Soglin Transportation Plan Makes Step Towards New Tansit Master Plan

Monday, September 12, 2011

There's a Madison Metro bus stop on Northport Drive, across from Warner Park. The stop is popular with both north side residents and people attending events like Mallards baseball games.

But anyone attempting to cross Northport at that location does so at their own risk: There's no crosswalk to guide pedestrians safely across the busy four-lane thoroughfare.

"If we really want to do things like increase bus ridership, we need to make sure people can actually get to the stop," says Madison Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway.

Those are the types of issues that might be addressed in a proposed "multi-modal" transportation plan for the city of Madison. (Multi-modal is a planning term referring to many different modes of transportation such as cars, bikes, walking or transit.)

Mayor Paul Soglin has included $500,000 in his new capital budget to hire a consultant for what's billed as the first comprehensive look at the link between transportation and land use in the city.

"Major goals for the Master Plan for a Livable City will be to make Madison a more walkable and bikeable city and to create more opportunities for bicycling and transit transportation. The planning process will include a review of land use plans and build on existing transportation plans for bicycling, pedestrians, transit and autos. Public outreach and participation will be a major component of the planning process," the mayor wrote in his budget announcement.

The city has scores of planning documents regarding neighborhoods, parkways, bicycle routes and roadways but nothing that puts all the pieces together, says Rhodes-Conway, who represents the Warner Park area.

"We have many plans but most of them are either so high-level, like the Comprehensive Plan, or are geographic and look at just one specific neighborhood," she says.

The effort being forwarded by the mayor still needs approval by the City Council as part of budget deliberations, but it could set the tone for more "infill development" -- or redevelopment within the existing urban setting.

"If we don't build up more areas within the existing city, you are moving toward more auto use," says mayoral aide Anne Monks.

If planning money is approved, the mayor would appoint a special committee for recommendations on what to include in the transportation plan. An independent consultant would then be hired to work with staff on drafting a final report.

"What I'd like to see are not specific recommendations for an area or a street but rather a thorough cross-check of existing plans, so we can see places they overlap or contradictions where they don't work well together," says Rhodes-Conway.

The plan will not focus on bicycling per se, although biking will be certainly be a part of any Madison transportation discussion, Monks says.

Soglin got off to a rocky start with Madison's rabid bicycling crowd, many of whom had been staunch supporters of former Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.

Some local "bikies" were still bristling over a blog post in 2007 in which Soglin derided those who insist on bicycle commuting during snowstorms. Then, shortly after winning the election, Soglin talked about canceling "Ride the Drive" because of complaints from downtown businesses and churches about closing off John Nolen Drive to traffic. The route has since been tweaked, with a fall "Ride the Drive" scheduled for Sunday Sept. 25.

But Monks notes that Soglin has been a bicyclist for years and as mayor previously was instrumental in developing many of the current routes.

"He still rides a lot," she says.

In fact, I remember seeing Soglin back in the 1980s wearing his wool shorts and pedaling a vintage 10-speed down to Paoli. That should earn him some street cred with a new generation of cyclists.

Speaking of bicycling, La Crosse last month became the first city in Wisconsin to adopt a "complete streets" ordinance which requires that bicycles and pedestrians be considered when reconstructing streets.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/business/biz_beat/article_85fb1056-da5b-11e0-9c4e-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1Xkjy7rt6

Written by Mike Ivy

UW-Oshkosh Recieves Award for "Wasting" Everything

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh recently received the 2011 Silver Waste-to-Energy Excellence Award from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) for its innovative and successful efforts in solid waste management.

The award recognizes the University’s first-in-the-nation, commercial-scale dry fermentation anaerobic biodigester.

Load-in of the digester recently began, and energy production is expected to begin soon. The renewable energy facility includes heat and power generators, which initially will produce up to 5 percent of the campus’ electricity and heat.

The majority of the 8,000 tons of organic biowaste used in the biodigester will be provided by campus and community sources. At Blackhawk Commons, food scraps will be collected in separate dumpsters to help fuel the biodigester. At Reeve Union, food waste will initially be gathered in the kitchen and will eventually be collected from dining areas, said Marty Strand, assistant director for dining operations at UW Oshkosh.

“This is a true sustainability award for the campus, as the SWANA competition covers the technology, economics, community relations, worker safety, environmental advantages and aesthetics of the plant,” said Mike Lizotte, sustainability director at UW Oshkosh. “They looked at how UW Oshkosh balances financial, environmental and social concerns as we find new ways to create renewable energy and handle waste.”

Each year, SWANA’s Excellence Awards Program recognizes outstanding solid waste programs and facilities that advance the practice of environmentally and economically sound solid waste management. Programs also must demonstrate that they are fiscally and environmentally responsible through their compliance with all applicable federal, state and local regulations.

The award was accepted by UW Oshkosh representatives recently at a solid waste conference.

The dry fermentation anaerobic biodigester is the first digester for UW Oshkosh. Plans for a wet anaerobic biodigester/biogas production facility partnership at Rosendale Dairy, the state’s largest dairy farm in Pickett, were recently announced. With appropriate contracts, permits and financing arrangements in place, ground is projected to be broken on the facility in spring 2012, with a projected biodigester startup in 2013.

Article written by Amanda Wimmer

UW-Oshkosh continues to set the gold standard for UW campus sustainability

Friday, September 09, 2011

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh recently received the 2011 Silver Waste-to-Energy Excellence Award from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) for its innovative and successful efforts in solid waste management.

The award recognizes the University’s first-in-the-nation, commercial-scale dry fermentation anaerobic biodigester.

Load-in of the digester recently began, and energy production is expected to begin soon. The renewable energy facility includes heat and power generators, which initially will produce up to 5 percent of the campus’ electricity and heat.

The majority of the 8,000 tons of organic biowaste used in the biodigester will be provided by campus and community sources. At Blackhawk Commons, food scraps will be collected in separate dumpsters to help fuel the biodigester. At Reeve Union, food waste will initially be gathered in the kitchen and will eventually be collected from dining areas, said Marty Strand, assistant director for dining operations at UW Oshkosh.

“This is a true sustainability award for the campus, as the SWANA competition covers the technology, economics, community relations, worker safety, environmental advantages and aesthetics of the plant,” said Mike Lizotte, sustainability director at UW Oshkosh. “They looked at how UW Oshkosh balances financial, environmental and social concerns as we find new ways to create renewable energy and handle waste.”

Each year, SWANA’s Excellence Awards Program recognizes outstanding solid waste programs and facilities that advance the practice of environmentally and economically sound solid waste management. Programs also must demonstrate that they are fiscally and environmentally responsible through their compliance with all applicable federal, state and local regulations.

The award was accepted by UW Oshkosh representatives recently at a solid waste conference.

The dry fermentation anaerobic biodigester is the first digester for UW Oshkosh. Plans for a wet anaerobic biodigester/biogas production facility partnership at Rosendale Dairy, the state’s largest dairy farm in Pickett, were recently announced. With appropriate contracts, permits and financing arrangements in place, ground is projected to be broken on the facility in spring 2012, with a projected biodigester startup in 2013.

This story was reported by Amanda Wimmer