Word on the Streets

Bike Paths and More: Bicycle Advisory Committee Endorses Several Key Projects

Last week, the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC)—a group of trusted advisers to City Council members—discussed an exciting mix of projects that will make city streets even safer for bicyclists, including:

Bike Path on Penn Avenue South: Next year, Penn Avenue South will be resurfaced between 50^th Street South and Highway 62. One potential improvement that could be made during this time is a new bike path on the west side of the street. The BAC has passed a formal resolution in support of this improvement. For more, check out Lisa’s blog post from March 2.

- Want to get involved? This is one of the top infrastructure improvements that the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition is working on this year. To learn more about how you can get involved and volunteer opportunities, contact [email protected]. You can also stop by a public meeting on Tuesday, March 6, 6 pm, in the multi-purpose room of the Armatage Recreation Center.

Protected Bike Lanes on 36^th Street: This year, the city will be repaving a significant stretch of 36^th Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, between Chicago Avenue South and Lake Calhoun. An exciting bicycle-friendly improvement that is being considered as part of this project is a two-way protected bike lane. The BAC passed a resolution in support of this improvement.

Bike Lanes at UM’s Seven Corners: The BAC also passed a resolution in support of bike lanes on Washington Avenue on the UM’s West Bank between 19^th Avenue South and the 35W bridge. For more, check out Adam’s blog post from March 1.

Bike Lanes on Central Avenue: While the BAC did not pass any new resolutions on this project, negotiations continue between MNDOT and the City on how to make Central Avenue as bicycle-friendly as possible when it is repaved this year. For more, check out Adam’s blog post from March 1.

In other news:

The City of Minneapolis has hired a firm from Chicago to investigate the cause of broken cables on the Sabo Bridge over Hiawatha Avenue and to determine what needs to be done to remedy the situation.

The BAC passed a resolution in support of proposed legislation that would create a program to provide matching funds from the State of Minnesota for a bicycle light safety pilot program. If implemented, this program would enable a local law enforcement department to distribute lights to bicyclists who are operating at night without legal lighting, free of charge and in lieu of a traffic citation.

Starting April 13, the City of Minneapolis will be accepting applications for new BAC members.

posted by | March 05, 2012

Penn Ave S Public Meeting Next Week

A public meeting for the reconstruction of Penn Avenue South will be held next Tuesday, March 6 at 6pm in the multi-purpose room of the Armatage Recreation Center. Please stop by if you live or bicycle in the area – this is your chance to let the City know that a good bicycle facility is important here. If you can’t make the meeting, you can contact project manager Jeff Handeland at (612) 673.2363 or [email protected] and Council Member Betsy Hodges at (612) 673-2213 or [email protected].

The full reconstruction of Penn Avenue South spans from 50^th Street to MN-62 and includes new pavement, curb and gutter, and coordinated utility work. This is a big opportunity to get bicycle facilities on this area of South Minneapolis where bicycle connections are lacking.

Sharrows vs “Cycletrack” or no bike facilities at all

At the City’s presentation to the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC), summarized on our blog, project engineer Jeff Handeland explained that the City planned to remove parking from one side of the street, expand the sidewalk and build larger boulevards to add trees. Given these priorities, it is not possible to get bicycle lanes in both directions. Instead, on-street facilities would have to be bike lanes in one direction and a sharrow in the other direction.

A sharrow would be frustrating for drivers and would not feel safe to many bicyclists on a street like Penn Avenue South, which has only one travel lane in each direction and relatively high levels of daily traffic. Because there is one lane in each direction, a bicyclist would have to hold down the lane and, during peak congestion, cars would not be able to easily pass. In short, a sharrow would not be much improvement over what is on Penn Avenue S for bicycling today – and many, many bicyclists do not feel comfortable in that situation.

The City explored the possibility of finding an alternative route for the northern part of this connection, but Minnehaha Creek and Armatage Park would create large detours that would make bicycling very inconvenient.

The option endorsed by the BAC, where I am the Ward 10 representative, looks like the best solution for all users. This is the option the City is calling the “Cycle Track Option.” It would create a 12’ area on one side of the street to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians.

In this option, the key would be designing intersections to a higher level of safety for bicyclists. Bicycling on the sidewalk is actually the most dangerous position for bicyclists, because drivers don’t expect to see cyclists at intersections. This stretch has some “super blocks” so there are fewer intersections to worry about.

