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Engineering Less Hazardous Trail Crossings

Many novice cyclists believe bicycle trails are safer than riding on the road. The core reason for this? Cars. Unfortunately, there are a lot of reasons this is potentially misguided – from the unpredictable behavior of trail users to the sorts of at-grade crossings used on many trails. Local trails, such as the Gateway Trail and [...]

February 2nd, 2011 | Category: bicycle bridges, bicycle facilities, bicycle routes, bicycle safety, bicyclists, bike trails, cedar lake trail, engineering, gateway state trail, midtown greenway, minneapolis, minnesota, pedestrian access, road construction, roadway design, roadway use, share the road, traffic calming | One comment - (Comments are closed)

Thoughts on Bikeway Planning

Regular readers of this site will know that I can be a bit of a crank about certain types of bicycle facilities:

Signage alone doesn’t make a route ‘bicycle-friendly.’

Paint jobs sometimes just indicate what the knowledgeable already know.
Bike lanes as backfill can create their own hazards.

Generally speaking, every type of bicycle facility has its own drawbacks. Frequently, [...]

February 2nd, 2011 | Category: bicycle advocacy, bicycle bridges, bicycle facilities, bicycle routes, bicycle safety, bicyclists, bike education, bike lanes, bike trails, cedar lake trail, children on bikes, common sense, complete streets, cycling in the media, engineering, europe, evaluation, minneapolis, minnesota, road construction, roadway design, roadway use, share the road, st. paul, transportation options, urban planning | Comments are closed

Bike Path Hijinks Begin in New Congress

Are bike paths infrastructure? Some Senators think not. [...]

January 26th, 2011 | Category: bicycle advocacy, bicycle bridges, bicycle commuting, bicyclists, bike lanes, bike trails, engineering, federal funds, legislation, minnesota, politics, road construction, roadway design, transportation options, urban planning | Comments are closed

Plymouth Avenue Bridge Reopens for Cyclists

Yesterday, the Plymouth Avenue bridge in Minneapolis reopened for cyclists and pedestrians only.

As I expected when I wrote about this bridge and its corroded cables in October, the reopening for cyclists does have some plowing dependencies. While Minneapolis is on its ‘new’ plowing budget for 2011 after completely blowing the budget for 2010 with all the [...]

January 7th, 2011 | Category: bicycle bridges, bicycle commuting, bicycle maps, bicycle routes, bicycle safety, bicyclists, common sense, engineering, evaluation, minneapolis, minnesota, pedestrian access, road construction, roadway design, roadway use, winter cycling | Comments are closed

One Less River Crossing in Minneapolis

Ever since the new I35W bridge opened – and in light of the budgetary issues facing both Minnesota and the US – it seems as though attention to the crumbling state of many bridges has quieted down.

However, this week Minneapolis lost a crossing of the Mississippi River for the very reason of hazard and corrosion. The [...]

October 29th, 2010 | Category: bicycle bridges, bicycle commuting, bicycle routes, bicyclists, enforcement, engineering, minneapolis, minnesota, road construction, roadway design, roadway use, science, vehicular cycling, winter cycling | Comments are closed

Minneapolis Flashback: 1998 Chain Gang Map

Back in the day, Metro Commuter Services had a program called the Chain Gang. This really doesn’t exist as such any more, and some of the services provided in the program either are being offered through other agencies or not at all. Probably one of the nicest pieces was that Chain Gang members were eligible for [...]

August 23rd, 2010 | Category: bicycle bridges, bicycle commuting, bicycle maps, bicycle recreation, bicycle routes, bicyclists, bike lanes, cedar lake trail, midtown greenway, minneapolis, minnesota, roadway use | Comments are closed
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