Sunday, April 04, 2010

Monona Drive Sidewalk Redux Again

Like the ghost in Poltergeist II, the width of the Monona Drive Phase Two sidewalk is baaaack. The city of Madison decided to take their ball and go home rather than let Monona have an 8'-wide sidewalk on the west side. OK, they actually said if you want an 8' sidewalk, then we are not sharing in the right-of-way for that.

Madison's position killed the 8' sidewalk because of the additional impact to Monona property owners by taking another 1.5' and because of the added costs. Tomorrow night, while you are watching the NCAA Championship, the Monona City council will be considering a resolution to build a 5' sidewalk. I plan to offer an amendment to provide a 6.5' sidewalk, which would require the same amount of Monona ROW as the 8' sidewalk did until Madison changed their mind.

The idea behind the wider sidewalk is to recognize that the sidewalk functions as a de facto section of the Lake Monona bike loop and will continue to do so for many users even when the road is rebuilt with integrated bike lanes. We started at 10', compromised at 8' and are surrendering at 5'.

AGENDA 4/5/10

Resolution 10-04-1697, Reconsidering the Width of the Sidewalk for Phase 2 Monona Dr. Reconstruction.pdf

Some previous posts:
Back to Five Feet Mar 18, 2010
 
 

5 comments:

  1. Do you have a feeling on if your amendment will even get a second? Would a public appearance help?

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  2. The vote will be at the next meeting on April 19. The meeting will be held at the Community Center.

    Alderman Busse indicated his support for 6.5' tonight. And remember the 8' width passed 4-3 with the mayor breaking a tie in favor the last time we voted on this question.

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  3. Didn't Busse vote in favor of the 8' sidewalks in the first place (Wood, Kugle, Busse were for 8', Thomas, Veserat, Wiswell were for narrower)?

    It's disturbing that certain members of the council would rather treat this like a political game instead of looking forward and trying to discern exactly what our needs are going to be for the next 40 years (since I assume that that's going to be how long it will be before MD is revised again).

    So to recap:
    Monona Drive Committee recommended 10'
    Certain members wanted 6.5'
    Council compromised on 8'
    Certain members wanted 6'
    Council reiterated 8'
    Now we're at 5', or rather more narrow than has ever been considered or even proposed...

    I'll definitely be remembering this when I VOTE TODAY (ahem, just a reminder people).

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  4. Travis I hope you remember this when you vote next year!

    The 5 foot sidewalk width is becuase the City of Madison has required it. They will not move the alingment (Center Line) of the roadway to the east one and one half feet. Meaning half of the three foot difference in sidewalk width would have come from Monona and Madison.

    Thus if the Monona wants the 6, 8 or 10 feet sidewalks, anything over 5 feet must come from the Monona side of the present roadway.

    Years ago the City of Madison decided to place the bike path along Monona Drive. Now they won't want to help make it a safer bike path.

    If feel like you need to be "pissed" at someone when you vote next year, I hope you think about the history of the bike path the process of rebuilting Monona Drive. When you vote next year remember it was Madison Alderman Larry Palm and Mayor Dave who vetoed the wider sidewalks.

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  5. "The 5 foot sidewalk width is because the City of Madison has required it. They will not move the alignment (Center Line) of the roadway to the east one and one half feet. Meaning half of the three foot difference in sidewalk width would have come from Monona and Madison.

    Thus if the Monona wants the 6, 8 or 10 feet sidewalks, anything over 5 feet must come from the Monona side of the present roadway."

    Response: This comment is mostly accurate. However, if we build a 6.5' sidewalk, we would need the same amount form the Monona side as we neded for the 8' sidewalk before Madison finally made it decision on the design.

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