Bikeways Posts

The Downtown Bikeways work group is still going strong and excited about upcoming projects! Our September meeting was productive, beginning with introductions and a conversation about what each of us has to offer the group. (Catch up on what we did in August here.) We then divided into our work groups and spent the majority of the time planning. Here's what each group discussed:

This report was drafted by Alyssa Kohn.

Our August 6 meeting was high-energy, not very August at all. 

Reprise: What are we trying to do?

The Downtown Bikeways group goal is to showcase the demand for completing the city's protected bikeway network. We need to connect existing bikeways to one another and to create a fluid network in and out of downtown Minneapolis safe for all types of bike riders. We're focused on two corridors, 9th and 10th Streets going east and west across southern downtown, and LaSalle/Blaisdell and 1st connecting downtown to the heavily car-free neighborhood of Whittier to the south. They are on the city’s bikeway plan. We are demonstrating these are needed sooner than later and to spur action for implementing them.

This map (by Jess) shows the motley bike design that exists on the LaSalle/Blaisdell and 1st today. 

Red=No cyclist accommodation

Orange=Sharrows or a bike lane

Yellow=A buffered bike lane without bollards

Light Green=Bollard-protected bike lane

Dark Green=Off street trail

The new protected bike lanes on Washington Avenue have the potential to be great, but poor bicycle signals are making it confusing and less safe for everyone. 

On July 9, the Downtown Bikeways volunteer workgroup came together again to show the City of Minneapolis how much support there is for safer biking in downtown. Over the last month, we’ve made great strides toward showing finding that interest in residents and visitors of downtown Minneapolis. (Check out our June update here.) Read on to learn about the interest we’re creating and how we’re going to use it to get protected bikeways on 9th/10th St and LaSalle/1st Ave.

Dedicated volunteers chose to spend a beautiful summer evening indoors at the Dunn Bros. near Loring Park, working to make more downtown bikeways a reality. We began with an ice-breaker question: “What do you adore about summer in Minneapolis?” Not surprisingly, most answers had to do with perfect weather for biking, plus a dash of lake fun.

After recruiting volunteers to serve as photographer, timekeeper, and meeting report writer, we moved on to corridor reports. (You can review May’s meeting report here.)

After a three year study period of the area, a one way delineator-protected bikeway is to be installed on both University Ave and 4th St SE. These new lanes will continue the work of the Bicycle Master Plan from Hennepin County, Minnesota Department of Transportation, and the City of Minneapolis.

Portion of University Ave and 4th St to become protected bike lanes.

When it comes to bike-friendly rankings, Minneapolis has long outperformed our climate, even before we began serious investment in safe spaces to bike. That’s a result of the incredible Minneapolis Park trail network. The Park and Recreation Board got an early start building bike trails along Kenwood Parkway in 1895 and along Lake Harriet in 1896. (Check out more of our city’s early bikeway history in this chapter of the Minneapolis Master Bike Plan.)

The Grand Rounds was created as a recreational network. Because it circles the whole city (save the unfinished section in northeast/southeast) and connects to Downtown along the river, it puts most Minneapolitans close to a continuous protected bikeway with access to every corner of the city. When I moved to Minneapolis in 1996, the parks were great, and the streets… well, while rideable, they weren’t for the timid.

Thank you to Anna for taking the notes for this blog and to Sara for serving as photographer.

This May evening was as beautiful as April was snowy (catch up on our April work here). All the Dunn Bros bike racks (and sign posts for half a block in every direction) were filled to overflowing by the time the 12 of us all got settled. Our crew grew again, with three new people joining us (welcome Jesse and Nicky and Aaron).

We’ve finally settled on a standing meeting time: the first Monday of the month, from 6-7:30. Put June 4th on your calendar (but note that in July we’re postponing by a week due to the 4th of July). Come join our mighty band of organizers!

Thanks to Keith Heiberg for writing this post, and Chrissy for sharing her notes with Keith. Thanks to meeting photographer Sara for the pictures below.

On Tuesday, April 3, the Downtown Bikeways group met for the second time over pastries and trail mix - during a snowstorm. A hearty 10 souls made it to Dunn Bros, and more than one person biked despite the six inches of April snow. We also laughed a lot.

For some history, here's Tyler's blog post of our March meeting. At our first meeting we discussed overall goals and approaches; this time we dug into the details of what activities will be most effective in showcasing demand for these corridors, so that we can make downtown (and getting to downtown) safer for people on bikes.