The Complete Streets bill is made up of H.F. 2801 and S.F. 2461.

Per the bills – and general definition of Complete Streets from a national policy perspective – Complete Streets considers the needs of all users moving along and across roads, intersections, and crossings in a manner that is sensitive to the local context and recognizes that the needs vary in urban, suburban, and rural settings.

In the case of Minnesota’s Complete Streets legislation, Complete Streets applies to every road construction, reconstruction, or rehabilitation project funded partially or completely by the state.

Federal bills to create similar consideration for federally-funded road projects is still pending as S. 584 and H.R. 1443. Minnesota’s Senators – Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken – have both signed on to S. 584 as co-sponsors. H.R. 1443 is currently co-sponsored by Reps. Keith Ellison (MN-5) and Tim Walz (MN-1). Minnesota’s other Congressional representatives have not yet signed on as co-sponsors. While this is not necessarily a sign that they do not support the legislation, if you live in Districts 2, 3, 4, or 6, consider writing a letter of support to your Congressperson.

However, looking at this another way, this is a win for the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program (NTPP). Established as part of SAFETEA-LU as advocated for by Congressmen James Oberstar (D-MN), the program provided $25 million to each of 4 communities to demonstrate how improved walking and bicycling networks can increase rates of walking and bicycling in communities.

During the National Bicycle Summit, this program was spotlighted in several ways. The Minnesota delegation was privileged to meet with Congressman Oberstar’s Chief of Staff and legislative director, who discussed some of the history of the program. A core piece of the NTPP is that it provided for federal study of mode-shift – key to overcoming objections from some that most studies have been done by local advocacy groups who may not be wholly objective. The pilot report is due in September, but Congressman Oberstar’s staff do not believe it will come through until year-end at the most optimistic.

The Congressman is a strong supporter of the NTPP, but between the lines is was suggested he cannot support expansion prior to the report’s availability due to the commitments he made relative to the original pilot funding’s passage.

This ties into the second spotlight at the NBS for the NTPP: On March 2, a week prior to the Summit, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced H.R. 4722, the Active Community Transportation of Act of 2010. The ACT Act calls for “the Secretary of Transportation to carry out an active transportation investment program to encourage a mode shift to active transportation within selected communities by providing safe and convenient options to bicycle and walk for routine travel, and for other purposes.” It amounts to an extension of the NTPP.

As part of the Summit, many state delegations asked for cosponsorship for this bill. As a result, a Bill that started with 6 co-sponsors is now up to 27. The bill has been referred to the Transportation Committee, chaired by Congressman Oberstar, where is is likely to remain until the NTPP report comes out.

However, in the meantime, if you’re excited about Minneapolis cracking the top of Bicycling’s top cities for cycling list, or live in another city you’d like to see get funded to make similar strides, consider writing your Congressional delegate to support HR 4722. Your best bet is to ask them to co-sponsor the Bill – this is the most immediate supportive action a Congressperson can take.

Even if it takes some time to come out of committee, having solid national support will help drive the bill through the Committee and through Congress when the time is right.

In the meantime, there are some video embeds of Ray LaHood standing on the table at Thursday’s social with Congressional Staff and some core new policy changes, posted at the FastLane blog.

Something the Minnesota delegation emphasized when meeting with Minnesota lawmakers in Washington DC is that most road projects directly and indirectly subsidize automobile use and dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil. We aren’t anti-car, but we want to see sane planning regulation and principles that give our families and communities safe choices, especially for the large number of daily trips that are within 1-2 miles of our homes.

The new policy guidelines announced today echo that position:

• The DOT is integrating the needs of bicyclists in federally-funded road projects.

• The DOT is discouraging transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians.
• Projects are encouraged to go beyond the minimum requirements and provide facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.

Under the new guidelines, state DOTs and communities are being asked to treat walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes, protect and plow sidewalks and shared-use paths the same way roadways are protected, and improve nonmotorized facilities during maintenance projects.

This is all great stuff.

I’ll hopefully be posting my summary later today of the meetings the Minnesota attendees had with Minnesota’s members of Congress, and what you can do to support legislation that furthers these great policy initiatives announced today by Secretary LaHood.

If you want to speak out for or against various plans surrounding cycling in the Twin Cities, a few more opportunities are upcoming:

• Public Hearing for Bryant Avenue S Bicycle Boulevard (Minneapolis) – This will be happening on February 9 at Bryant Square Park in Minneapolis. The plan is to connect the Loring bike path on the north and 58th Street on the south. Some of the boulevard will be via bike lane sharrow markings.

