Leaf and Yard Waste Collection Schedule Available, Food Scraps Recycling Program Update, Lower Speed Limits and Biking Adventure Project

Some news from the City:

New Leaf and Yard Waste Collection Schedule Now Available

Collection begins the week of October 11, 2020

For the fall of 2020, all neighborhoods of Madison have assigned days when they should set leaves and yard waste out for curbside collection.

The leaves and yard waste collection schedule is now available at www.cityofmadison.com/yardwaste.

Go to the Streets Division’s yard waste website and enter your address into the form provided to learn the dates when you should set out leaves and yard waste for pickup.

Residents without internet access can contact the Streets Division office that services their home to receive the set-out dates for their home.

How the Collection System Will Work

After entering your address, you will see three dates when you should set out leaves and yard waste for pickup.

You can set out leaves and yard waste for any or all of the scheduled set-out dates.

Each of the dates listed on the website is a Sunday.

Collection crews will be working through the scheduled neighborhoods the week following the date listed on the website.

Residents must get their leaves and yard waste out for collection by the dates shown on the website. Placing them out after the listed set-out dates may result in missing a collection opportunity.

Follow Collection Rules

Do not place yard waste into the street.

Placing yard waste into the street creates a nutrient-rich runoff that goes into the storm drains. The drains funnel water in our waterways, causing algae blooms other problems in our lakes. Keep our streets leaf-free and protect our lakes.

When the collection season is underway, you can pile leaves and yard waste loose on the terrace, or place the material into bags or under a tarp.

If bagging leaves and yard waste, compostable paper lawn bags are preferred. All bags should be kept open at the top so crews can identify what is inside.

More information about how to set leaves out for pickup can be found on the Streets Division’s website.

Drop-off Sites Hours Remain Limited – Expect Lines for Entry

The drop-off sites at 1501 W. Badger Rd, 4602 Sycamore Ave, and 402 South Point Rd are open to accept yard waste. The sites are open 7:30am to 2:50pm Monday to Friday, and 9:00am to 4:00pm on Saturdays.

The number of vehicles allowed into the unloading area at the sites is limited to help social distancing and the overall safety of the facilities.

Due to the limited hours and restrictions on the number of people unloading at a single time, you are likely to encounter a long line when trying to unload material at the drop-off sites – so please remember to pack your patience along with the materials you need to recycle or dispose.

Visit the Streets Division’s website for more information about the drop-off sites.

Additional Information
For additional information regarding yard waste collection or other Streets Division services, please visit www.cityofmadison.com/streets.

Residents can also call the Streets Division office that services their home (608-266-4681) during normal business hours, which is 7:30am to 4:00pm Monday to Friday.

Food Scraps Recycling at Drop-off Sites Ending October 2

Program will return in 2021

Food scraps recycling at the Streets Division drop-off sites will stop for the year on Friday, October 2, 2020.

The drop-off program will restart in 2021.

Food scraps recycling at the drop-off sites began this year on May 4 and nearly 8 tons of food waste was recycled into compost and electricity instead of going to the landfill.

The food scraps received at the sites was also uniformly clean. One of the persistent challenges with previous attempts at recovering food waste was items mixed in with the food waste that could not be processed – things like plastic bags, towels, and food wrappers. However, the drop-off program did not present these problems.

The Streets Division would like to thank all of those who participated in the program this year and being diligent about recycling only the correct items.

Why is the program ending now?

When the drop-off food scraps recycling program began, it was expected to last until the end of October. Due to the changes in the yard waste collection process, the Streets Division will need the truck used for food scraps as part of the leaf pickup operations earlier than initially expected.

Additional Information

For more information about the food scraps recycling program, please visit www.cityofmadison.com/FoodScraps.

Vision Zero: City to Lower Speed Limit on East Washington Avenue

The City of Madison will be reducing the speed limit on portions of East Washington Avenue starting Monday, September 28. On this 3-mile stretch of roadway, 2 people have been killed and 41 people seriously injured in traffic crashes between 2014 and 2019. There has also been an increase in dangerous driving behaviors and speeding since early 2020.

