicycle subcommittee meeting, a group of residents from the far eastern edge of Madison came to lament: "We're surrounded by highways and we can't get out !!!" There is no safe way for them to leave their neighborhood to get to work, school, parks or shopping in anything other than a car. There are no sidewalks, no crosswalks and no overpasses for children to use to get to their everyday activities. These parents are now essentially galley slaves powering their children to activities, which, in a more reasonable setting could be gotten to by foot or by bike or by bus. They had made the mistake of buying into a highway based subdivision.
Some of the technocrats may dismiss all this as elitist or pipe-dreaming, as Lane Kendig and others of the RPC hired hands had done last winter at an RPC public hearing. According to Kendig, "People who propose tight-knit communities are romantics. Low density living and the 7-1 I's that go along with it are the reality that we must live with and plan for." It seems that we are hiring people to promote rather than prevcnt the suburban schlock from metastasizing across Dane County.
The costs of sprawl are high, fiscally and socially. When the "private property rights" people sub-divide agricultural land into unsewered, low-density developments, who pays for the highways and the city streets which will carry these people to their high-paying jobs in downtown Madison? Ultimately, it is the urban resident that pays the price in two ways:
I can only cry crocodile tears when I hear howls of "my private property rights" from some developer whining to build out in a cornfield. Taxes are a confiscation of private property (an individual's financial assets are private property, every bit as much as a piece of land is private property). But by living in a society that has a tax system with extensive legal precedent (ie., due process), we have all agreed that this is necessary for government functions within that society.
Nevertheless, taxes are a confiscation, legal though they may be. When government demands more of it to build the highway infrastructure that I, as a pedestrian and cyclist am forbidden or terrorized from, it becomes an outrageous seizure of private property in a very direct sense. There is no "seizure" in land use controls, there is merely a balancing of one group of tax-payers' private property interests versus another's (urban and suburban). Just because someone lives in the country does not in any way exempt them from obligations to the society which brought the land its value in the first place.
It is high time that the suburbanites and ex-urbanites start to pay for their profligate make-believe country lifestyle rather than living off of the highway dole. On a per-capita asphalt consumption basis, those who live and work in human-scaled communities are the true fiscal conservatives.
by Todd Litman
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
[Editor's note: Though the following article specifically addresses the Canadian situation, the general principals hold for Wisconsin as well. Here is a longer version of this article, with references.]
Have you ever been accused as a bicyclist of not contributing a fair share of road taxes? Has anybody suggested that bicyclists have less right to the roadway, or that investments in bicycle facilities are unfair to non-bicycling taxpayers, because bicyclists don't pay fuel taxes and registration fees? These arguments are wrong, and here is why.
Although fuel taxes fund most highway expenses, local roads are funded by local taxes. Residents pays these taxes whether they drive an automobile or ride a bicycle.
There is no indication that bicyclists pay less local tax on average than drivers as a class. Only a small portion (probably less than 5%) of bicycling takes place on provincial highways, some of which bicyclists are prohibited from riding on. Certainly, automobiles impose greater costs on local roads than bicycles impose on fuel-tax funded highways.
Driving imposes much higher costs on society than bicycling. The table shows estimated roadway construction and maintenance costs according to one cost allocation formula, indicating that automobiles impose costs of about 2.5 cents per kilometer driven.
These estimates only cover direct roadway costs. Vehicle use imposes other government financed costs including traffic law enforcement and emergency services, tax funded parking subsidies, and the opportunity cost of roadway land. Together these represent an additional government subsidy of driving averaging 2.8 cents per vehicle km, for a total cost of 5.3 cents per km. Bicycling is estimated to impose roadway costs of less than 0.2 cent per km.
Vehicle user charges (fuel taxes and vehicle fees) average about 2 cents per km. These figures indicate that overall motor vehicle use of public roadways is subsidized at a rate averaging 0.5 for just roadway construction and maintenance, or 3.5 cents per km when all direct government costs are considered. Use of local roads is subsidized at about 2.5 cent per km considering only roadway construction and maintenance costs, and over 5 cents per km when all costs are considered.
Driving imposes other costs to society, including congestion, off-street parking facilities, uncompensated accident damages, and environmental impacts. Several major studies estimate that these externalities average 10 to 40 cents per automobile kilometer. Bicycling, walking and other non-automotive modes impose much lower costs.
These costs per kilometer figures understate automobile user subsidies since drivers tend to travel by roadway much more than non-drivers in a given period. An average automobile driver travels about 24,000 kilometers per year on public roads, while a non-driving bicyclist or transit user may travel only a quarter or less as far. On a per capita basis, bicyclists pay far more per kilometer of roadway travel than drivers.
Of course, many people use both drive and bicycle, so their overall gains and losses are somewhere between these estimates. However, households which drive more than average are cross-subsidized by households that drive less than average. This is unfair, particularly since lower income households tend to drive significantly less than those with higher incomes. It is also economically inefficient because it removes the incentive for individuals to use the most efficient travel option for each trip; inefficient travel habits make society overall worse off.
by Michael D. Barrett
[Editor's note: The following is an adaptation of testimony given before the Dane County Regional Planning Commission in October.]
Four-lane Highway 12 is wrong no matter what perspective you look at it from, whether that perspective be conservative, liberal or moderate. For conservatives, this project is another big-government taxpayer financed boondogle. The State of Wisconsin's own statistics show that the impacts of highway projects such as these must be financed with significant sums of non-gasoline, non-automobile related tax money. So where will the money come from? Sales, income and property taxes of course. So immobile homes will subsidize someone else's mobility? That is wrong. And it is fiscally irresponsible.
