Minnehaha Joy Ride Stays Joyful Despite Bad News
A pack of more than 40 cyclists making its way through Minneapolis can create quite the impression with motorists.
Bike lanes--formerly little more than de facto passing lanes, right turn lanes, or overflow parking--suddenly become inviolable. A few motorists actually had to slow down. A few chose to stop entirely to enjoy the traffic anomaly of a block-long line of cyclists snaking around turns.
The Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition (MBC) hopes the city’s future bike facilities feel more like they did briefly Thursday: more bustling with cyclists and more respected by motorists. The MBC planned Thursday’s Joy Ride Series event titled “The Shape of Minnehaha To Come” to promote just this kind of future.
If only garnering attention with transportation policymakers was as easy as garnering motorists’ attention was for a procession of 40 cyclists.
MBC executive director Ethan Fawley informed Joy Ride attendants that Hennepin County had decided to rule out cycle tracks in the upcoming the Minnehaha reconstruction, despite the MBC’s determined advocacy.
Fawley said the Hennepin County Board received 946 emails and more than 900 postcards in support of a cycle track on Minnehaha.
Ultimately the board settled instead on an improved bike lane with a two-foot painted buffer and green paint at intersections.
“It feels like a single when we should have hit a homerun,” Fawley said.
Fawley explained that the MBC wants bicycle facilities that everyone can comfortably use, not just experienced bicyclists. He pointed out that kids feel much safer on cycle tracks than riding next to traffic unprotected in a bike lane. Moreover, Fawley said the evidence shows that cycle tracks attract new bicyclists, whereas bike lanes do not.
While the news is disappointing, Fawley said cycle track supporters need to express their disappointment to the Hennepin County Board and stay engaged to continue raising awareness.
“We need to let them know we care,” Fawley said.
Although Minnehaha won’t have a cycle track, Fawley said the campaign made the county much more aware of the demand for bike infrastructure.
On other streets the campaign for better bike infrastructure continues and Thursday’s ride also stopped near another avenue where cycle tracks are still a possibility in the near future: Washington Avenue.
During a stop at Gold Medal Park, Rose Ryan, who recently became Hennepin County’s first Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, told joy riders that cycle tracks are the locally preferred option for Washington Avenue and the option Hennepin County staff is recommending to the board (which by no means guarantees its passage but is a huge step in the right direction).
Ryan said some have concerns removing a lane to add a cycle track will increase commute times, but a comprehensive study by traffic engineers showed improved signal timing should allow two lanes to carry just as much traffic just as quickly as the three lanes do presently.
Fawley explained how far bicycle advocates had come. When the MBC was founded in 2009, the Minneapolis City Council had to overrule City staff recommendations for Washington Avenue in the bike plan just so that it would include biking at all. Four years later, a cycle track is a very real possibility along what used to be an officially declared dead zone for bicyclists.
On a lighter note, the joy ride included bike limbo and free subs at Father Hennepin Park (where the ride began) and included stops at Harriet Brewery and Sea Salt Eatery for further refreshments. Participants seemed to enjoy themselves despite some not so good news on Minnehaha.
County chooses bike lane for Minnehaha
Hennepin County has chosen not to implement a protected bike lane or cycle track for Minnehaha Avenue (as depicted at right).
We're disappointed that they will not sieze this opportunity to transform Minnehaha, especially after very strong public support for the idea. Of the 130 people who filled out comment cards at July public meetings, 89 offered a preference for a cycle track. Additionally, more than 900 people signed postcards in support of a cycle track on Minnehaha.
The County will present more detailed plans for their bike lane design at the two public meetings next week. We certainly hope that you will attend, even if you are disappointed they aren't discussing the cycle track. It's important they continue to hear feedback from people. We’ve asked them to design Minnehaha to allow for the possibility of a relatively simple change to a parking protected bike lane in the future.
Monday, September 30, 2013 and
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (presentation at 6:30)
Minnehaha Communion Lutheran Church
4101 37th Avenue South
If you cannot make the meetings, you can share feedback with Commissioner Peter McLaughlin ([email protected]) or Project Manager Kristy Morter ([email protected]).
We are glad that the County has at least committed to building a high-quality bike lane. They are planning to use national best practices for on-street bike lanes, including adding a two-foot painted buffer in many areas (like in the picture here), using green paint where appropriate at intersections, extending the concrete from the curb out through the bike lane to create visual differention between the bike lane and the car lane, and using two-stage left turns. They are also looking at the possibility of eliminating the extra "merge" lane that pops up around Lake Street (and currently means the bike lane goes away just north of Lake for a bit).
The Minnehaha Avenue decision will not be approved by the County Board as was previously indicated. This is in line with the standard County process for road projects where County staff work out the decision in coordination with the local County Commissioner (in this case Peter McLaughlin). It will go to City Council for municipal consent later this year.
Thank you to everyone who has engaged on this project. Your interest, emails, attendance at public meetings, sharing with friends, etc. has helped raise awareness and support for protected bike lanes and has undoubtedly led to additional improvements to the bike lane design. We hope that support can carry over for future projects and eventually lead to parking protected bike lanes on Minnehaha as County officials become more comfortable with the design.
We're most disappointed that we were never able to get a great and feasible cycle track design out there for Minnehaha that meaningfully reflected the public input. County staff had planned to meet with us to work on details to reduce tree and parking impacts and maximize intersection safety, but the decision for a bike lane was made before that meeting happened. Our understanding is that Commissioner McLaughlin and staff made the decision after the Longfellow Community Council last week decided not to take a position (their Environment and Transportation Committee has since passed a resolution asking for to wait until the Federal Highway Administration adopts currently pending national guidelines on cycle tracks).
