We kicked off our November meeting with a presentation from Kelsey Fogt, a Minneapolis Transportation Planner. Kelsey provided an overview of the upcoming protected bikeways project on 1st Ave S, Grant St and 2nd Ave S. The group was particularly enthusiastic about the elevated bikeway portion that will go behind a floating bus stop. We hope to welcome more Public Works representatives to future meetings!

Another summer of Open Streets Minneapolis festivities has come and gone, and during all the fun, the Downtown Bikeways Work Group collected some valuable data about people’s bike lane preferences. We set up a poster with images of the different types of bike lanes you can find in Minneapolis, and asked Open Streets Minneapolis attendees to place a sticker next to the bike infrastructure on which they feel most comfortable riding. Over the course of the summer, we received a whopping 1,742 responses to this question, and I’m here to report the final tallies. 

Pedestrian Work Group

The Pedestrian Work Group hosted a Walk & Talk on Lyndale Ave S in September. Folks can watch and read news coverage of the walk on the City Pages website. 

Our September meeting was on a soggy night, but we had a solid turnout, with nine folks braving the downpour to join us. Ash kicked off the meeting by recapping some of our successes from this summer: Park & Portland being repainted to have their buffers again, stopping the Federal Reserve parking garage from being built in the North Loop, and getting 26th St to be protected again with plastic bollards.

Come celebrate with us next month! 

Last month we decided to meet in July even though many attendees would be out of town for the July 4th holiday. We decided that we didn’t want to lose our recent momentum - and we didn’t! We have lots of exciting projects that we are working on, some of which we’ll share at a later date.

We started the meeting with introductions, welcoming one new member, and welcoming back one member from a previous era of the Downtown Bikeways work group! We shared some of our favorite biking related memories as an ice breaker.

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.

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.

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 Joelle B., who teaches at MPS’ Emerson Spanish Immersion School. Emerson is located along the Downtown-Whittier corridor at 15th Street and LaSalle Ave S.

If you would like to share your support for a safe, protected bikeway that will connect downtown with Loring Heights, Stevens Square, Whittier, and neighborhoods to the south, please fill out this digital postcard. 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 Mina Leierwood, who teaches at MPS’ Emerson Spanish Immersion School. Emerson is located along the Downtown-Whittier corridor at 15th Street and LaSalle Ave S. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

If you would like to share your support for a safe, protected bikeway that will connect downtown with Loring Heights, Stevens Square, Whittier, and neighborhoods to the south, please fill out this digital postcard.