Pedestrian Posts

Our Streets Minneapolis works for a city where biking, walking, and rolling are easy and comfortable for everyone.

We envision a city where: 

Older adults and people with mobility challenges are healthy, independent, and connected with their communities through streets and sidewalks designed for them.

I live just off Franklin, and have regularly bussed and biked along it for decades. One day many years ago, I was surprised to see someone rolling down the east-bound traffic lane in a wheelchair. It was on that particularly harrowing section of Franklin between Portland and Chicago.

I immediately wondered what was so wrong with the sidewalk that someone felt compelled to take such a risk. A quick glance at the sidewalk and it was obvious.

And as I checked out the sidewalks from the bus windows over the years, I saw examples like this along much of Franklin Avenue, although most don’t have the dirt desire-line path to broadcast just how inadequate the sidewalk is.

The intersection of Lake Street W and Lyndale Avenue S had the highest total pedestrian crashes (24 crashes) according to the 2017 City of Minneapolis Pedestrian Crash Study. Lake and Lyndale is a signalized intersection with four lanes of traffic to cross on each street. (StarTribune video of the intersection). There are bus stops on all four corners serving routes 21 and 53 on Lake Street and routes 4 and 113 on Lyndale Avenue. Additionally, both Lake and Lyndale have thriving businesses and medium density housing at and near this intersection.

Photo by Janelle Nivens

I’ve been learning about what the Americans with Disabilities Act requires when it comes to our sidewalks. I’ll share how things work in another post. Today, I want to share my single favorite discovery.

Hennepin County has an online map with photo images and descriptions of every intersection, curb cut, signal actuation/beg button, and sidewalk obstruction on county streets. That map is here.  

This. Map. Is. Amazing.

In the December Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting, on December 20, the committee discussed a presentation from public works about four safe roads programs.

The presentation discussed the  Sidewalk Gap program, Safe Routes to School program, Pedestrian Safety program, and ADA Curb Ramp Replacement program.

Stop lights have a big impact on the safety and ease of walking, but pedestrians are mostly an afterthought in stop light design. Here are five problems with traffic lights for people walking. We understand that the City is starting to think about how stop lights work for people walking, and we hope to be able to report on progress soon.

Here is our first-ever list of walking advocacy priorities! We're excited to be working on these with our volunteer Pedestrian Work Group and partners.