A better North Sherman...this summer!

Updated 2/18

Last fall, Ald. Rhodes-Conway held a community meeting to discuss residents' problems with North Sherman Avenue. The city's traffic engineering department has completed its report to recommend Sherman be reconfigured with bike lanes, pedestrian islands, and two auto traffic lanes plus a center "TWLTL" turning lane.

Rhodes-Conway is already charging ahead, having introduced the plan last week on a fast track to committee review and approval. Reading my earlier post, you'd probably think I approve, and you'd be right...mostly. It still needs a bit of work.

The map to the left shows the project area, from Trailsway to the railroad tracks, along with current and proposed pedestrian and bus facilities. Notice anything? Maybe the huge gap along the northern half of Sherman?

Compare the seven blocks north of Schlimgen Avenue to the six blocks south: To the north, there are no improvements planned to serve the bus stops at Melrose Street, St. Paul's church, or businesses like DuWayne's Salon and the Markway Tavern. To the south, folks headed to Northgate Center or the middle school will have four pedestrian islands and two signalized crossings available to them.

Of course, I have a bit of self-interest as a resident of the under-served northern half of the corridor and a daily bus commuter. But it's hard to argue there isn't a huge disparity in pedestrian and bus improvements between the two halves of this map.

As for replacing two auto traffic lanes with two bike lanes: Madison has more than enough experience by now with these conversions -- Thompson Drive, Odana Road, and Old University, to name a few -- for us to be confident that concerns over business and residential access are a bit overblown. The business access argument in particular mystifies me, since there is so much off-street parking that hardly anyone parks on Sherman during the allowed evenings and Sundays anyway. Low household income, a function of our high population of fixed-income seniors, is the real challenge for North Sherman businesses.

Bike lanes will be a real, meaningful improvement spurring bike commuting and bike commerce along the whole corridor. Having a safer, higher-speed route along the most ideal grade in the area will serve more experienced riders, while modest improvements to the existing Ruskin Street bike route will meet the needs of families and more casual cyclists.

Overall, it's a pretty good plan that will make the area more attractive to young families and professionals, doing far more to boost our businesses than an extra street lane ever could. It could be even better if we had some more balance to serve the entire neighborhood.

Update: Ald. Rhodes-Conway got back to me and said that Traffic Engineering ruled out full islands in the northern part of the project area because of driveway accessibility concerns, but a low-profile island might be possible at Melrose to serve the bus stops. Stay tuned...