Staff writer Elizabeth McBride, in a cover story headlined "Trouble in Paradise," argues that Madison's ranking by Bicycling magazine as one of the nation's top 10 bike-friendly communities may be undeserved. Madison has an estimated three bikes for every one car, and some 100,000 one-way bike trips occur on fair-weather days. Yet more and more streets - including Odana and Mineral Point roads, East Washington and Sherman avenues - are growing risky for bikers. In response, the city is planning a number of paths and infrastructure improvements. Art Ross, the city's pedestrian-bicycle safety coordinator, says these plans depend "on how much interest and pressure there is." Apparently, quite a bit: In the last 10 years, Madison spends millions on new bike lanes, paths and overpasses. Bicycling names Madison the #1 U.S. biking city in 2006, this year ranking it seventh - though lingering tensions between local cyclists and motorists persist.
How bike-friendly are we, anyway?
From the Isthmus archives, Sept. 14, 1990