Data showed that speed limit changes to the following portions of East Washington Avenue would increase the safety of all roadway users.

• Pinckney Street to Baldwin Street from 35 mph to 25 mph
• Baldwin Street to Marquette Street from 35 mph to 30 mph

East Washington has recently redeveloped into an area with many shopping destinations, entertainment venues, and apartments with growing numbers of occupants. People are walking, biking and using transit more frequently throughout the area.

"We must commit to reducing speed limits in our streets, it is the right thing to do to protect everyone whether they are walking, biking, or driving. Lowering the speed limit by even 5 MPH significantly increases the chances of a person walking or biking surviving a crash and will reduce the severity of crashes involving people driving,” said Tom Lynch, Director of Transportation. “2020 has already had too many serious and fatal injuries due to traffic crashes and we must take action now to improve the safety of our streets.”

In addition to posting new speed limits, City of Madison Traffic Engineering will update traffic signal timing, improve the visibility of the crosswalks between Pinckney Street and Baldwin Street, and install bollards along the median on East Washington at Livingston Street to improve safety for people crossing the street. Digital signboards will be placed temporarily to alert drivers of the speed limit changes.

Additional streets that will have speed limit reductions later in 2020 include:

• Gammon Road from Watts Road to Colony will change from 35 mph to 30 mph
• Milwaukee Street from Stoughton Road to Thompson Drive will change from 35 mph to 25 mph
• Prairie Road from Raymond Road to Maple Grove Rd from 30 mph to 25 mph
• McKenna Boulevard from Raymond Road to Watts Road will change from 35 mph to 30 mph
• Post Road from Fish Hatchery Road to Irvington Way from 30 mph to 25 mph

What is Vision Zero?

Vision Zero is a data driven strategy intended to eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries on City streets by 2030 while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. For more information about the City of Madison’s Vision Zero initiative and to sign up for Vision Zero news updates, please see www.cityofmadison.com/visionzero

Madison Biking Adventure Project Cycles to Community Engagement

For the regular bicycle rider, finding dedicated biking lanes and city streets to ride in Madison is relatively easy. If you’re seeking a little adventure for your ride, your search can be a bit difficult. For many years, residents have been asking for natural surface bike facilities such as single track and pump tracks. Survey results, documented in the 2018-2023 Park and Open Space Plan show biking as a top desired parks amenity.

To respond to this demand and plan the addition of such amenities, Madison Parks applied for and received a planning grant from the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA), an organization that specializes in bike facility planning projects such as these.

The result of these planning efforts has yielded a rough draft of what we are preliminarily calling the Madison Bicycle Adventure Trail or MadBAT.

MadBAT is a natural surface trail, optimized for biking yet allows for walking and running. It is a citywide network of nodes and arms connecting parks and greenways to neighborhoods. The network would be implemented much like the existing paved bicycle facilities Madison enjoys, over the course of years and in many different phases.

The first step is creating a master plan document envisioning trail network locations and project goals with input from the community. The City of Madison Parks Division is hosting three community engagement meetings. At each of the meetings, City staff will provide a short overview of the project, followed by two 15-minute breakout sessions for attendees to learn more about off-road natural surface trails, their purpose, benefits, and components. The meetings will conclude with a question and answer session.

The community is invited to attend these meetings and provide feedback. Prior to the meeting and providing feedback, please review the online project Story Map  introducing the project.

Each of the meetings will be held virtually, from 6:00 – 7:30pm on the following dates.

• Tuesday, October 13 - REGISTER AND ATTEND 
• Thursday, October 15 - REGISTER AND ATTEND 
• Wednesday, October 28 - REGISTER AND ATTEND 

If you are unable to attend a meeting, you may submit feedback or questions to madbat@cityofmadison.com.

 

As always, if there is anything I can do to help, feel free to reach out: district19@cityofmadison.com

-Keith F