The mayor said “we shouldn’t waste a good crisis” and here it is in action. Does anyone actually we believe we have to close streets to protect the safety of residents so bikes and pedestrians can social distance?
Here’s the mayor’s full quote from the March 31 Common Council Executive Committee:
But “we shouldn’t waste a good crisis. And we should be thinking about how we can come back from this thing stronger and in a more equitable way, and in building up the structures that we want to see in our city in the long term. I think there is an opportunity to do that now, and she hopes that you agree and we can work together on that.”
And so this is what the Director of the Department of Transportation is using his emergency powers for? Here’s the emergency orders that apply:
8. The City will temporarily suspend the enforcement of Madison General Ordinance Section 33.56(5) to allow the Director of Transportation, Transit Manager, Traffic Engineer, and Parking Manager to take actions related to transportation issues identified in Madison General Ordinance Section 33.56(5)(a)-(c), provided that if the Transportation Commission meets during the coronavirus pandemic the Director of Transportation shall present each action taken pursuant to the authority above for ratification or rescission by the Transportation Commission.
EMAIL TO CITY STAFF AND ALDERS
| From: “Tao, Yang” <YTao@cityofmadison.com> Date: April 11, 2020 at 3:37:53 PM CDT To: “Ruckriegel, Edwin” <ERuckriegel@cityofmadison.com>, “Beck, Drew” <RBeck@cityofmadison.com>, “Donahue, Kelly” <KDonahue@cityofmadison.com>, “Nelson, Cory Cpt” <CSNelson@cityofmadison.com>, “Freedman, Jason” <JFreedman@cityofmadison.com>, “Ackeret, Brian” <BAckeret@cityofmadison.com>, “Hanson, Michael” <MHanson@cityofmadison.com>, “Patton, Timothy” <TPatton@cityofmadison.com>, “Schultz, Stephen” <SSchultz@cityofmadison.com>, “Petykowski, Christopher” <CPetykowski@cityofmadison.com>, “Laschinger, Lisa” <LLaschinger@cityofmadison.com>, All Alders <allalders@cityofmadison.com> Cc: “Davis, Steven” <SDavis@cityofmadison.com>, “Erdman, Natalie” <NErdman@cityofmadison.com>, “Wahl, Victor” <VWahl@cityofmadison.com>, “Phillips, Robert” <RPhillips@cityofmadison.com>, “Romines, Charles” <CRomines@cityofmadison.com>, “Knepp, Eric” <EKnepp@cityofmadison.com>, “Lynch, Thomas” <TLynch@cityofmadison.com>, “Callaway, Renee” <ReCallaway@cityofmadison.com>, “Winter, Mark” <MWinter@cityofmadison.com>, “Nehmer, Phillip” <PNehmer@cityofmadison.com>, “Stouder, Heather” <HStouder@cityofmadison.com>, “Rhodes-Conway, Satya V.” <SRhodes-Conway@cityofmadison.com>, “Bottari, Mary” <MBottari@cityofmadison.com>, “Orrantia, Leslie” <LOrrantia@cityofmadison.com> Subject: Potential Street/Lane Closures for Social Distancing during the COVID-19 EmergencyDear colleagues and alders,As you may know, Traffic Engineering has been making changes to our traffic infrastructures during the last few weeks due to the COVID-19 impacts, such as shorter signal cycles throughout the City, automatic pedestrian recalls, and social distance signage on shared use paths. Another social distancing measure we would like to implement soon is to close some streets and lanes where appropriate to provide more space for pedestrians and bicyclists. We would like to start implementing the changes next week. Please see pages 9-12 in the attached slides for the list of streets that we are considering for the first phase of this project. We would like to move forward on the following starting next week: · E Mifflin St · West Shore Dr · South Shore Dr · Clyde Gallagher Ave · Trailsway · Monterey Dr · Vilas Park Dr · Atwood Ave For N Sherman Ave, we thought about it but do not recommend it at this time due to impacts to Metro bus operation. For John Nolen Dr, there will be significant cost involved to make the traffic control safe and we are also developing some other options as well as a longer project from Lakeside St to Williamson St to cover the bridges along the causeway. We will bring that one back later. We were planning to bring this item for discussion at the April 15 Transportation Commission under item E1 (DOT COVID-19 action report), but are planning to amend the agenda to separate this issue out due to the high level of interest we heard from the public. While staff has been very mindful about emergency vehicle access, Metro transit operation, street maintenance and other needs and we don’t believe the recommended projects will cause significant problems, please let me, Renee Callaway or Mark Winter know if you have any concerns over these projects. We also welcome additional ideas for potential phase 2 or 3 projects (we do have a much longer list of candidates we are looking into than what is listed on page 13 in the attached slides). Stay well! Yang Tao, Ph.D., P.E. |
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
Here’s the pdf: TE COVID-19 Response
If this is the concern, they should probably shut down the bike paths, and since there is 50% less traffic, let the bikes use the streets. I think its the “opportunity” part of the headline that they are mostly focused on.
You can check it out yourself, but here are the slides that seem most interesting to me:
BUT WAIT, THEY’RE NOT DONE – MORE OPPORTUNITY!!!
They should just be clear. They are using this as a pilot to see if they want to make these changes more permanently. If they really were concerned, they’d do this in all the highest density areas of the city around the Capitol Square.
Yes, actually, some of us do believe that it would be a good idea to give walkers and bikers more room to spread out. I do.
I suggested Transportation Department look at this at the last Transportation Planning and Policy Board meeting on March 30th and work with the Parks Department and other relevant city agencies to explore this idea. I did so because I had observed very few cars on Sherman Avenue, and a surplus of pedestrians and bikers on the sidewalks, making it very difficult to maintain distance. This is an idea that has been implemented in many places to help facilitate social distancing so parks would not have to be closed.
There’s no mayoral or staff conspiracy for world domination here Brenda, just alders and staff following up on a suggestion made by at least one citizen and probably more.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/coronavirus-street-closures.html
My experience with E Mifflin Street, where there is usually a ton of bikes and pedestrians, is that there are very few people out and about and plenty of space for social distancing. It might be different in the area where they are closing E Mifflin – but closer to the Capital there is a SIGNIFICANT drop in not only car traffic, but bike and pedestrian traffic too. Plenty of room for social distancing. The complaint was about the bike paths, why not close them if that is where the concern is.