Village Board to Choose Between Protected vs. Un-Protected Bike Lanes

Representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will be present at the November 7 Shorewood Village Board meeting to discuss the Lake Drive re-design/re-construction project. The DOT will present a project overview, and review the scope and results of the second public information meeting (held 6/12/2022). Importantly, at Monday’s meeting DOT will describe its four current designs, each of which include bike lanes, and two of which propose a “parking-protected bike lane.”  WisDot will be asking the Village Board to choose one of those designs on Monday.   

Greater Shorewood Bikers ("GSB") is asking Shorewood residents to contact Village and DOT officials, to express support for a protected bike lane on Lake Drive in Shorewood.  

For more information about the four alternatives, see the DOT’s Power Point Presentation slides (pages 10 -30 in the Village Board packet, available at this link). In particular, see slide numbers 17-20 which provide diagrams for each of the four current alternatives.

Milwaukee has bollard-protected bike lanes on several streets (such as on Locust Avenue and North Avenue), and parking-and-bollard-protected bike lanes on several other streets (for example, on Kilbourn Avenue). 

(The "parking-and-bollard-style protected bike lane" on Kilbourn Avenue.)

As the Shorewood Village Board considers the merits of the four design options, I suggest it should consider these five questions:

1. Which option will more likely make Lake Drive safer for all users?
2. Which option will more likely increase bike use and the adoption of active/healthy lifestyles in Shorewood more generally? 
3. Which option will more likely make Lake Drive safer for bike riders (and users of the several other emerging micromobility means of getting around, such as e-bikes and e-scooters)?
4. Which option will make it more likely that young, educated and talented individuals will want to move to Shorewood, and grow a family or business here?
5. Which option is most consistent with Shorewood’s oft expressed desire to be the premier walkable and bikeable community in this area?

The DOT’s materials indicate that the DOT has not changed the legal position that it articulated at the Public Information Meeting (“PIM”) in June. That is, the DOT’s position (which is correct) is that federal law requires if federal funds are going to used that bikes lanes be added to Lake Drive when it is reconstructed. Clearly, the Village wants to use federal funds to do the re-construction (unless there are some Shorewood residents who want to fork over ~$7MM to repave Lake Drive in 2025, just to keep it the way it is configured now).

There are several different ways that bike lanes could be added to Lake Drive. As indicated by our prior blog entries (see below), GSB has been advocating for protected bike lanes on Lake Drive.  In its Power Point Presentation, the DOT has presented four options as to how parking lanes, travel lanes, and bike lanes could be configured on Lake Drive.   

Of the four options, the Director of the Village’s DPW (Leeann Butschlick) is at least preliminarily recommending to the Village Board that the Village Board choose “Option 3,” the option that is shown on DOT slide 19 (entitled “Buffered 5-Foot Bike Lane – Parking at Curb”).  In support of that option, Director Butschlick in her written materials to the Board only indicates the following: “This option provides for the requested buffered dedicated bike lane while providing the standard layout of travel and parking lanes familiar to the traveling public.”

I will be attending next Monday’s meeting, and advocating in favor of “Option 4.” The only difference between Option 3 and Option 4 is the location of the northbound bike lane; that is, whether the bike lane will be placed next to the driving lane (Option 3), or between the parking lane and the curb (Option 4).   

Here is why Option 4 is the better option.

There is a substantial amount of research indicating the benefits of protected bike lanes. If you are unfamiliar with protected bike lanes, I recommend watching the short 4-minute video at this link. If you are interested in reviewing a brief summary of some of the many research studies that have identified the multiple benefits of protected bike lanes, I recommend this “protected bike lane research compilation” webpage. Finally, National Geographic Magazine published an article last year regarding the increasing rates of everyday, routine biking in U.S. urban areas, and how better biking infrastructure and networks (including protected bike lanes), are playing an important role in that trend. 

If we want to have a “complete streets” approach to street design in Shorewood, that means the street designs we move towards must be ones that create streets that can confidently and safely be used by all types of road users (not just drivers, but also pedestrians, bike riders and other micromobility users). We want to encourage more people more often to get around Shorewood using means other than motor vehicles. We want that because that is good for the environment, good for individuals’ health, good for the healthy/active lifestyles we want to promote in Shorewood, and good for the community feeling we want to create in Shorewood. The speed limit on Lake Drive is 30 miles per hour. If we want to configure Lake Drive so it is a street that families feel safe riding on with their children (which we do), the option that is the safest, and the one most likely to engender that feeling of safety for biker riders and other micromobility users, is the option that puts the “bike” lane furthest away from the 30-mph-traveling-4100-pound-on-average car (a car possibly being operated by a distracted or impaired driver). 

One can think of painted on bike lanes as “Bike Lanes 1.0” and protected bike lanes as “Bike Lanes 2.0.” Studies clearly indicated that protected bike lanes are safer than conventional “just paint” bike lanes. Shorewood wants to be a leader when it comes to being bike friendly. What Shorewood does as to bike lanes, will likely influence how bike lanes are configured on Lake Drive in Milwaukee, Whitefish Bay, Fox Point and Bayside. 

This is a once in a generation opportunity, because Lake Drive is reconstructed approximately once every 20 years.  As we think about Lake Drive's design now, we should think ahead to how mobility in this area is likely to change in the next 10 to 25 years. Some trends that we are likely to see during that period:

• More people in this area purchasing e-bikes, and choosing to use e-bikes instead of motor vehicles.
• More people in this area purchasing e-scooters, and choosing to use e-scooters instead of motor vehicles.
• More people choosing to use traditional bikes to get to work or around the Village (instead of motor vehicles), so as to gain the health benefits associated with bike-usage and active lifestyles.
• The increase in shared bike, e-bike and/or e-scooter networks (both dockless and undocked systems), and the use of such services/networks to get around instead of  using motor vehicles.
• Decreases in personal motor vehicle ownership, as more people in this area work from home, or decide they want to live a more car-free lifestyle.
• Vehicle crash avoidance systems continuing to improve, so that they become better at enabling cars from coming into contact with pedestrians, bike riders, and other users of micromobility means; this development will cause more people to perceive that it is safe to use bikes or scooters, and be more likely to more often use such methods (as opposed to using motor vehicles as frequently as they do today). 

