Ride Boldly! » minneapolis

Update on Minneapolis 2-Way Street Initiative

Julie — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:48:13 +0000

Last fall, Minneapolis took Hennepin Avenue and 1st Avenues in downtown from one-way streets to two-way streets. This was a big deal, both from people in favor and people who were horrified.

In the sense of promoting more people coming downtown, it probably was a net good – one-way streets confuse people who are not near them every day and who are in for a special event (theatre on Hennepin, a Twins game, whatev).

They’ve published an evaluation of the conversion. Because this study was performed by the same agency responsible for the conversion, there is a bit of a question of impartiality, but data is at the base of most conclusions:

Bicycle traffic is up, based on user-count metrics.
Allegedly, there have been no bike crashes on Hennepin since conversion, whereas prior it was known as one of the worst ‘bikeways’ in the city because it violated every principle of bicycle lane planning ever created. (I’m a bit dubious that it went from apocalypse to idyllic – I’m wondering about reporting, personally.)
The city claims people have figured out the odd parking/bike lane configuration.

When you dive into the stats, it turns out that bicycle traffic on Hennepin Avenue alone is down by about half. The increase is based on a combination of Hennepin, 1st, and Nicollet. Apparently, some people really liked the bike-lanes down the center configuration on Hennepin – a configuration that almost undoubtedly was a part of the crash statistics, and may have led to more serious crashes due to the physics of bicycle-vs-car based on lane placement and speed.

I think the parking zone/bike lane setup remains the most confusing element of the conversion. Flipping them around does put the bike lane in the door zone, but that’s a more common configuration, and motorists and cyclists typically know where they’re supposed to be in such a setup. The city have stated that they intend to paint all of the shared lanes for vehicles/bicycles green, particularly on Hennepin. Buffer zones are to be added between the bike lanes and parking zones on 1st Avenue to reduce dooring risk and facilitate use of the parking areas by handicapped vans with ramps.

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Recent Headlines

Julie — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:15:27 +0000

Pedicab quandary in St. Paul: Basically, pedicabs aren’t regulated in St. Paul, and there’s a question of if adding regulation would protect operators. It probably would, if St. Paul were capable of sensible regulation – something that can be debated.

There are some classic St. Paul-isms in this article that point to that very concept:

The woman and seven officers convened on the scene, where they talked for two hours before reaching a decision to ticket him.

Uh, two hours? Awesome.
Edina Bike Trail Controversy: Edina want to build a bike trail via the Nine Mile Creek watershed/wetland. A bunch of neighbors are opposed. Those opposed to the opposed neighbors are making it out to be NIMBYism. The opposed claim it’s about suitability because of the wetland nature of much of the route. Various groups are building websites and Facebook groups around their positions.
I’m not familiar with the entire run of the trail, but I suspect a middle ground is pretty accurate. The public land is pretty narrow and tends to mud, high water during spring thaw that creates trail erosion and maintenance issues and, of course, skeeters. (It’s a creek!)

There are a couple of quotes around facilities issues in the Strib piece that stick out:

“Just like you don’t put a playground in a parking lot, I wouldn’t put a bike trail on a roadway unless there is completely no other way.”

That’s because when you build it on-street, it’s definitionally not a trail. Depending on construction protocol, there are lots of terms for on-street bikeways. Bicycle facilities encompass a lot more than happy little trails.

For me, it also comes down to a question of purpose. It appears the approach is as a recreational trail. A roadway route has greater merit in connecting bicycles to destinations and driving greater multi-mode adoption. Many end-to-end recreational trails, particularly smaller ones in neighborhoods, don’t actually have a lot of community impact on mode shift. As such, I’d rather see them working on on-street facilities that help connect users to community destinations, rather than happy views of the creek.
Legal Roadblocks to Greenway Extension: A judge has ruled in favor of the Canadian Pacific in a right-of-way dispute over the Ayd Mill railway corridor, a target for those who wish to extend the Midtown Greenway to downtown St. Paul. There is a meeting about ongoing vision and next steps for Greenway extension planning on July 28.

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Cedar Lake Trail in Final Phase

Julie — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:36:39 +0000

There’s been a bunch of coverage of the final phase of the Cedar Lake Trail. After years of right-of-way issues, the construction of Target Field, and funding, the final easement to extend the trail to the river has been acquired.

The timing for this is interesting – because of the many issues with right-of-way, as well as building a mile of trail through the densest part of the urban core, this is going to be monstrously expensive. Estimates for the total cost of this last segment exceed $9.2 million dollars, paid via a combination of state funds, federal earmark, donations and even funds from the city of Minneapolis.

A lot of people question this expense, particularly at a time of challenging federal, state and municipal budgets.

One thing to keep in mind is that this won’t ever become any cheaper, short of a zombie apocalypse that devastates that piece of Minneapolis and makes the construction easier. Costs to get the construction going are cheaper now than at any time in the recent past, due to high labor supply.

The maze to get from the de facto current trailhead to the river frustrates many. Some of the city’s recent shenanigans with parking, bike lanes, taking streets two-way from one-way, and etc. haven’t helped. Obviously, this of itself doesn’t justify expense – but the completion has been planned for many years.

Completion is scheduled for November. I am assuming that the extension, like the rest of the trail, will be plowed during the winter, adding to the Minneapolis commuter trail network that is quite workable even in the nastiest months of the year. However, it’s always good to confirm plowing each year – budgets being what they are.

Cycling Classes for Women

Julie — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:09:27 +0000

Women and girls have traditionally been underrepresented among cyclists – recreationally and as bicycle commuters. There are a lot of reasons for this, including the traditional role of female as caregiver. Trailers aside, heavy use of a bicycle is a lot harder when trips include stops to daycare, work, and the grocery store. Surveys have also suggested that women feel more nervous cycling on roadways than men do.