The City’s current rendering of this option distributed the space in a five foot sidewalk and a seven foot bi-directional bicycle path. This should be plenty of space for the user volumes, which are only about 100 bicyclists and day (though that would be expected to rise with better bicycle facilities). As traffic engineer and blogger Rueben pointed out, a shared use path might be a better distribution of that space in some ways.

It seems clear that, for the vast majority of bicyclists, the “Cycle Track Option” provides the most safe and convenient access. As the details are worked out, including how to treat stretches of residential vs commercial nodes, how to allocate bicycle and pedestrian space in a way that protects pedestrian and works for bicyclists, and how to make sure intersections are safe – we hope bicyclists will stay involved in the conversation.

This is a project where someone might say, “there just isn’t space to accommodate bicyclists.” Big kudos to the City, especially Jeff Handeland and Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Shaun Murphy for looking for options that are safe and accessible for all users.

posted by | March 02, 2012

Win Some - Lose Some

A Diagram of the Cycle Track Option

Win Some - Lose Some, the BAC Keeps on Pedaling

The City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee- Engineering Subcommittee recently met with City staff and MnDOT representation to discuss projects that could create additional biking facilities throughout Minneapolis. Building world class bicycle infrastructure requires a high level of site specific consideration while maintaining an overarching vision, one creating a network of safe and efficient routes between places of work, commerce, and entertainment. As such, the discussion itself was very detail heavy, so I will spare you the time and give you details on a few key projects, as well as a short list of roads that will be altered as a part of the larger Bike Plan.

Penn Avenue Reconstruction: In attendance from the City’s Streets Department was Jeff Handeland, the project engineer for the Penn Avenue reconstruction project. Penn Avenue has never been an inviting road for bikers, but plans for increased accessibility could completely alter the look and feel of the thoroughfare. For reference, the work discussed would span from 50^th Street to MN-62, with a possibility of connected facilities spanning from the south end of Lake Calhoun to 50^th Street. Three options were discussed, including:

Sharrows- shared biking and driving lane. This was treated as the least-favored option due to it’s in ability to produce a more enjoyable cycling experience.

Bike Lane/Sharrow Hybrid- one bike lane headed in the southbound direction and a sharrow in the north bound.

Cycle Track- based on an idea from the Netherlands, this provides a 2-lane cycle track on the west side of Penn avenue. The Cycle Track was the preferred option, noting that a physical separation between automotive and biking is enticing to new bikers. The additional accessibility would likely increase visibility for businesses, and create a more inviting atmosphere. Here is a diagram:

Central Avenue: MnDOT (Minnesota Department of Transportation) controls MN-65 Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis. While the preferred biking facility would have been a full bike lane in each direction spanning the entire length of Central Avenue, the varied and complicated mix of dimensions, medians, and parking configurations prohibited a consistent bike lane in some sections of the project. However, after extensive consultation with the BAC and advocacy by the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition members, a combination of bike lanes and sharrows are being proposed by MnDOT, providing a connected route for bikers. Though there is some room for additional improvement along Central in the future and many in the room expressed disappointment that MnDOT didn’t go further, there was a general thanks for the work to make improvements and the willingness of staff to consider changes. All stakeholders present in discussion acknowledged the need for continued collaboration on projects in the future to ensure better biking facilities on State managed roads.

Lowry Bridge: The BAC has been pushing for slip ramps on both sides of the Lowry bridge along with a safe bike facility, however County Staff have stated it is only possible on the West end. The East end presented issues with the existing driveways, which were cited as suitable entrance/exit points. This issue is receiving additional attention and consideration, because of the safety concerns related to bicyclists and drivers surprising each other at intersections.

7 Corners: Recently, this area was given a pedestrian oriented grant that will fund safer crossings for the intersection. The BAC hopes to have bicycle lanes included in the plan, to the extent possible given the space constraints. It’s possible that the pedestrian improvements will be installed first, with bike lanes to follow.

David Peterson (who works in the Traffic and Parking Services division of Minneapolis Public Works) presented a list of 2012 street maintenance projects, along with recommendations from Public Works about which projects should include some type of bike facility going forward. Connectivity was heavily emphasized, as well as finding those opportunities for implementation that are cost effective and quick. While percentages don’t tell the whole story, of all bike paving options considered, roughly 45% were recommended for implementation by City Staff, building roughly 5 miles of additional bike facilities in the next year, as part of already-planned and funded maintenance projects.

Bottom Line: While there were several projects in which ideal bike facilities couldn’t be included, I left feeling as though we were building in a positive direction.

posted by | March 01, 2012