An on-line article published by Milwaukee Magazine describes a proposal for a new national wildlife refuge straddling the state line and covering parts of Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties in Wisconsin and Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois. The proposed refuge would cover much of the lower left-hand corner of the southeast Wisconsin bike map. It would stretch from the Bong recreational area on the east to the area south of Lake Geneva on the west.

This is prime bicycling country, surprisingly undeveloped considering the nearby urban areas. Thus, the proposal seems like good news for bicyclist (unless, of course, it results in more traffic).

Milwaukee recently issued a draft of a bicycle plan prepared with the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation. The public comment period runs through the end of July. Clearly the plan is a sign that bicycles are getting a lot more attention in planning transportation in Milwaukee. Here are my comments on the plan:

Bike boulevards. I really like the concept. I think they will do a lot to encourage people to bike (and also strengthen neighborhoods). With that in mind, here are a few more suggestions:

* An east-side alternative to the Prospect/Farwell bike lanes (which
have fairly fast traffic and are often blocked by double-parked
delivery vehicles). Starting at the Urban Ecology Center, it would
go south on Newhall, then switch over to Warren, ending at Ogden.
I took it home from the public meeting. It had little traffic. The
major issues are crossing Brady and North. Also the one-way
streets north of Brady.
* Jefferson St. between the Third Ward and Ogden/Water. Already
interrupted in several places. The sidewalks need to be widened.
Perhaps a place for a cycle track. The tunnel under I794 is narrow
when pedestrians are walking to parking.
* 51st St on the south side. Already has many of the properties of a
bike boulevard with the interruptions at the KK Parkway, the
Morgan/Forest Home triangle, and in Greenfield. A place where joint
planning with Greenfield and West Allis would be useful.
* Keefe/Townsend from Humboldt to Dineen Park

I real bike desert is the far northwest side. I would hope that at least one of the north-south roads connecting to Mequon would be marked for future improvement, with decent shoulders at the very least.

While Roosevelt Blvd itself is very nice, both ends are problematic. Perhaps this is a place where the bicyclist could be directed to use the sidewalk (as in Madison and Evanston). In any case, I think a bike plan should not leave a bicyclist hanging.

I am bothered by the number of proposed bike paths that are shown as existing (also a problem with the free bike map). These include the Beer Line trail between North and Locust and between Locust and Burleigh, the KK trail (page 24 describes it as existing) along Rosedale, several proposed branches of the Hank Aaron trail (as well as HAST routes on roads), and a proposed rail conversion south of Washington. Perhaps these should be converted to yellow on the maps, so it is clear they are proposed trails (perhaps proposed county trails could also be shown, to see how they would fit in, as well as any proposals from suburbs).

I would like to see more discussion on the effect of traffic signals on bicyclists. Particular problems are inaccessible walk buttons (or ones that don’t work), buried sensors that don’t detect bicycles (all of them, in my experience), and the very long signal cycle time that seems standard in Wisconsin. (I recently spent a few days bicycling in Chico, CA and was struck that the typical signal seemed less than half that in Milwaukee. There was much less temptation to run the light. A signal on a trail went to yellow for the cars as soon as I pushed it.)

This is from the Bicycle Update subscribers email:

Bicycle detours are currently in place on the Hiawatha LRT Trail under I-94 and the Camden Bridge over the Mississippi River. The Hiawatha LRT Trail detour is intermittent, and is anticipated to take place on July 20th and 21st, as well as July 26th to 30th. A detour route will be signed. The Camden Bridge over the Mississippi River detour is in place throughout the summer. The detour is signed and available online (pdf). For further details on those and other bicycle detours in Minneapolis, visit our detours website.

One more detour: The Cedar Lake Bike Trail will be extended beyond the Twins Stadium and to the Mississippi River this fall. Estimated completion date is in November. The trail may be closed at the downtown end while construction crews build the connector between the existing trail and the new extension.

Old Bike Trail Acess I-94

The reconstruction of I-94 between Minnesota and Wisconsin several years ago created a new alignment for the bike path over the St. Croix River. The new path crosses the river on the south bridge of I-94 instead of the north bridge. As a result, the access trail from the north side has been closed. Vegetation is slowly encroaching on the trail.

The change has made Rivercrest Rd and 21st St from the north unnecessary. They will not be designated as bike routes in the 2011 update of the Twin Cities Bike Map.

Other changes: 24th St N, from the NE corner of Tartan Park in Lake Elmo, now connects the two broken segments of 20th St between Tartan Park and Neal Ave. The road provides a more direct connection to Neal Ave and points north.

Woodbury: More trails and new alignments. Woodbury’s trail system is quite extensive, but utterly confusing because it has no trail signage.

A new section of bike trail stretches between the UW campus and Highland Ave. The trail starts just west of Babcock Hall (a great place for ice cream or sandwiches) and roughly runs north of and parallel to the railroad tracks.

