Krystal Pence
A truck drives by on S. Park St.
Madison transportation director Tom Lynch: 'Right now, Park Street is a pretty motor-vehicle oriented roadway.'
Madison’s Department of Transportation wants to rebuild Park Street to be more “people centered,” with protected bike lanes and more trees as part of the city’s bus rapid transit project.
“Right now, Park Street is a pretty motor vehicle-oriented roadway, it doesn’t have very good pedestrian or bicycle accommodations,” Tom Lynch, director of the city transportation department, said at a Sept. 12 budget hearing before the city’s finance committee. He said the department would like to install protected bike lanes and is “looking for ways to expand our terraces so we can have perhaps a little more tree canopy, and just make it as nice a street as we can. And use federal transit dollars to do that as we’re building the BRT.”
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s capital budget calls for $6.8 million in local funding for the project and takes advantage of $10 million in state money for Park Street. The project would also be contingent on qualifying for federal Small Starts funding. According to the mayor’s budget, Park Street would also get dedicated bus lanes and improved sidewalks or pedestrian paths.
City of Madison Complete Green Streets Guide
A rendering of the "complete green street" model proposed for Park St.
A rendering showing how bus rapid transit and protected bicycle lanes could co-exist on major thoroughfares.
“With the Wisconsin DOT funding, we can leverage more federal funds,” said Lynch. “The bang for the buck for those [city dollars] is a new Park Street.”
The reconstruction project would run the length of Park Street between West Washington Avenue and Badger Road. Metro’s Route B, slated to be the city’s second bus rapid transit line, travels along this section of Park Street.
Of the $6.8 million in local funding for Park Street reconstruction, $5 million would come from TIF funds and $1.8 million would come from general obligation borrowing.
South Madison is undergoing rapid growth. New residential apartments now dot the Park Street corridor and several new facilities developed by Black organizations and aimed at Black advancement — including the Black Business Hub and the Center for Black Excellence — are taking shape. Other major redevelopment is planned for the coming years.
A $200 million redevelopment of the South Transfer Point could result in hundreds of new apartments and new space for Public Health Madison & Dane County and the city’s Fire Station #6. About $50 million in infrastructure projects are part of the city’s plan to invest in the south side, along with $7 million to improve area parks, and $22 million to incentivize affordable housing development.
The city council is expected to consider and vote on the mayor’s capital and operating budgets Nov. 14-16.
