Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/tag/cycling/page/8/)
It’s 8 am on a Wednesday morning when I arrive at Logan Park in Northeast Minneapolis. I recognize Em’s* purple bike and bright red helmet from across the park. She’s in the spot where we normally meet, a section of the path with a slight incline. Em pushes off down the slope, loses her balance, and falls to one side. She jumps away from the bike and I can tell that she is not hurt. Continue Reading
I recently had a chance to test out a contentious type of bike infrastructure, one much-discussed on this site. Continue Reading
From: Kevin Gallatin Date: 1:44am, Oct 24Kathy, thanks for the notice! I don’t think I would have heard about this without you mentioning it.I attended this meeting tonight and it was really valuable. The county laid out 3 options that are just at proposal stage…a lot can still change.The existing roadway is wide enough to support one traffic lane in each direction, a raised and planted median, and a parking lane on each side. Bike lanes are feasible but to to get them with all of the above, some of the amenities would need to be narrowed, or the roadway widened at risk to the existing boulevard trees. The median will end well short of intersections to allow a thru lane, a left turn lane, and a right turn lane at all intersections.Important to note that the scope of the project is only from Snelling to a bit west of Howell, near the library. Continue Reading
A wide-ranging effort to plan new bicycle routes in the Twin Cities is nearing completion with two opportunities next week for riders to weigh in on preliminary maps drawn up by the Metropolitan Council and the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Continue Reading
One Gear. No Brakes. That’s what velodrome bike racing is all about, that’s the slogan in a promotional video. I did not know that. They have to keep pedaling, though they can slow down by holding back.There are lots of people who do know this; they and curious neighbors with other questions came out Oct. Continue Reading
This article is reposted from TCDP media partner Streets.MN. Continue Reading
Hennepin County has decided to recommend that a bike lane, and not a cycle track, be installed on Minnehaha Avenue. County staff presented the updated plan to residents at two meetings held on September 30 and October 2 in Longfellow.The decision between a cycle track or a bike lane for Minnehaha Avenue has been a hot-button issue this summer, with cycle track advocates questioning the methodologies used by the County. “In the end, this is engineering judgment by the licensed professionals that will sign this plan,” said Craig Twinem, the project’s lead designer, at the Wednesday evening meeting. “These guys are smart and they stand behind this plan, and I stand behind it…. We are not against cycle tracks, the County feels that cycle tracks are not the best option for Minnehaha.”County staff noted that 81 percent of crashes between vehicles and bicycles occur at intersections. Continue Reading
On a rainy Saturday morning two women are at bike work stations receiving hands-on learning about the ins and outs of bicycle mechanics. These two women are not white or Lycra clad, nor would you confuse them with the “creative class” that is associated with the biking community. They are learning bike maintenance skills at SPOKES Bike-Walk Connections (1915 E. 22nd Street) in the Seward Minneapolis neighborhood. According to their bulletin, this organization is an innovative community bike and walking center with a goal of getting more people biking and walking for transportation and exercise. On their wall is a picture of bicycle parts written in Amharic, Eritrean, Ojibwa, and Oromo translations.Fatima Omer, a thirty-something Somali woman, is one of the two women working on a donated but still in good condition bike. Continue Reading
After multiple community meetings, Hennepin County has decided not to install cycle tracks along Minnehaha Avenue.A cycle track is a protected bike lane that is separate from vehicle traffic. In the Minnehaha Ave design, the cycle track would have been protected by a curb and parking spots.Bike Lane PlansInstead, the County has voted to move ahead with on-street bike lanes that will be built as part of the Minnehaha Avenue reconstruction project scheduled to start in 2015.According to the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, the County has committed to installing a bike lane that follows national best practices, including a two foot painted buffer that will separate vehicle traffic from cyclists along much of the roadway. Specific details about the bike lane design will be presented at two community meetings next week.Cycle Track SupportThe Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition was vocal in it’s support of the cycle track throughout the entire design process. Executive director Ethan Fawley told MPR, “We were supportive of a protected bike lane on Minnehaha, very supportive, but we wanted it to be designed right so it would be a good asset for the community for the next 50-60 years. We really wanted a protected bike lane design that would have no impacts on trees, no impacts on parking, no impacts on traffic.”The Coalition reported that of the 130 people who filled out comment cards at the July public meetings, 89 were in support of cycle tracks. Continue Reading
On September 12, two South High School students and a member of Corcoran Neighborhood Organization presented in front of the Midtown Greenway Coalition. Many students commute everyday to school using the Midtown Greenway and/or the 28th Street crossing of Hiawatha Avenue. There is a need to better link the large campus of South High to one of Minneapolis’s most well used bike & walk corridors.The City of Minneapolis has included 21st Ave S as a potential future bike route through the Bike Master Plan. However, this plan only calls for a “signed bike route.”The Midtown Greenway Coalition’s Improvements Committee called for a more robust street infrastructure option for 21st Ave. They formally endorsed the following resolution:”The Midtown Greenway Coalition strongly supports the creation of a safer environment for South High students to bike and walk to school, through improved biking facilities along 21st Avenue. Continue Reading