Liberals will see Madison's tax base evaporate. This highway and others to follow will drain off Madison residents as they pursue the mirage of the small town, country utopia. So when these well-wheeled, and well-salaried individuals leave, funding for Madison's high levels of city services (to which this city has grown accustomed to) will get increasingly tight. And those with the expertise and time to donate to community services will all be too busy commuting! A four-lane highway 12 is a civic abandonment of this community.
For those of you who claim to be moderate, I say, there is nothing moderate about forcing people out of homes which have been in the family for over 100 years.
This money would be better spent investing in community stability rather than hyper-mobility.
The Coalition for a Safe Highway 12 Now! (122 State St. #200, Madison, WI 53703) encourages you to write Mr. Val Adamkus, Regional Admiistrator Environmental Protection Agency-Region V, 77 W. Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60604 to inform him that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement inadequately addressed 2-Lane safety alternatives, sprawl, additional accidents on local streets brought on by the flood of new commuters into Madison, and destruction of eagle habitat near Sauk City.The Spoke'n Word-- the newsletter of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance of Dane County-- is published whenever the information needs to get out. The editor is Michael D. Barrett who can be reached at (608) 245-1059. Submissions from members are welcome. The editor insists on electronic submissions (either by e-mail to mikeb1@execpc.com or disk to P.O. Box 641, Madison, WI 53701-0641)-- unless the author is certifiably stuck in the calligraphic or typewriter age.
Editor: Michael D. Barrett
Assistant Editor: Lisa E. Goodman
Layout: Dieter Bingemann
Contributors: Scott Rose, Michael D. Barrett, Lisa E. Goodman, Todd Litman, John W. Sharpe, Mike Rewey, Barbara Boehm
Views expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and are not necessarily the official views of the BTA.
Next newsletter copy deadline: March 15, 1996.
by Michael D. Barrett
The BTA fundraiser for Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin was a tremendous success thanks to the dedicated efforts of several volunteers too numerous to mention. Forty people showed up to celebrate a successful year for both the BTA and BFW. The crowd loved filmmaker William Steuber's humorous presentation of his 1939 production Bill's Bike. (Indeed, there were many parallels between the film's twelve year-old, 2-wheeled protagonist and today's cam- pus renegades.)
Both the BTA and BFW enrolled several new members at the event which raised several hundred dollars through donations at the door, button sales and raffle tickets.
Luminaries present included: State Representative Spencer Black and his family, County Board candidate Ben Manski, WisDOT's Joanne Pruitt-Thunder, and Tom Huber.
Special thanks goes to BTA program coordinator, Joe King who orchestrated the whole event. Much appreciated contributions from the Genetics Computer Group, The Wine Guys, and Stoton Cycles made the raffle possible. Meanwhile Victor Allen's donated coffee kept us buzzing all evening.
Dieter Bingemann created some very imaginative buttons bearing BTA's advocacy messages. He then proceeded to hawk them vigorously, raising significant fundage for the BFW (buttons are still available from Dieter).
The upshot: volunteers are making BTA & BFW entities to be reckoned with on the local and state fronts (respectively).
by Mike Rewey
WisDOT District I (Madison area) is cooperating with local communities on the following projects:
So be on the lookout for these projects on your rides next summer.
by Michael D. Barrett
After a hesitant start, the City of Madison cleared the snow & ice from the East Rail Corridor, Brittingham Park and John Nolen bike routes. The routes were well sanded too. The plowing resulted from letters and calls from BTA officers and other members to their alders requesting that the responsible city entities do their jobs. A
by Barbara Boehm
Starting in January 1996, as part of the alternative transportation program at Meriter, the hospital will offer several incentives for employees to not drive SOVs (single occupant vehicles) to work. These incentives include a guaranteed ride home program for emergency use when the alternative mode is unavailable, 3 months free bus fare to all new bus riders and 10 free ride passes for current bus riders. The hospital wil also install bicycle lockers.
These are just the beginning step of a comprehensive plan to encourage alternative transportation. So far we have also held winter bicycle/walk clinics and have had an information booth in the hospital's main lobby, introducing the concept of alternative transportation.
Barbara Boehm, an RN at Meriter and a year-round bike commuter, can be reached at 231-6852.
If you are interested in getting more involved in advocacy, submit your nomination for any one of the following: Action & Research Coordinator, Treasurer/Membership Coord., Publicity Coord., Program Coord., Campus Coord., Education Coord. Mail nominations to BTA, PO Box 641, Madison WI 53701-0641.
As of yet we have received no word as to who will fill this role. Renee Callaway excelled at this job last year and has information for whomever might be interested in doing it this year. She can be reached at 255-8494.
This popular publicity medium, the brainchild of Max Vogels, is searching for a new honcho. Call the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin at 246-4456.
The Bicycle Transportation Alliance of Dane County advocates the use of bicycles as a sustainable mode of transportation and recreation. We work for recognition and support of bicyclists and bicycle issues such as bicycle safety, inclusion of bicycle routes in transportation and land use planning, and increased access to existing commercial and residential districts. We pursue our goals through community education, legislative action, and working with like-minded groups.
Think of the great biking routes you lost in the last ten years. Think of the roads you are riding on now. Ten years from now they will be gone due to the same developmental pressures. Join us now, don't let a second John-No-Lane happen to you!
Members not only receive the benefits of effective representation in a growing bicycle advocacy organization, they also receive member discounts at these bicycle shops:
Steering Committee meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month, location to be announced. All members are welcome to Steering Committee meetings as well.
BTA
PO Box 641
Madison, WI 53701-0641
Hotline: 251-1BTA
Email: bikies-request@gcg.com
WorldWideWeb: http://danenet.wicip.org/bcp
Click here for the October, 1995 issue of Spoke-N Word.