• Public Hearing for 5th Street NE Bicycle Boulevard (Minneapolis) – This will be happening on February 10th in NE Minneapolis. The plan is to connect the University Avenue bike path on the north and the 5th Street Pedestrian Bridge over I-35W on the south. Some of the routing will be via bike lane sharrow markings.
• Feedback for Highway 96 Resurfacing Plan – Feedback is ongoing for the plan to resurface Highway 96 next summer. After recent hearings, the current plan will stripe lanes at 11′ (standard lane width is 12′) to provide additional paved shoulder width for bike and peds – but only if support can be gained from the communities of Dell, Grant, and Stillwater Township. Dellwood has formally objected at this point, so advocates are asking citizens of the three communities in favor to contact their city councils in support.

Winter is the big time for these meetings, as plans need to be solidified in time for road construction season. Cyclists should come to meetings to learn about plans and advocate for or against, depending on their feelings about each.

• January 21 – Design open house for the Highway 52/Lafayette Bridge replacement project, t the Wellstone Center in St. Paul. More info: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/hwy52-stpaul/

• January 25 – Surface Transportation Reauthorization Outreach Meeting with Secretary Ray LaHood and Congressman Jim Oberstar in Minneapolis. More info: http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bikeadvocacy/minneapolis_mn_invite_01%2012%2010.pdf
• February 25 – Celebrate 25 years of the Neighborhood Energy Consortium at Summit Brewing. Tickets are $25 per person and may be purchased with VISA/MC by calling 651.221.4462 ext 136. More info: http://thenec.org/
• March 20 – First day of spring!

The National Bicycle Summit is also upcoming, taking place in Washington DC in March. I will be in attendance, and connectivity be kind, will provide complete blogging coverage of the proceedings.

The committee is urging the project to include provision to widen the shoulder to approximately 5ft (current is 2-3ft) and reduce the drive lane to 10.5ft (currently 12 ft).

MNDOT is scheduled to present their design plan on Monday, January 11, during a meeting at 7:00pm at White Bear Lake City Hall in downtown White Bear Lake.

MNDOT is a state agency, and thus highly influenced by a show of support for a plan or suggestion. The White Bear Lake Bike/Walk Committee is asking as many cyclists as are able show for the event. Once the design is final, the lane configuration on Highway 96 is unlikely to change for another 10 years!

I really don’t have anything in for Edina. The articles covering their attempts to try to be bicycle-friendly just make it so easy.

Apparently, a bike lane is more detrimental to property values than a lot of on-street parking in front of a home:

“I just don’t know how anyone can justify having a bike trail in my front yard as an asset to my home,” she said.

Of course, as we might expect, there’s so much more to quibble about:

The street is so busy that residents sometimes have trouble backing out of their driveways.

In that case, on-street parking is likely to block the view when backing out more than a bike lane. Also, if the lane is supposed to be great encouragement to cyclists, the traffic flow of the street is likely to discourage that right back down.

The goal of most of the proposed improvements to W. 70th is to calm traffic and have it move at a more appropriate pace. Surely that helps beautify a street and improve living conditions?

As I’ve said in the past, I think the idea that bike lanes automagically create bicycle-friendliness is wrong. All you have to do is read some of the quotes of the Edina people in the articles to prove my point.

An interesting twist in this coverage is the following (from the transcript):

There are countless miles of roadway in Minnesota that pose potentially fatal risks to unwary or inexperienced bicyclists. This unsafe arrangement in St. Paul, with frontage road merging onto Summit avenue that forces vehicles to cross a bike lane, is but one example.

By the nature of what a ‘bike lane’ is there will be traffic crossing it at various points – just as cross-street traffic will cross the through-street. On the other hand, the notion of risks to inexperienced cyclists in such arrangements is a fair call. Many cyclists get a false sense of security on trails, sidepaths, and even in on-street bicycle lanes. I’ve commented before on how much of the Summit Avenue bicycle lane is poorly engineered – it rides squarely in the door zone for a good stretch, and has several places where the lane swings in so that a bicyclist may end up to the right of a right-turning car.

There’s a reason that the 5 Es of bicycle-friendliness are engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation/planning.

I don’t believe a copy is online, but they will be providing details during the open house. Again, that’s taking place Wednesday, June 18, 2008, from 4:30 p.m – 8:00 p.m in room 319 of Minneapolis City Hall, 350 S. Fifth St., Minneapolis.

Further information on bicycling in Minneapolis can be found on the Bicycling in Minneapolis page of the city web site.