Apparently, there was an informational meeting for downtown neighbors at Gates of Heaven on the 24th, somehow, I missed that. Well, I know how I missed it, it was an “informational meeting” about Ride the Drive, which I thought I had no interest in, since it didn’t appear to be to talk about concerns of downtown neighbors, I assumed it was a promotional type thing and didn’t read it more thoroughly. My bad. Well, that, and, we got no information or communication from our alder about it. We never do.
Anyways, here’s the map of how to navigate the Isthmus tomorrow. Of course, it ignores all kind of logistical nightmares like, what if you’re parked on a one way street that is blocked by the route, do you just back down the street to get to the point where you can drive on the streets legally? Do you drive down the street the wrong way?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about the event, its the lack of information that is the issue. The Ride the Drive website is full of information, except for how to avoid the event and go about your day as normal as possible if that is your goal. Oh yeah, here’s the bus route schedule if you’re interested in that, another nightmare, hope you don’t have to transfer, if you miss it, you’ll probably be stuck waiting an hour for the next bus you need.
I’m already crabby about this. I drive for Union Cab, and I work on Sundays. When I read the list of streets that were going to be closed, I was blown away. My recollection from last year was that it was just John Nolan Drive and East Washington that were affected. Negotiating the downtown area is going to be quite sticky, especially given that Bedford Street will be closed. This one in particular is a head-scratcher. Don’t they know that Broom Street is closed due to construction? Don’t they know that parts of Langdon and Park Streets are temporarily one way due to road construction? With closures due to the East Campus Mall project, this is going to be a major, major mess.
I’m all for encouraging greater bicycle ridership, but I think this route is way larger than it needs to be. This is not a bicycle race, but I think it is overkill.
The route is exactly the same as last year, with the exception that they are not using W Wilson from Bedford to Broom, but instead North Shore Dr. to John Nolen.
I was not involved in the planning this year, but last year every single household and every car parked inside the route was given written information. Everyone was told that it would be a pain, but not impossible, to get out during the event, so if you planned to go somewhere in your car, you might want to park elsewhere the night before.
Brenda – since your house is not inside the route, you probably didn’t get the literature on your door.
Actually, there is a barricade laying in my front yard and our street will be blocked off. And, if I parked in front of my house, I’d be trapped on my block unless I drove the wrong way on a one way street.
Cars, cars everywhere with no where to go. Mifflin St cars are backed up and seemingly driving in circles. Looks like a highway out there. I’m guessing there is no signage that informs drivers how to maneuver through this mess. Let the road rage begin. I don’t think this is helping the car/bike divide in this city.
There probably needs to be better signage and route markers for people who don’t live in the area or don’t pay attention to the advance warnings. After last August’s Ride the Drive, I heard a lot of complaints from people who had trouble getting to church or to brunch. They didn’t live Downtown and didn’t come downtown all that often, so they were blindsided when they came in to Madison and found that their usual streets were closed.
There must be ways to help these people get to their destinations with minimal delay. It would require some imagination and work, but it shouldn’t be that hard. The August 29 event will cover more hours and more miles, so the City needs to think about its impact on Sunday visitors to Madison.
As for the buses, though, the detours don’t look all that different from the ones they use for Maxwell Street Days, or several recent construction seasons. It looks tolerable to me.