🏗️ You won’t recognize Regent Street in two years

Redesign Wants To Dispel Regent Street’s ‘Bad Vibe’

On Tuesday night, the Madison City Council approved a major redesign of Regent Street. While the street that runs past Camp Randall is a popular east-west connector, and a favorite hangout for UW-Madison students especially on football Saturdays, it’s been a longtime challenge due to its narrowness and deteriorating infrastructure. District 13 Ald. Tag Evers said the street has a “bad vibe” in particular for pedestrians. [Cap Times]

The new redesign of the five blocks of Regent between Park Street and North Randall Avenue aims to change all that. Here’s what the new Regent Street will look like – and how we got here after months of debate. [City of Madison]

⌛ A Changing Street: The street was a centerpiece of the old Greenbush neighborhood, and is full of longtime fixtures like the Italian Workmen’s Club (which dates back to 1912) and the Greenbush Bakery. [City Cast Madison]

But those old standbys have had to make room for an explosion of new development, including apartment buildings and new restaurants. Restaurateur Sam Brown is all in on the future of Regent Street – he’s opened Fabiola’s and Leopold’s Book Bar Caffè on the street, as well as taking over the old Greenbush Bar. [ 🎧 City Cast Madison]

🚶 The Street’s Not Made For Walking: But holding Regent Street back from becoming a downtown shopping and dining destination was the fact that it’s not very walkable and fairly narrow – only 66 feet from one side to the other. The sidewalks are only 6 feet wide, and are desperately in need of repair. But because the street is so narrow, the challenge for city designers was how to accommodate both pedestrians and drivers safely. [Cap Times]

The final plan extends the sidewalks to 9 feet, and reduces traffic in both directions from two lanes to one. One parking or loading lane will be added on each side of the street. More trees will also be added along the street as well.

🚲 No Bike Lanes? One thing missing from the new design, perhaps surprising in a city that’s as bike-friendly as Madison, are any dedicated bike lanes. City planners said there just wasn’t room to squeeze in a bike lane on the narrow street.

Instead, the current plan is to improve bike access to the streets that run parallel to Regent Street.

🚧 What’s Next? The city plans to finalize its design this winter, with the hopes of starting construction in spring of 2027.

🐴 Buckets the Horse Earns His Badge: Madison’s mounted patrol unit has a new officer – Buckets the horse. After a two-year probationary period, the 9-year-old Clydesdale/Thoroughbred mix was sworn in at a ceremony in front of students at Blessed Sacrament School. [City of Madison]

⚖️ Trump Lawyer Wants Trial Moved Out of Dane County: Jim Troupis, who served as a lawyer for President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, wants his trial moved out of Dane County, saying he cannot get a fair trial in Madison. Troupis is facing 11 criminal counts of forgery connected to his role in the “fake electors” scheme, in which Republican delegates for Trump submitted official-looking documents certifying that Trump had won Wisconsin, when he had lost. [WPR]

📱 Police Warn of Scammers Posing as Gov’t Officials: Madison police say a rash of con artists are attempting to scam people by posing as government officials, sometimes using official-looking documents. The scammers will contact people by phone or text telling them their Social Security numbers have been compromised and urging them to withdraw money from their bank accounts. [News 3]

🍔 RIP Culver’s Barn in Beaver Dam: Wednesday’s storm claims an iconic Wisconsin landmark. [WMTV]

🐱🐶 This Week’s Friday Floof! When Mama Cat’s owners introduced a dog into the home, they worried that their grouchy cat wouldn’t appreciate the new roommate. But Huxley is a ray of sunshine who quickly won Mama over, and now they’re inseparable and cuddle all the time.