When the city of Madison reconstructs the Capitol Square starting next spring, it hopes to make a special accommodation for bicyclists with a bike-only lane that moves against traffic on Mifflin Street.
The special lane would address what advocates call a “pinch point” in the city’s bike infrastructure and help alleviate conflicts with pedestrians. The bike lane will run from State and Carroll streets along the Capitol side of the Square, to Pinckney and Hamilton.
“For years, there’ve been complaints about bicyclists riding on the sidewalks,” says Scott Langer, the city’s assistant traffic engineer. “A lot of that is related to the one-way configuration of the Square. Bicyclists, instead of going all the way around the Square, ride along the sidewalk. The goal is to keep them off the sidewalk and put them in the street.”
The reconstruction of Capitol Square’s streets is scheduled to take place over two years, with the section north of Washington Avenue to be rebuilt next spring and early summer. The southern section will be rebuilt in spring and summer 2017. The entire project will cost about $3.4 million, not including the replacement of utilities and sewer and water lines.
The special contra bike lane could potentially be extended all the way around the Square when the construction is completed in 2017.
But for now, the city is moving ahead with plans to put the special bike lane only on Mifflin Street.
“Knowing there might be some unease with it, we wanted to focus on the critical leg, and let people get comfortable with it,” Langer says.
The Mifflin section is often a barrier for cyclists, particularly those riding up State Street trying to travel east, says former Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who is now executive director of the Wisconsin Bike Fed.
“If you’re coming up State Street and want to go east, you’ve got to go all the way up the Square; you’ve got to chug up a hill and then come all the way around,” he says. “People just naturally want to go left.”
Cieslewicz says there’s a movement for cities to address these hard-to-navigate sections, which he says are called “pinch points.” The city has addressed other pinch points recently by putting in special crossing lanes at the Regent-Monroe intersection near Camp Randall and the Atwood-Eastwood-Dunning intersection on the east side, in front of the Harmony Bar.
“Those are pinch points where you have a really good bicycle infrastructure but there’s a particularly tricky passage,” says Cieslewicz. “We know when we treat those pinch points, a lot more people will use the whole [biking system].”
City officials have been talking with the state Department of Administration for years about making the change and have finally gotten approval to do it, says Ald. Mike Verveer, whose district includes the Capitol Square. The state’s legislative parking along the Capitol side of the Square won’t be affected by the change, he says. The 5-foot special lane will run in-between those parked cars and oncoming traffic, with a 3-foot buffer on either side.
“They’re okay with the plan we’re moving forward with because legislative parking wouldn’t be affected,” Verveer says. “We wouldn’t be moving forward if we felt the state would object.”
Verveer says the change is being made on behalf of pedestrians as well as cyclists.
“I’m hoping besides making it safer for bicyclists, this makes it safer for pedestrians,” he says. “I receive tons of complaints about illegal bike riding around the Square.”
Special traffic lights will give bicycles the okay to turn left onto Mifflin from State Street at the same time that buses are making right-hand turns onto the Square.
The city will lose some parking on its side of the Square, in the first west block of Mifflin. The sidewalk will also become narrower.
Verveer says the plan is to have the work done as early as possible each year, to avoid disrupting the farmers’ market and the many festivals and events held during the summer.
“We’re hoping to keep the disruption to the sidewalks to a minimum,” he says, adding that some spot repairs likely will be needed on the sidewalks. “There will be some inconvenience to pedestrians and sidewalk cafes and food carts.”
Once the project is completed, Verveer hopes the Square can be used for even more events. “Bicycle races that used to be a common occurrence around the Square no longer take place because the pavement is in such rough shape,” he says. “There’s no denying that the Capitol Square pavement is in need of tender loving care. It needs outright replacement now.”
