Bikeways Posts

Our June meeting started with everyone sharing their motivations for volunteering with the group, and a recap of our group’s efforts for Twin Cities Bike to Work Day. Read more about that here. 

The Downtown Bikeways crew volunteered in a couple of different ways on Twin Cities Bike to Work Day on May 17th. One of our members led a Bike to Work ride with Council Member Palmisano from Ward 13 in South Minneapolis. Several other members staffed Bike to Work Day “pit stops” along the Downtown-Whittier corridor during the morning and evening commute. Everybody reported having a lot of fun! At the last Downtown Bikeways work group meeting, we all shared our insights from the event.

Summer is back and with more people out biking, walking and rolling, it’s a good time to turn to the conversation around bike infrastructure on Park Avenue and Portland Avenue. Here’s a great article on streets.mn by Nicole Salica that summarizes the history of bike infrastructure on the streets.

The Downtown Bikeways Work Group gathered and established some activities that they will be completing in the upcoming month.

There were several new folks at the meeting this month, so the beginning of the meeting was spent with introductions, understanding why new folks joined in as well as reviewing the Downtown Bikeways Work Group’s mission of advocating for protected bikeways on LaSalle/1st Ave and 9th/10th Streets.

This Thursday the City of Minneapolis is hosting a hearing where folks can provide feedback on the Capital Long-Range Improvement Committee (CLIC) recommendations for how the City should spend capital improvement funding from 2020 - 2024.

Here’s when the hearing will be:

CLIC Public Hearing
Thursday, May 16th | 6:00 PM
City Hall Room 319
350 S 5th St, Minneapolis, MN 55415

There’s also an opportunity to give feedback at the Phillips Community Center from 6:30 - 8 PM on Wednesday, May 15th. There was an opportunity at UROC last week, but unfortunately we missed that one.

As a follow up to Minneapolis 2040, the City’s comprehensive plan, a Transportation Action Plan is being drafted to guide the planning and implementation of transportation projects over the next ten years. Our Streets Minneapolis supports many parts of Minneapolis 2040 and we welcome the emphasis on building a transportation system that puts people first.

The upcoming action plan is an opportunity to design a new transportation system—one that is cleaner, more comfortable and allows people to get around our city in a variety of ways.

Our Downtown Bikeways Work Group made plans to celebrate our favorite way to get around downtown and it involves a human crosswalk, commuting and schools! Simply, not all at once.

The Downtown Bikeways work group has been talking to people that live, work, go to school, eat, or recreate along the corridor that connects downtown with Loring Heights, Stevens Square, Whittier, and neighborhoods to the south. One person that we spoke with is Lindsey Wallace. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The Downtown Bikeways work group has been talking to people that live, work, go to school, eat, or recreate along the corridor that connects downtown with Loring Heights, Stevens Square, Whittier, and neighborhoods to the south. One person that we spoke with is Galen Ryan, who used to live along the corridor. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The Downtown Bikeways workgroup welcomed five new members at this month’s meeting. We spent some time talking about the history of the group, doing brief introductions and then getting down to work!