Silent Sports Sounds Off

Five-year trail building plan for Dane Co. Wis., excites

Posted by Joel Patenaude on April 5, 2012

As a newly relocated resident of Dane County, Wisconsin, I'm excited about the five-year plan, released last month, by the county parks department, to build hundreds of miles of new bicycle and pedestrian trails.

For me in Middleton, I'm especially happy to see plans for off-road trails northwest to Mazomanie along Co. Hwy. 14 and completion of the paved trail adjacent to State Hwy. 12 all the way to Sauk City. A new rail trail between Sauk City and Mazo would complete a decent loop for those wishing to avoid the myriad hills on rural roads in the interior.

The realization of the 15-mile Good Neighbor Trail, from Middleton to Mazomanie, and another southwest to Verona, is welcome indeed.

The bigger prize for eastside Madison residents would be the closing of the six-mile gap between the Capital City and Glacial Drumlin trails - the last link needed to get to Milwaukee or from there.

The plan, which includes no concrete timeline or price tag, will be driven in part by BikeDane 2012, an initiative kicked off at a meeting last week with Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and biking enthusiasts. And it builds on BikeDane 2010, a similar meeting his predecessor Kathleen Falk hosted, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

Amanda White of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin called the plan "important" and the recent meeting "outstanding."

Take a look at the map and the plan and see if you agree.