🦥 Zoo says goodbye to longtime residents

🛣️ Buckle Up. The Two-Year John Nolen Drive Project Starts in October.

• A massive $42 million construction project will launch next month on John Nolen Drive, reducing the main artery to the downtown area to one lane in each direction and closing that leg of the Capital City Bike Trail.
• The project is expected to take close to two years, and includes replacing six bridges and building three new ones, revamping bike and pedestrian paths, improving the shoreline, and altering the intersections at North Shore Drive and Broom Street.
• Construction to the southbound side of the road will start in November and last until late July, when work will start on the northbound side. The Capital City Bike Trail will be closed between July 2026 and July 2027. For more details, a virtual information session has been scheduled for Sept. 22. [ 🔒 WSJ, City of Madison]

🦥 Zoo Says Goodbye to Slothra the Sloth and Franklin the Meerkat

• Henry Vilas Zoo said that two of its animals, including one of its oldest residents, have died.
• Slothra, a female Hoffman’s two-toed sloth, was born at the zoo in 1981. Slothra died of natural causes last week at the age of 44. The average life expectancy for a sloth in captivity is 32 years. According to Henry Vilas Zoo, she was one of the oldest Hoffman’s two-toed sloths in any AZA-accredited zoo in the world.
• Franklin, a male meerkat, was euthanized Aug. 29 following a “steep decline in his health.” Franklin lived to be 14, while the average lifespan of a meerkat in the wild is six to eight years. Franklin fathered eight children since he arrived at the zoo in 2018. [News 3, Facebook]

📚 Mary Roach, Jane Hamilton Coming to Wisconsin Book Fest

• The Wisconsin Book Festival will bring a bookshelf worth of authors, including Melissa Febos, Laila Lalami, Mary Roach, Jane Hamilton, and more, to its fall celebration Oct. 23-26.
• The festival, which is put on by the Madison Public Library, will bring over 50 authors to Madison for four days of free events, with books given away at five of the events. The author appearances will mostly happen at the library’s Central Branch, although there are events scheduled at UW-Madison’s Discovery Building and Arts + Literature Laboratory. [Isthmus, Wisconsin Book Festival]
• Editor’s note: The Wisconsin Book Festival is a sponsor of City Cast Madison.

You wouldn’t think that one temporary change to one street would generate a lot of conversation. But not when the street in question is Williamson Street, which has been plagued by a series of car crashes in recent years, including one in May that damaged Mother Fool’s Coffeehouse (and not for the first time!)

In response to an outcry from residents and business owners, city officials are testing the removal of the rush hour lanes from Willy Street. The hope is that by cutting traffic down to one lane in each direction 24/7, it will cause drivers to slow down and reduce the number of accidents.

On the City Cast Madison podcast today, host Bianca Martin talks to Mike Tarby, co-chair of the Marquette Neighborhood Association’s Transportation and Safety Committee, which helped drive the effort to test removing the lanes.

Since people clearly have a lot of opinions on this test, we asked City Cast Madison listeners and Madison Minutes readers what they thought. Will eliminating the rush hour lanes make Willy Street safer? Or does something else need to be done? Here are some of your responses.

“I regularly commute down Willy Street to go home at night and I cannot imagine going back to not having the fast lane. It’s been so much more convenient when you get stuck behind somebody that’s trying to make a left hand turn, you could be there for a very long time. And the bikers just do whatever the hell they want.

“I really think that if we go back to taking away both lanes and allowing parking again that biking should be restricted. It’s just too much of a cluster. It’s too dangerous.” – Lori, via voicemail

“I think the cause of crashes into the coffee shop are due to drivers heading east passing to the right of a vehicle waiting to turn left while a vehicle heading west, causes the eastbound vehicle to swerve into the coffee shop.” – Wayne H.

“Honestly, the removal of rush hour lanes on Willy Street is coming several years too late. As is, Willy Street feels inappropriately auto-centric. It's a charming mix of residential and commercial properties where most people are getting around on foot or by bike. But the sidewalks are narrow and there are four lanes of traffic (two of which are usually street parking) running through the middle. The fact that the city has thus far treated it like a thoroughfare when ‘The Monstrosity’ (aka East Washington Avenue) runs parallel to it has always puzzled me.” – Danny G.

“I am thrilled the city is going to discourage commuters from using Willy Street as an east/west thoroughfare. Years ago I stopped using Willy Street as a through street, and instead use East Washington if I have to drive. Willy Street will be much improved when not choked with cars.” – Janet M.

If you have thoughts on this experiment, the city wants to hear from you! Take the Williamson Street Safety Study Survey to share your takes.