Word on the Streets

A New Era for Bike Parking

I got a "Hooray!" note about a meter hitch rack that was installed yesterday.

Jim works near the Grain/Flour Exchange and stepped forward to sponsor this post. He kept an eye on it for the 6 weeks it took to get installed, confirming that it was still on track. When it arrived, he sent a picture of the first user.

It's a great excuse to announce the news that the program is getting a welcome update: the City of Minneapolis is integrating it into their standard bike parking program!

For the whole story, about a year and a half ago, the City of Minneapolis partnered with the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition on a new bike rack cost-share program installing secure hoops on the new parking meter posts. Dero helped out by facilitating receipt of rack sponsorships.

As Susan aptly illustrated, these new posts are now legal but not secure places to lock – unless they have a hoop to attach to. Since then we have seen 148 requests from dozens of sponsors.

Given the broad acceptance of this partnership and the demand for the new rack style, the City is now wrapping this type of hitch into their standard Bicycle Rack Cost Share Program. In the future, all bike parking requests go through the same process. Bike riders, please keep asking businesses to install bike parking – and direct them to the City!

The Coalition thanks the City of Minneapolis for partnering on this innovative effort, and applauds the City on making it a permanent offering through the Cost Share program.

Thank you!

posted by | July 11, 2013

SW Light Rail Plan May Significantly Affect the Kenilworth Bike Trail

The Metropolitan Council, in conjunction with Metro Transit, is proposing a Green Line Light Rail Extension from downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie. This project is now in the engineering phase and construction will start in 2015. The line is expected to be completed by 2018. While most of this light rail line will not conflict with the current bicycle infrastructure, there will be a major competition between walkers, bikers, a freight train line and this light rail for space on a certain section of the Kenilworth Trail.

This competition will require the Met Council to choose between two competing visions. One vision, named ”relocation,” would relocate freight train tracks away from the Kenilworth Trail and run them through St. Louis Park. (Currently about 20 freight trains run along that line each week.) There are 3 possible relocation routes. The other vision, named “co-location,” would, after acquiring through condemnation homes on 55 parcels and commercial buildings on 7 parcels, attempt to squeeze in the freight line, the light rail line, and the bike and pedestrian trail along the current Kenilworth Trail. The Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition is concerned that if this co-location squeeze does not work out, planners will recommend the complete removal of bicycle and pedestrian facilities along a portion of the Kenilworth Trail.

There is significant opposition to each plan from residents who live in the affected areas, although for now, there appears to be more opposition from St. Louis Park residents. Some St. Louis Park residents have been heard to say: “You mean to tell me you would route freight trains through our neighborhood just to save a bike path!” But this is no mere bike path: the Kenilworth Trail serves about 3,000 bicyclists each day on average and forms a critical link to the Midtown Greenway, the Cedar Lake Trail, and the Cedar Lake Parkway.

The Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition is firmly in favor of relocation and our Board has passed a Resolution to that effect. But so far, most of the Met Council engineering staff recommendations favor co-location. The Coalition will continue to advocate for the relocation solution in our discussions with decision makers and we will keep you updated as the decision process proceeds. Our goal will be to keep a safe, bicycle and pedestrian path along the entire Kenilworth Trail.

Bill

posted by | July 09, 2013

Minnehaha Ave Needs a Protected Bikeway: Public Meetings 7/11 & 7/17

Come show your support for a Minnehaha Avenue for Everyone!

Hennepin County has scheduled two public open houses to share their draft layouts for Minnehaha Avenue: Thursday, July 11 and Wednesday, July 17, both from 5-7pm at Minnehaha Communion Lutheran Church, 4101 37th Avenue South.

We need you there to support a protected bikeway on Minnehaha, and to ask that the County design a better protected bikeway.

Studies have shown that protected bikeways dramatically increase ridership, and also increase safety for bicyclists. Protected bikeways have also been shown to increase economic vitality. By increasing ridership, protected bikeways help increase health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality and reduce congestion. This is why cities around the US and around the world are investing in protected bikeway networks, and why the Minneapolis City Council just adopted a goal to install thirty miles of protected bikeways by 2020.

Minnehaha Avenue is an excellent opportunity to build a protected bikeway, or cycletrack, so all people feel comfortable biking on this critical south Minneapolis corridor connecting a major commercial district to surrounding neighborhoods and Minnehaha Falls Park.

• A cycletrack will allow many more people to feel comfortable biking on Minnehaha, bringing more people by local businesses. It will provide an easy, comfortable connection between the Midtown Greenway and Minnehaha Park, two routes with an average of more than 1,000 bicyclists per day.

• Increased biking leads to economic benefits for local businesses. New York City saw a 49% increase in retail sales after installing a cycletrack on 9th Ave. A cycletrack along Minnehaha would encourage economic growth and strengthen local businesses. Bicyclists are also spending more money at local businesses around Nice Ride stations and elsewhere.

• A Minnehaha Avenue cycletrack would increase safety for all road users (drivers, cyclists, pedestrians).

A Minnehaha Avenue that works for everyone can knit together the community, meeting the needs of new and planned residential, commercial and business growth in Longfellow. Transforming Minnehaha to a street that is attractive and safe for everyone is consistent with Minneapolis’s Bicycle Master Plan.

The benefits of a cycle track are best achieved when we have a well-designed facility that works for everyone- business owners, transit riders, residents, and more. The County’s first design for a protected bikeway leaves a lot to be desired. It unnecessarily removes over fifty trees, due to a decision to pull buses completely out of traffic at every stop. There are better options for interactions between bus stops and protected bikeways, including these ones designed by volunteers for the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, and this one being implemented in San Francisco. The County’s design also removes more parking spaces than necessary, as you can read here. It also ignores the intersection improvements most protected bikeways include: colorized lanes, bike signalization, speed tables, etc.

The County’s bike lane layout – which County Public Works staff clearly prefer – is also problematic. It actually decreases the comfortable space for bicyclists by narrowing the parking lanes, which will exacerbate the existing problem of cars parking in the bike lane for most of the winter. The proposed “ buffer” will not be wide enough to make most riders feel any safer. But most importantly, this layout misses an opportunity we only get once every fifty to sixty years to make Minnehaha work better for everyone.

The County will be using the comments received at these open houses to determine its preferred alternative for Minnehaha, which it plans to bring forward in October of this year. to win a well-designed bikeway for everyone. We hope to see you there!

posted by | July 05, 2013