Word on the Streets

Big Momentum on Washington Avenue

Momentum is building for a big transformation on Washington Avenue in the heart of downtown, and you can help make this a reality. The next step is a public meeting hosted by Hennepin County to review draft design concepts on Tuesday, December 4 from 5-7pm at the Open Book. Please come to the meeting and bring your friends!

Washington Avenue South is going to be fully resconstructed from Hennepin Avenue to 5th Avenue South in 2014. The street and sidewalk will be torn up and replaced from building to building and the way it is put back will likely last 50 years. This is an incredible opportunity to implement a world-class separated bicycle lane, or cycletrack. These facilities have all of the advantages of off-street trails, separated and protected from vehicle traffic. With good design at intersections, they are safer and more attractive than on-street bicycle lanes, particularly for new riders.

The opportunity to improve walking, bicycling and public space in the corridor is so great that we collected over 500 hand-written letters in support of improvements this summer and delivered them to Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, Councilmember Lisa Goodman and Mayor R.T. Rybak. Many great things have come from our advocacy and the efforts of partners including the Downtown Council and downtown business leaders:

Hennepin County is creating a design plan for the whole corridor from Hennepin Avenue to Seven Corners, not just the small portion that is being reconstructed.

Hennepin County hosted a design charrette last Friday to develop ideas that will be presented on Tuesday. In a room full of diverse stakeholders representing residents, businesses, and other partners, bicycling ranked as the #2 priority for the design. Every group, five out of five, included a curb-separated bicycle lane (known as a cycletrack) in their design.

Mayor R.T. Rybak is now a strong supporter of incorporating continuous bicycle facilities in this critical connection between downtown and the U of M and has urged key partners to stay open minded about incorporating a cycletrack on this corridor.

The City has determined that traffic volumes warrent five traffic lanes instead of seven in most segments of the corridor. This leaves more space for bicycle lanes, a wider sidewalk and greening, so the public will not have to choose between one or the other.

This process alone is a huge breakthrough in how Hennepin County and the City can work together to take advantage of maintenance projects to implement improvements in our streets. Now that we have the chance to truly participate in the conversation, we hope you will come out to the public meeting to voice your support for safe and protected bike lanes on Washington Avenue.

Key messages for the meeting include:

We support a continuous bicycle connection through downtown

A curb-separated bicycle lane (cycletrack) will be the most likely to support bicycling by all types of bicyclists

Cycletracks have a number of benefits for pedestrians -- they provide a buffer between auto traffic, shorten the crossing distance across the street and, because they attract more bicyclists, will increase activity in what is often a very empty landscape today

posted by | December 02, 2012

Smoothing the Ride around Riverside

The streets around Riverside Plaza are going to get some much-needed TLC in 2014. 15^th Avenue South and 4^th Street South are highly used routes that connect bicyclists and pedestrians to the Hiawatha bike trail, the LRT, and the University of Minnesota West Bank, and the roads serve over 4,000 residents who live in the apartment towers. These streets are showing their age and bikers need to dodge potholes while they try to make it safely to their destination. Fortunately, the City of Minneapolis is planning to fully reconstruct the roads in the near future. The project will build off of the recent reconstruction of Riverside Avenue. City officials plan to keep bike lanes on 4^th St and to widen 15^th Avenue enough to replace bike “sharrows” with full bike lanes.

At their November meeting, the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee took action to support a bike-friendly redesign of the streets. The BAC wants the bike lanes on 4^th Street and 15^th Ave to be congruous with the lanes on Riverside Ave. Furthermore, the local community asked the City to add mid-block curb extensions on 15^th Avenue that will serve pedestrians crossing the street to Currie Park and the Brian Coyle Community Center. The BAC took action to back this request from the community. In addition, the Committee supports the development of a plaza at the dead-end of 16^th St that will be geared toward bicyclists and pedestrians.

Community members who are interested in following the project are encouraged to sign up for email notifications here and to contact the project engineer, Chris Engelman, with any questions.

posted by | December 01, 2012

Interview with U of M' Steve Sanders

Recently I met with the University of Minnesota’s Alternative Transportation Manager over coffee to chat about bicycling at the U. I was interested in learning more about his work after the October meeting of the coalition’s Bike Friendly Streets committee. During that meeting we discussed gaps in the Minneapolis bicycling network and potential areas for improvement in 2013. During our discussion connections to and around the university came up as areas where we had some concerns and saw opportunities for improvement. As a student at the U, I was excited to have an opportunity to sit down and talk bikes with Steve.

Here are some of the things I learned from our conversation:

He's been working on biking issues at the U for 17 years but began working mostly full-time on bicycling projects last January. Parking and Transportation Services (PTS) recognizes the growing importance of bikes on campus.

There is a draft University bike plan (completed in 2011) and Steve hopes it will be approved by the administration in the coming months. The ultimate goal is public review and incorporation in the University’s Master Plan.

There will be a reinvigorated University bike committee in the new year that he hopes will meet monthly and include students, faculty, staff, and other members from outside agencies.

Steve’s Concerns:

This was #1. Conflict between bikes and pedestrians in shared spaces or on sidewalks. This is huge for improving safety and bicycling’s image on campus with the entire University community, including the U’s administrators and policymakers.

Safety concerns when LRT opens in 2014 around cyclists turning left off of Washington Ave through campus. Cyclists will have to cross the tracks watching for trains, buses running on the tracks, and vehicles coming from the opposite direction. He is trying to be proactive but it will be a challenge to make sure all cyclists are safe with this new configuration.

How to get the word out to people about what's going on with bicycling on campus- people only notice when there is an issue. Like the frustrations around cyclists being ticketed for biking on Scholar’s Walk in 2011.

Overall, it was an enlightening conversation and I walked away with a lot of great information and respect for Steve’s work. He was very open to ideas, comments, and discussion and encouraged people to email him. It was also great to hear about all the work happening on the U campus. I would like to see the bicycle coalition strengthen our ties with Steve to help him get people talking and thinking about biking around campus.

Would readers like to learn more about bicycling projects at the U? Is anyone interested in hearing more about this topic by regular blog updates? Or a happy hour event with University updates from Steve?

posted by | November 25, 2012