Several of these trends suggest that we may want to adopt a new term for what we have traditionally been calling “bike lanes,” and instead start calling them something else (e.g., “micromobility lanes,” or “MM lanes,” or “alt lanes”). As we decide where such lanes should be placed on the public right-of-way, we should choose to locate these lanes where they are most likely to encourage people to use alternatives-to-motor-vehicles. Actually safety, and the perception of safety, are both important. Protected bike lanes in other communities (e.g., Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, Chicago, New York and San Francisco), have been very popular, have improved road safety for all road users including drivers, and have increased ridership levels. (See this “protected bike lane research compilation” webpage to see citations to the many studies that support the above assertions.)   

Shorewood likes to promote itself as a walkable, bikeable, active community. It differentiates itself from other competing communities by promoting itself as such a community. Is that just all talk? The location of bikes lanes on Lake Drive in Shorewood is an opportunity for Shorewood to act on its convictions. By being the first community on Lake Drive to choose to add a protected bike lane on Lake Drive, that increases the likelihood that other neighboring communities will follow Shorewood’s lead.

Lake Drive is one of the most visible streets in Shorewood. If it is configured in an outdated manner (“Bike Lanes 1.0”), that sends the message that Shorewood is an outdated, non-progressive, non-cutting edge community. If Lake Drive is configured in a modern manner (“Bike Lanes 2.0”), that helps to send the message Shorewood wants and needs to convey. Shorewood is in a competition with other communities to attract young, educated, and talented individuals and families, and those individuals and families are looking for communities that are truly bike friendly and progressive in their street designs (not ones that just “talk the talk”).

GSB asks you consider sending an email to Village officials, that says something along the following lines:   

I live in Shorewood [and/or I regularly bike on Lake Drive]. I have reviewed the four alternative designs the DOT has prepared regarding bike lanes on Lake Drive. Of those four alternatives, I favor “Option 4,” the one entitled ““Buffered 5-Foot Bike lane – Bike Lane at Curb.” I do that because having the bike lane for northbound riders be between the curb and the parking lane (rather than having the bike lane next to motor vehicles weighing on average 4100 pounds traveling at 30 mph), is the better and safer alternative. Shorewood choosing to approve a protected bike lane on the east side of Lake Drive, is consistent with Shorewood’s identity as a community that wants to promote healthy and active lifestyles. If we are committed to a complete streets approach in Shorewood (one where all types of users feel confident they can safely use all streets in Shorewood), we need to take this opportunity to create at least one protected bike lane in Shorewood. (Milwaukee is ahead of us, as it has already built protected bike lanes on several streets, and the Mayor recently proposed in his 2023 budget $500,000 for new protected bike lanes in Milwaukee.) People choose to move to Shorewood because of its reputation as a pedestrian-friendly and bike-friendly community. Protected bike lanes are safer for bikers, and are superior to conventional “just paint” types of bike lanes. Lake Drive is one of the most biked on streets in Shorewood, and it is time it had modern, first-class bike infrastructure. When Shorewood has the opportunity to choose protected bike lanes, it should do so. I ask that on Monday you vote in favor of “Option 4” (the one entitled ““Buffered 5-Foot Bike lane – Bike Lane at Curb”). Thank you for your service and consideration of my above comments.

Feel free to cut and paste the above into an email, but please send something, no matter how short (constituent emails can make a huge difference in decisions made by Village officials). If you are sending an email on this issue, please send your email to the following Village officials (and to the DOT team members working on this project).  Their email addresses are as follows: 

PresidentMcKaig@shorewoodwi.gov;  TrusteeArndorfer@villageofshorewood.org; trusteebaldauff@shorewoodwi.gov; trusteecouto@shorewoodwi.gov; trusteeIrcink@shorewoodwi.gov; trusteelynn@shorewoodwi.gov; TrusteeStokebrand@villageofshorewood.org; lbutschlick@shorewoodwi.gov; glbrunk@gmail.com; bgriepentrog@shorewoodwi.gov; debra.tarnow@dot.wi.gov; Reem.Shahin@dot.wi.gov; abubb@kapurinc.com; canderson@shorewoodwi.gov; tkuhlmann3920@icloud.com; lakedriveshorewood@gmail.com

I have already sent an email to the above individuals expressing my support for Option 4, and I will be attending Monday’s meeting to advocate for protected bike lanes. If you would like to attend Monday’s meeting in person, that could have an impact as well. The meeting starts at 6:00 pm on Monday evening at the Village Courtroom in Village Hall. 

The mission of GSB is to encourage people to bike more (and drive less), and to that end, we advocate for better, safer infrastructure for bike riders and pedestrians. GSB believes that making Shorewood an even better place than it already is to bike and walk, and less car-centric and car-dependent, makes Shorewood an even better place than it already is to live, play, raise a family, work and grow a business.

If there are any questions, or you would like to discuss this issue with me (whether you favor protected bike lanes or oppose them), do not hesitate to reach out to me, as I’m always happy to have a civil discussion with folks on these issues.  Thanks for your consideration of these issues.

Alexander "Sandie" Pendleton (414.418.4469; sandiependleton@gmail.com)