The UnCompromise

 

[Cartoons by the genius Andy Singer, andysinger.com]

La Crosse has spent a whole lot of time, energy, and money on making active transportation-related plans. We had the Toole Design Group-led 2015 Transportation Vision plan which promised separated bike lanes on Losey, La Crosse Street, Third and Fourth Streets, and South Avenue. We have the 2018 Transportation Demand Management Plan, the 2022 Climate Action Plan, the 2040 Comprehensive Plan (2023), our Complete Streets ordinance, and the Bike-Ped Master Plan 2024 update. 

The plans say we want more and better bike infrastructure. We want fewer cars. We want safer places for kids and families, people of all ages and abilities, to bike. We want healthier, safer spaces for bicyclists and pedestrians. We want reduced vehicle miles traveled. We want people to be able to replace cars with active transportation for short trips.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation looked at many of those plans and held several public input sessions as it worked on its own plans for upgrades to the Highways 16, 35, and 53 corridors. 

And then, a miracle happened. 

The state Department of Transportation offered a plan that includes protected bike lanes where people actually want to go. And the DOT will pay for it. 

In late 2025, two options for Highway 53 were presented to the city, including upgrades to the section that runs through downtown La Crosse, Third and Fourth Streets.

Alternative One removes one lane of parking and provides a parking-protected two-way bike lane on each street. 

Alternative Two offers slightly wider sidewalks, slightly narrower parking lanes and zero biking infrastructure.

Many people weighed in at the public input sessions and in emails to the city council supporting the bike lanes. Even the AARP wrote a letter of support for bike lanes. 

But, some of the people who own businesses downtown don't want more access for bicyclists. They want parking.

In November, the Judiciary and Administration committee voted to endorse the no bike lanes option - Alternative 2. But, at the November Common Council Meeting, Council Member Larry Sleznikow, chair of the City's Bike Ped Advisory Committee, offered an amended resolution that would endorse Alternative 1. 

During the discussion, another amendment was offered, to push the decision to February and ask WisDOT to come up with a third alternative that gives us limitless parking plus bike lanes (and a unicorn in every back yard). That amended motion passed.

Since that request  is physically impossible, in January, WisDOT proposed a third alternative which they called a compromise but which is really a Bugs Bunny-style UnCompromise. In this version, there are no bike lanes that go to places people might want to go - restaurants, shops, services - but there are some bike lanes added from Vine Street North to La Crosse Street where there is not much people would want to access.

(The genius Andy Singer has a cartoon for that, too.)

Alternative One IS the compromise. Some parking gets to stay, but some of this public space that the whole public pays for gets turned into bike lanes, making things safer and more accessible for non-drivers - bicyclists and pedestrians - as our myriad plans promise.

There will be a special meeting of the city's Bike-Ped Advisory Committee on Wednesday, January 28 at 1:00 p.m. You can access it online at Zoom link: https://cityoflacrosse-org.zoom.us/j/83941902780?pwd=dm96S21idGJMdWdxUkdRRE96RUZSdz09  OR Meeting ID: 839 4190 2780, Passcode: 856024 

At their regular meeting on January 13, BPAC members seemed to be leaning toward the UnCompromise. Should advocates be satisfied with, "the best we can get"? Who decides what's the best we can get?

This issue will come before the Judiciary and Administration committee at its Feb. 3 meeting at 6 p.m. in the council chamber. Public input is allowed at this meeting. Arrive and register before 6 p.m. if you wish to speak.

The council will vote on which option to support at its February 12 meeting. There is no public input allowed at City Council meetings unless by special exception.

If you want to have input, please attend meetings if you can, and email zzcouncilmembers@cityoflacrosse.org AND cityclerk@cityoflacrosse.org before February 3 if possible, or by February 12 if not. Reference resolution #25-1265. Visiting the resolution site will also provide access to the many emails sent so far about the issue.

Here are a few things to consider:

• The city's many plans say we want better biking, more safety, less car pollution, fewer carbon emissions, and more equitable and healthier ways for people to get around.
• Our Climate Action Plan, which is our roadmap for reducing carbon emissions, a requirement for averting climate disaster, says we must reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled and we must improve and promote bicycling. 
• Bicycles are not toys or sporting equipment. Bicycles are the most efficient method of transportation on Earth.  

 

• Good bike infrastructure = protected bike lanes. Not paint. Not sharrows. 
• Good bike infrastructure increases the number of cyclists, especially women, older people, and children/youth.
• Good bike infrastructure encourages more people to cycle. 
• Good bike infrastructure reduces carbon emissions.
• Good bike infrastructure reduces pollution.
• Good bike infrastructure is healthier for residents and communities and more climate friendly.
• Good bike infrastructure makes our roads safer FOR EVERYONE (not just cyclists).
• Roads and highways are public spaces paid for by the public and for the public. They are not exclusively for cars. We have been bullied and marketed into giving up our rights to these important public spaces. Streets are for everyone.
• There are waaaay more than enough parking spaces in this area, including expensive, subsidized ramps and surface lots that are a drain on the city's economy and vibrancy. There are five public parking ramps with more than 3,300 spaces and several public and private surface parking facilities in the downtown. Removing a few publicly-subsidized on-street parking spaces still leaves hundreds of extra spaces downtown. The city's Transportation Demand Management page notes that, "An average parking space costs close to $5 per day in lost revenue by displacing higher tax paying uses. Parking is typically oversupplied in the city by 65 percent, as well." 

Unofficial, citizen-made 2017 map of surface and ramp parking (red) or parking plus commerce/housing (pink) in downtown La Crosse

• Countless studies have shown that improving bike-ped infrastructure improves business.  Here's another one. Here's another one. Here's another one.
• Studies have demonstrated that business owners tend to "underestimate the percentage of their customers who arrive by means other than private automobile and underestimate latent, unmet demand for access to their business by means other than private automobile."
• WisDOT estimates that more than 40 percent of the residents in the City of La Crosse are non-drivers. If you just consider ages 15+ it's 30 to 40 percent, tens of thousands of people. Many, if not most, non-drivers are bicyclists.
• Community benefits, health benefits, safety benefits, stronger economies, and more transportation options come from good bike infrastructure.

So, our city plans, public input, research, and facts say - we need bike lanes. And some, not all, business owners say we don't. 

What do you say?