Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee Meeting - May 14, 2026
Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee Meeting - May 14, 2026
The Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) of La Crosse held a hybrid meeting on May 14, 2026, in the Miller Room at City Hall and via Zoom. The agenda included updates on pedestrian accessibility, a discussion on bicycle registration requirements, planning for the 2026 Week Without Driving campaign, and preparations for upcoming biking events. The committee approved the minutes from the previous meeting and heard presentations from city staff and community advocates. Note: The meeting minutes list the date as May 12, 2026, while the provided agenda indicates May 14, 2026; this summary uses the date supplied in the instructions.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of April 14, 2026 Meeting Minutes: Motion by Young, seconded by Pueschner to approve the minutes as presented. The motion carried on voice vote.
Discussion Items
- Discussion on Pedestrian-Related Opportunities: Cullen Haldeman, ADA coordinator and sidewalk specialist from the Engineering Department, provided an update on the Banish transition plan for city facilities, sidewalk trip hazard repairs, and the sidewalk infill project on 29th Street. He addressed questions about pedestrian signals, accessible curb ramps, and the city's use of five-section signal heads which prevent leading pedestrian intervals. Committee members discussed constraints with state-owned signals and catch basin placements, and requested that the city recommend moving catch basins during state highway design. No formal action was taken.
- Discussion on Article VI Division 2 Sec. 44-222 (Bicycle Registration): Kevin Hundt proposed removing subsection 44-222A, which makes bicycle registration mandatory, arguing it is unenforced and could be misused. Officer Whitney Hughes defended the registration program as a victim-centered tool for recovering stolen bikes and tracking bike thieves, noting that citations are rarely issued. The committee debated the pros and cons but made no motion to repeal the section.
- Discussion on 2026 Week Without Driving (October 1-8): Kathy Van Meren presented the national campaign, highlighting that 40% of La Crosse residents are non-drivers. She suggested BPAC involvement through events like walk audits, film screenings (e.g., “Cycling Cities”), and social media campaigns. Chelsea Boldon noted that International Walk to School Day (October 7) could be tied in. The committee discussed potential activities but took no formal action.
- Update on 2026 Ride with the Mayor and Citywide Bike Rodeo: Jenna reported that the Ride with the Mayor is scheduled for June 12 at 9:00 AM, with a rain date likely in August or September. The bike rodeo is tentatively set for July 21 or July 23, from 2:30 to 4:30 PM, in coordination with Parks and Recreation. Committee members suggested adding driver education components. No vote was taken.
Key Outcomes
- The April 14, 2026 meeting minutes were approved.
- No formal votes were taken on the discussion items; the committee noted the information and suggestions.
- Kevin Hundt requested that a future agenda item be added to consider a resolution thanking city departments for repairing the Marsh Trail.
- The committee agreed to continue planning for Week Without Driving and the bike rodeo events.
Meeting Transcript
Yeah, I think we heard of Sergeant Hughes who's planning to join. Okay, so we'll give an extra couple of minutes here. I didn't get back to you about the audience. I don't have to eric and I forgot to have that. Okay, yeah, no worries. Yeah. Why don't we go ahead and get started? Um it appears we have everybody from the committee either in person or online, except um Officer Hughes at the moment, and I'm hoping she'll be able to join us momentarily. So welcome everyone. Um I am joining and chairing remotely. I'm hoping people can hear me okay. I'm hoping I can hear people when the discussion, as I had mentioned earlier, it's sometimes a bit challenging online to at least for me to discern when multiple people start talking and um hearing them clearly, so I'll do my best. I'd be looking for a motion to approve those minutes. I'll move to approve. Okay, a motion uh by Robbie. Do we have a second? Second by Randy. Any any corrections or modifications to the minutes? Not seeing any. All those in favor of approving the minutes as presented, say aye or thumbs up. Any opposed? Not seeing any. Okay, our minutes are approved. Our first agenda item is a discussion of pedestrian-related opportunities. And for that, we have our ADA coordinator and sidewalk. Uh, I'm sorry, Colin, I don't have your exact title, but um sidewalk um guru uh Colin Haldeman from Engineering joining us. And Colin, I think um we hear from a lot of folks that um you know pedestrian issues are very important, just as we are very concerned about bicycle issues or mobility issues, pedestrian issues are very important. And I guess we were looking for your perspective on you know how things are um when it comes to pedestrian access, what type of work uh you're involved with, um, including accessibility and what type of projects are in store. And I guess the last thing I know that um the consultant Benish has been working on you know, looking at our facilities, looking at our buildings. If you could give us an update on that um in particular, related to pedestrian issues. Yeah, thanks for having me. Um I can start off with Benish update. Um three more facility inspection sheets I have to send me in. Um, and then it'll be completely done with all of our facilities for the year. Um, and then the next process is to actually write the final product, I guess, of the entire uh draft of our transition plan. It's gonna be very long, expensive, and once they have it all put together, we'll figure out a timeline of what would be realistic for the city of lacrosse to actually become fully compliant city. Um be a very long process, but um it looks good. Honestly, everything's been moving along really well. Um you mean a little where they are where um I'll fast a little long if they have if I have any questions that literally pop up on a day-to-day basis on certain things I can ask many questions and they're willing to help out. So they've been a great company to work with. As far as other projects and things that are going on, um, I'm fixing other sidewalk uh trip hazards on a day-to-day basis. Um anywhere around the city. I have an idea of list of sidewalk complaints that are made by residents that um that's all they bring to my attention. I go and walk certain sections of the city each every year to see what kind of uh trip hazards or literally emergent situations we need to have taken uh taken care of each year. So the list gets very long very quickly. Uh allow to get a lot of things accomplished each and every year, but do our best what we got. Um there's another sidewalk infill project that's happening down on 29th Street this year that will go from uh James Street to Highland Street, where you're on 29th Street Don't we have Hinch Elementary? Um we almost have a full connection back to Henshin again. We have a full connection made from on 28th Street from Hinch Elementary all the way up to Diagonal Avenue or Diagonal Road and High Street there. So I'll take some time to fill that entire neighborhood in yet, but yeah.
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