The City of Madison’s Transportation Commission voted to approve multiple aspects of the “Safe Streets Madison” project last Wednesday, including nine projects around the University of Wisconsin campus, which will bring painted green lines on high traffic bike lanes and traffic signs warning drivers to look out for bikers and pedestrians.
District 8 Ald. MGR Govindarajan has been working on this project since being sworn in to the position mid-April. As a UW student himself, student issues are at the forefront of what he advocates for.
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“We often see when people move in, when students move in mainly, this might be their first time biking in a larger city, and we’ll see people biking on sidewalks, we’ll see people biking the wrong way on the streets, so I wanted to address that in some way,” Govindarajan said.
Govindarajan said the project will add green-painted bike lanes and new traffic signs, warning vehicles of crossing pedestrians and bikes, to nine different intersections around District 8, which makes up a large portion of UW’s campus.
The cost of the nine projects will total $59,000, funded by the city’s 2023 budget that ends this year, according to a press release from Govindarajan.
“I’m hoping that this is only the beginning,” Govindarajan said. “I would really like to see the city invest even more in students and downtown specifically, especially when it comes to bike paths.”
Govindarajan said in the press release that the UW campus experiences the highest rates of bike-pedestrian accidents in the city, but financial investment by local government in student issues is a good sign.
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The current initiative includes work on around nine intersections throughout the city, excluding the University Avenue and Park Street intersection, a major spot where students have difficulty navigating left turns, Govindarajan said.
“We need a lot more funding than just the $60,000 when it comes to University Avenue,” Govindarajan said. He hopes to address more difficult intersections around Madison in the future.
