On February 27 Alder Golden sponsored a public meeting to discuss the Drive: the small, woodsy lane which runs behind Edgewood from Woodrow Street to Edgewood Avenue. Presentations were made by several City officials and neighbors.

The historical and legal material presented made it clear that the Drive has a very special status. Under a special easement given by the predecessor of Edgewood College, the Drive is not a city street. Rather, the easement was arranged in connection with the creation of Vilas Park and is, in a sense, an extension of that Park. The Drive was specifically to enable Madisonians to "escape the noise and dirt of the city and commune with nature." The Drive was promoted as "an excellent size for an afternoon promenade with your family, with your children, with your baby carriage." The original Agreement, which is still in force, contains a provision that if the Drive ever is put "to any other use than park and pleasure-driving purposes" the easement could end. The City legal affairs department regards this reversion clause as one to take very seriously. . Our collective problem is that "pleasure-driving" constitutes a very small portion of the car traffic which presently uses the Drive (nearly 600 cars per day). The Drive, for many, is viewed as a city street, connecting Monroe Street with Fish Hatchery via Vilas Park, or points east and south with the Edgewood Campus. City traffic statistics confirm that traffic speeds are much too high for the narrow and irregular lane, which is used increasingly by bicyclists, runners and pedestrians. Inadvertently, we are indeed violating the terms of the Agreement and its permanent requirements for "park and pleasure-driving purposes" only.

While there was widespread agreement on the problem, no solution or set of solutions received clear approval at the February 27 meeting. Satisfaction was expressed with City Engineering's plan to resurface rather than reconstruct the Drive, doing little or no damage to trees and other vegetation. Likewise it is agreed that the Drive will not be given urban features like curbs and gutters, that it will not be widened, and that the tree will remain in the middle of the street. All parties agree that there is no need for the Drive to be resurfaced this year. A number of creative ideas were suggested and discussed and will be looked at further before decisions on the Drive are taken.

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Last Modified: 22-Apr-08 12:29 PM

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