42nd St Bridge across Mississippi River just north of Minneapolis is closed for reconstruction. It appears to be closed for the season. Two river crossing options include going north to I-694 or south to Lowry Ave.  (CORRECTION: The Lowry Bridge isn’t complete.  The next bridge to the south is Broadway. Thanks to Hokan (see comment below) for the correction)

The Loring Park Bike and Pedestrian Bridge connecting Loring Park near downtown Minneapolis and the walker Art Center Sculpture Garden has been closed for reconstruction. The work will include replacing wooden decking and touch-up painting. The closure will last about one month. Riders can cross at the major intersection of Vineland/15th and Hennepin/Lyndale Ave.Crossing lights are available, but the intersection is wide and should be navigated carefully.

40th St. S, just west of the town of Afton, is closed between Neal and Trading Post Trail for repaving. The pavement has been removed and deep trenches and loose dirt make it impassable. No word on when the road will re-open. The inconvenience is offset by a dramatic reduction in traffic on the rest of 40th St. S.

Neal Ave. S (near Afton) between 50th and 70th has been repaved. Current versions of the Twin Cities Bike Map indicate that it has rough pavement. That is no longer true. The 2011 version of the map will not have the warning.

S. Robert St in St. Paul is under construction. although it is not a bike route, traffic from this busy road has been re-directed onto Rich Valley Rd, a bike route. Rich Valley Rd now has a considerable amount of traffic and is not desireable for riding. The  detour may exist through most of the 2010 riding season.

Flooding this spring on Black Dog Rd along the south side of the  Minnesota River broke up the asphalt in a number of places. The road is stil rideable, but portions are now gravel instead of asphalt. The road won’t be repaired before 2011, at the earliest.

Here is a note I just received from Menomonee Valley Partners:

There will be a lot of construction work this summer along the western end of the Hank Aaron State Trail.  From this week through the end of September, the Trail will be rerouted from the smokestacks just west of the 35th Street Viaduct to Selig Drive.  There will be a temporary detour just before the smokestacks that routes the Trail along the Canal Street median, then back along the Trail for about a block, and then another temporary detour that crosses Canal Street at the east end of the Derse, Inc. property, follows their sidewalk until Selig Drive, and the crosses back over onto the Trail.

Construction is starting this week on the Canal Street side of the Valley Passage project, and later this summer construction will start immediately across the street for the Ingeteam development in the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center.  Please be cautious in this area since there will be a lot of construction activity here.  By the end of the year, the Valley Passage will be open as a trailhead in the Silver City neighborhood and the Trail will extend west to 94th Place.

Middleton’s Pheasant Branch Trail has recently been paved between Century Blvd on the east and Airport Rd on the west. The trails north of Century Blvd in the Pheasant Branch Conservancy are still mostly unpaved but in good condition for road bikes. West of highway 12, the northern-most branch of the trail becomes unpaved after crossing under Airport Rd, ending at Capital View Rd.

The trail crosses the stream a number of times. The first time I rode the trail, one had to ford the stream at the crossings. Then bridges were added, but adventurous riders can still try the fords.

Woodbury, a suburb on the far eastern edge of the metro area, is a mixed bag for bicyclists. During a weekend research ride, riding buddy Dave Olson and I finally discovered the bike trails that run between suburban lots connecting many subdivisions with Carver Park. The trails are well maintained, about 10 feet wide and under used. To their credit, the city built the trail along the border between housing lots, making the it immediately accessible to thousands of residents. The residents, however, were not out in force despite a sunny and cool summer day.

My biggest complaint about the trail is that it has no signage. “You are Here” maps or other indications about where the trail goes would help trail users find their way around the system.  The problem is compounded in the parks by multiple intersecting trails, some merely connectors to a neighborhodd,  others major trails in their own right. We wandered around for several hours, enjoying the scenery for the most part and re-orienting ourselves when we reach major intersections, but I never got a real sense of where the trails went until the next morning when I downloaded my GPS track onto a map. The trail also has a few very steep exit/entrance connectors that will make most folks walk uphill and scare any mother who’s child wants to skate down the ramp on a scooter or skateboard.

Getting around Woodbury by road is more of a challenge.  Woodbury was built when cul de sacs and winding roads with no destination were considered the height of residential development. The net effect is a constant funneling of all vehicles, bikes included, into collector routes and major roads. Woodbury has done a credible job of building and maintaining bike trails in the right-of-way of the major roads, but like all bike trails along major roads, these are noisy, the scenery is minimal and crossroads are dangerous.

Despite the drawbacks, we found some beautiful roads, such as Pinehurst Rd north of the Tamarack Nature Preserve. The new routes will appear on the 2011 update.

One road that will disappear as a bike route is Lake Rd. When first built, a decade or more ago, it was a low traffic, free flowing road through the city. Traffic has increased dramatically ove the years and with new updates of the Twin Cities Bike Map it has gone from low traffic to high traffic.  Traffic is now high enough that it is no longer an acceptable bike route. Several alternates have been found and more research is needed to avoid the last mile or two of  Lake Rd. The changes will appear on the updated bike map.

Two new sections of the Starkweather Creek Trail in Madison were recently opened. The first section connects the Capitol City Trail at Marquette St. with the recently-constructed bicycle bridge over Washington Avenue. The second section includes a bridge over highway 30 to connect two the trail shown on the map north of Washington Avenue with another existing trail to the north.