Friday, December 6, 2019

Dane County: don't flub chance to rebrand Beltline as 'peppy' or 'zippy'

Forget the quaint old days in Madison when you'd tell the boss you got in late because traffic on the Beltline was congested. 

And, no, you're not about to be more reliably on time because modern transit has finally arrived: something more dynamic is about to change the way you roll.

A Dane County transportation body is recommending rebranding those generic strips of Beltline property between the outside lanes and the guardrails for "dynamic part-time shoulder use."
WisDOT photo accompanying Beltline web history
I have said I don't think this is a good idea, and I'm further fascinated by the  bureaucratic buzz wordiness - "dynamic part-time shoulder use" - - which jazzes up the way we think of those strips of pavement or gravel or dirt where we used to pull over and wait for a tow.

Besides "dynamic shoulder use" sounding like bad elevator etiquette or a 15-yard penalty on defensive backs, I'm wondering why the rebranding brigade didn't go with any of the other A-Z synonyms, from aggressive to zippy, to dress up this bad idea even more:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

James, This has nothing to do with this post but I think it is an issue you should take on.
The Chief of Staff to former pos AG Brad Schimel worked on basically hiding sexual assault allegations from the Feds, which means pos Schimel was also involved. She sent an email to Schimel that "if she keeps doing favors" for adjutant General Dunbar, "maybe she can get a ride in an F-35". There are two avenues to pursue: 1. What is wrong with these people? Is it any wonder pos Schimel did not process rape kits until forced. That dirt bag was Walkers right hand man. Some sort of charges should be filed. If there is a lawsuit filed against the State, we will have to pay whatever the victims ask for. 2. Why is this only covered so far in the Capital Times? Again we are dealing with the two major Wis newspapers working hand in hand with the GOP.

James Rowen said...

Yes, I saw the story. It is included in coverage today in a long Journal Sentinel story with three bylines, which indicates it is an important issue that is nowhere near resolved. Unless a story begins with the AP and is is automatically reprinted statewide, papers will assign their own people to advance it. I will put the link into comments.

James Rowen said...

Here is the JS link. I would add that people should bombard all media with letters and emails demanding an expanded investigation. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/05/tony-evers-release-findings-investigation-into-guards-handling-sexual-assault-harassment/2618947001/

Anonymous said...

The Dutch have a quite pleasing term for this DPTSU thingy: "spitsstrook" (pronounced like "spitz-stroke"). Translates roughly to "peak lane."

The Dutch have almost 30 years experience with this sort of part-time lane usage, and surprise surprise, many routes they've given the DPTSU/spitsstrook treatment have had those part-time lanes upgraded to full-time ones within just a few years. But of course, "induced demand" is just some silly fallacy according to WisDOT.