Downtown Posts

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 James Clark, who bikes along the corridor.

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 David Tompkins, who bikes along the corridor.

Tim Springer wrote this meeting update, and photos by Chrissy Leitz

The Downtown Bikeways committee met December 3 at 6 p.m. at Dunn Brothers on Loring Park. This committee began meeting monthly in March 2018 with the help of Janne Flisrand as a contractor to Our Streets Minneapolis to bootstrap advocacy work for protected bike lanes in downtown Minneapolis. Janne’s formal role is ending so the group needed to decide whether to continue. Arm wrestling was critical to the decisions, so click through to see what's next...

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 Mike Becker, who lives along the corridor.

This post was originally published on streets.mn. 

I’m on a workgroup through Our Streets Minneapolis, and I’m asking you to show your support for safer bikeways through downtown, specifically on 9th and 10th streets. These streets were added to the Bicycle Master Plan back in 2016, but there is currently no plan or schedule for improvement.

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.