Protected Bikeway Posts

The City of Minneapolis released its Transportation Action Plan draft last week. This plan is an addendum to the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan that will guide transportation projects in Minneapolis for the next ten years.

From welcoming a new Executive Director to celebrating our 10th anniversary, 2019 has been a huge year for us. At Our Streets Minneapolis we are grateful for your continued support as we work for a city where biking, walking, and rolling are easy and comfortable for everyone. With only six staff this year, we depended on our local community to make this all happen. Thank you for working toward our shared vision of a city that puts people first!

Join us as we look back on all we accomplished together this year and look ahead to what we have planned for 2020. Plus, be sure to read to the end of this post for an update on our financial situation.

As Our Streets Minneapolis celebrates our 10th anniversary, we're taking a look back at some of the volunteers and groups that helped us get where we are today. As a community driven organization, we depend on local folks lending their skills and time to our movement. 

As Our Streets Minneapolis turns ten, we’re looking back on the changes we’ve seen in our public spaces and our streets since the organization began. None of the many improvements and innovations could have happened without visionary community leaders and volunteers, political leaders willing to take risks, and dedicated public agency staff. Here are ten of our favorite improvements, from massive public works projects to smaller changes that made walking, biking, and rolling better in our city.

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. 

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.

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.