On August 11 the City of Madison closed a series of major streets across the isthmus (from Regent Street to Proudfit Street and John Nolen Drive to Willy Street) to car traffic for the annual Ride the Drive event.
Per the Ride the Drive website, “Ride the Drive encourages healthy living for adults and children by promoting alternative methods of transportation without the fear or noise of motor vehicles, for just a small part of one day a year.”
I am a big fan of Ride the Drive and, while I understand the impetus for hosting the event in different parts of Madison, I am especially enthusiastic about the event when it is downtown like it was this year.
Madison has an outstanding system of bike trails and I use those trails regularly. (I also drive a car around Madison, honestly more than I should, given our network of bike trails.) There is something cool, though, about riding my bike down the middle of John Nolen drive, rather than on the narrower lake path; I feel like empowered, emboldened. There is something magical about biking through traffic lights without worrying about cars, without wondering if a particular driver sees me.
US cities tend to be designed for cars so it is unusual to experience even a segment of our city without cars. Riding on Sunday I noticed some businesses that I never noticed when I drive a car down those same streets. Indeed, there’s research suggesting that bike lanes and pedestrian zones create an uptick in profitability for nearby businesses.
I also appreciated seeing the mix of participants--adults with kids in trailers, little kids on tiny bikes where the kid was peddling crazy fast, serious bikers with all the fancy gear, unicyclists, and older, less fit bikers like me, too. It felt like the city belonged to us, that we were a community, enjoying these roads together. It was a feeling that I do not get when I’m idling in traffic on that same isthmus.
So, big thanks to the City Parks staff and all the volunteers and supporters who made Ride the Drive possible. We had a great time. And, inspired by the event, I'm going to ride more and drive less.
Kathy is the Director of the Dane County’s Office of Energy and Climate Change. In that role she's leading efforts to implement the Climate Action Plan. Prior to coming to Dane County, Kathy led Cool Choices and, prior to that, she led Wisconsin's Focus on Energy program.
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