Bike Walk Twin Cities, which is a federally-funded initiative through the Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program, is working within the community to reach out to underrepresented groups such as women, and in the coming weeks have a number of pretty awesome educational opportunities for women. There are several Biking with Traffic class opportunities for women, each 1.5 hours long and taught by women who are League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructors.

Minneapolis Bridge Closures – 2010

Julie — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:54:12 +0000

Minneapolis’ Camden Bridge (42nd St N) Bridge is to close shortly for the entire summer, through late October. Vehicular traffic will be detoured to the Plymouth Bridge. Bicycle traffic will be detoured to the I-694 Mississippi River crossing area, although cyclists can also use the Broadway Avenue Bridge or Plymoth Avenue to the south.

This will be especially challenging, as the Lowry Avenue Bridge remains closed/under construction following last summer’s implosion:

(Thanks to Kelly of Adornments with Attitude for the heads up!)

Dividends of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program

Julie — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:18:08 +0000

In the upcoming May issue of Bicycling, Mnneapolis is to be named their top city for cycling – beating out perennial favorite Portland (OR). This was somewhat inevitable editorially, as eventually they needed to shake up the list, and it’s easy to give Minneapolis a few bonus points for the fact that our weather is more of a challenge.

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.

Google Launches Maps For Biking

Julie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:03:28 +0000

Today, at the National Bicycle Summit, Google was on-hand for the opening session to launch their newest Maps enhancement: Bike routes!

Peter Birch, Product Manager for Google Earth, was present to introduce the new features. Google Maps for Bicycling has routes and information for 150 US cities, including on-street routes and bicycle trails. Shannon Guyman, another Googler, was on-hand to provide a live demo. Each said that this enhancement is part of Google’s commitment to provide maps for people – not just ‘cars.’

We got a nice live demo, but as always, Google created a nice video demo for the rest of you:

Like other Google Maps options – cars, transit, and walking routes – the biking layer is routable. To provide directions between two places, the algorithm looks for routing info in the following order:

Bike paths/trails
Dedicated bicycle resources (bike lanes, sharrows, other bicycle facilities)
Roadways that have been designated as bicycle-friendly by some data source, often signed routes

The Maps team have also adjusted estimated trip times based on average cycling speeds.

Trails and on-road facilities are marked on the bicycle layer, and okay roads feature a dotted blue line. Minneapolis’ downtown is below (clicky to enlarge):

You can either just look at an area, or route between two points. When routing between two points, you can drag the route to change it. To see a local area map, click the ‘More’ button and select ‘Bicycling’ to see suggested routes.

Google is also doing a Twitter content to give away a bike worth up to $2500 of the winner’s choosing. Deets on that are at http://maps.google.com/biking.

I also spoke to the Product Manager after the presentation. Right now, the Bicycle layer is not showing anything more specific in terms of businesses or landmarks than is shown normally. We discussed the possibility of using the Local Business Center data of businesses, many of which are tagged by business type, to potential preference showing bicycle businesses on the map, and adding ‘Bicycle Parking’ as an option for business owners to indicate on their Business Center listings. These are both long-term potential upgrades, which would make for some sweet marketing potential for bicycle-friendly businesses like ice cream shops, cookie parlours, and bike shops.

I know that relative to Minnesota, we have the excellent cycle-route wiki Cyclopath, so some of the locals may not be impressed. However, in a broader sense, this is a good development in the sense that this covers 150 cities and may assist local visitors to various towns – not just MSP. Unlike Cyclopath, this isn’t a user-contributed system, so it may not always provide the best routes. In cases where routes offered are a bit bunk, Google have asked that users provide feedback to improve the system.

Recent News & Headlines

Julie — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:38:33 +0000

Been pretty busy lately, but as the (first) thaw gets underway, there are goings on here in the tundra and elsewhere.

The Winona Bridge, about which I have written a billion times following its brief closure in Summer 2008, is now scheduled for ‘rehabilitation’ in 2014. Everyone gets to take their chances on this fracture-critical structure until then.
A Complete Streets bill is under consideration in Minnesota. I recommend against even going NEAR the comments on the linked article, as they are full of standard-issue hatred of bicyclists and the same tired arguments about licensing, taxes, and etc. that we have heard many times before.
City of St. Paul is starting pothole patching this week. Hooray. I think we’ve all encountered a few doozies lately. MPR’s user-driven pothole map is pretty epic.
The National Bicycle Summit is next week in Washington DC. I’ll be there! Watch this space for coverage of the sessions, plus I’ll also provide a summary of the bills we’re advocating for on Capitol Hill – the Active Community Transportation Act of 2010, the federal Complete Streets bill, the Urban Revitalization and Livable Communities Act and the reauthorization of Safe Routes to School.

More Winter Advocacy Opportunities

Julie — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:28:05 +0000

In winter, Minnesotans have meetings. Well, they do in summer too, but…

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.

Upcoming Swap Meets

Julie — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:57:38 +0000

Winter is a good time to clean out the buckets of bike stuff and attend… swap meets!

Twin Cities Bike Swap Meet – February 14, at the National Sports Center. $5 admission to a really giant event. Tables $40 to sell.
TCBC Swap Meet – March 27, at the Hopkins VFW. Free entry, free to sell for TCBC members and sponsors.

I’m sure there are others upcoming, although few have the widespread allure that a Valentine’s Day swap meet in Blaine offers. Stop by the swap meet, then go to White Castle for dinner!