Bicycle Infrastructure

[orangevening]

It looks like the nightmare freeways running through neighborhoods (26th and 28th Sts)...

OH, the HORROR.

Any thoughts on how we're going to clear snow from these new protected bike lanes?

Probably the way they clear snow the other paths in the city including the Greenway (which amazingly they are cleared before the streets in many cases).

[orangevening]

AANNYWAYYS,

http://mplsbike.org/blog/posts/minneapo ... e-project/

It looks like the nightmare freeways running through neighborhoods (26th and 28th Sts) will be getting protected bike lanes next year. I had heard they were getting resurfaced soon and that bike improvements would possibly be involved, but this is exciting news to me!

This surprised me. When I first moved here 15 years ago there was bike lanes on 26/28th. Once the Greenway was done, the city either let the paint fade away and/or painted over them. I know 24th street east of 35W is supposed to get bike lanes as part of the 17th ave/southern connector Bicycle Blvd. Surprised they would have new lanes so close to each other. Bike facilities every 2 blocks in this part of town feels greedy when there are so many other needs in the city.

[MNdible]

Probably the way they clear snow the other paths in the city including the Greenway (which amazingly they are cleared before the streets in many cases).

Thanks to everybody for all of the helpful suggestions about how one might remove snow. You neglected to include the use of magical elves or heating all bike lanes.

Perhaps I should have been more specific, as it's clear that given unlimited time and money, we could not only clear these bike paths, but also clear the sidewalks which generally become a nasty packed ice mess in many parts of town.

Woofner points out that these may be buffered rather than protected, which mostly eliminates the problem. But, if they were actually protected, you'd have the big plows pushing up big banks on top of the lanes. And then, yes, you'd have to pay somebody with a bobcat to excavate out the lanes for the handful of riders who will be using it in the winter (when you have the Greenway a few blocks away). To me, that's not a particularly intelligent way to be using our limited resources.

[mister.shoes]

Or the big plows push all the snow from the auto lanes to the other side of the street while the snow from the protected bike lane goes to that curb.

[mattaudio]

Or the physical barrier could be a spot to collect snow, just like any median. This probably means more snow storage space rather than less. Here's a photo of the 9th Ave cycletrack in Manhattan. https://www.ebbc.org/files/blog_files/n ... th_nyc.jpg

[PhilmerPhil]

Or, for a more local example:

[orangevening]

Thanks to everybody for all of the helpful suggestions about how one might remove snow. You neglected to include the use of magical elves or heating all bike lanes.

we have glow in the dark bike lanes so why not?

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commut ... path/7413/

Perhaps I should have been more specific, as it's clear that given unlimited time and money, we could not only clear these bike paths, but also clear the sidewalks which generally become a nasty packed ice mess in many parts of town.

Woofner points out that these may be buffered rather than protected, which mostly eliminates the problem. But, if they were actually protected, you'd have the big plows pushing up big banks on top of the lanes. And then, yes, you'd have to pay somebody with a bobcat to excavate out the lanes for the handful of riders who will be using it in the winter (when you have the Greenway a few blocks away). To me, that's not a particularly intelligent way to be using our limited resources.

Maybe use the snow as the protective element by making snow banks between the lane and traffic. I know it's not that simple but I think that would be classic Minnesotan street scene to see a pedestrians bundled up like they are on the Hoth planet/ winter biker wintered up/ snow bank/ traffic in a snow storm all at once.

I haven't thought about it til now, but I wonder how a midtown LRV/ streetcar is going to effect snow removal on the Greenway since there is less place to put it.

[orangevening]

I think I found a new favorite blog

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2013/11 ... again.html

[PhilmerPhil]

^His books are great too! All three of 'em.

[orangevening]

^His books are great too! All three of 'em.

I'll look into them and soon as I have time for some causal reading, thanks! Are they the same sense of humor as his blog? Because it is absolutely hilarious.

[eazydp]

I rode the Southern Bike Connection (17th Ave S) from the Greenway to 52nd Ave last night. All of the bikeway improvements are in. I had taken it a few times throughout the summer, it definitely felt faster. The four-way yields were pretty fun and got the job done. Unfortunately there were no improvements on the 38th Ave intersection, something was needed there. The 42nd Ave intersection AND 46th St intersection had medians to wait in, I used the 42nd Ave one (which is also a diverter), and sat in the middle waiting for traffic. The cars were definitely confused. The first driver though I was going to just go through, slowed down to about 2 MPH but then sped up and didn't let me through. I think both bikes and drivers need education on what is the expected behavior here. The nice thing with the medians compared to say the 40th Ave Bike Blvd is that the median is actually big enough so you feel protected and safe going halfway, making the busy streets seem less intimidating.

The signage was also up at all of the intersections, definitely well labeled. They also have the cool little bike logo street signs along the route.

Overall, it was a large improvement in terms of safety and bike facilities. I'd have preferred at least one or two more traffic diverters. It felt like cars realized it was 'better' than Cedar Ave in some instances and were using it as such. Also, they need some signage on Minnehaha Parkway to let cars know bikes are now passing there.

I'd also say that the 40th Bike Blvd/Southern Bike Connection should have some bad ass bike only diverters and like a cool feature, but I realize money is an issue here. Currently 40th has precedent and Southern is just a standard 2-way stop.

[mattaudio]

Unfortunately there was no mill/overlay.

[eazydp]

Unfortunately there was no mill/overlay.

Good point. This was particularly annoying as the lighting was poor so I really had to keep an eye out for potholes and had a fairly rough ride.

[eazydp]

To be fair, there was very little (maybe no) painting done yet, so I think they were smart here and will be adding that once the mill/overlay is done in the next few years.

[Viktor Vaughn]

On my evening commute a couple of months ago, I was biking along Pierce St NE just North of East Hennepin. I was waved down by a screeching Diane Hofstede and pulled a u-turn to see what she was up to. My arrival was just the distraction the last biker she had ambushed needed to escape.

She asked me whether they should make Pierce & Bucanan the designated "President's Way" bicycle boulevard instead of Filmore. I thought this was odd because they had already started building traffic circles and there was already quite a few speedbumps on Filmore. She said she had observed lots of bikers on Pierce anyway, and asked whether I would switch to Filmore when the construction was done. I told her I'm not going to ride out of way to ride on the designated route when I have a very comfortable neighborhood side street that's much more direct. I told her I support keeping the route on Filmore, though, which isn't out-of-the-way for many and offers a bit less byzantine route, which the occasional biker will value.

CM Hofstede said that Filmore was no longer a viable route and when I pressed her on why, she said it got "complicated" and would say no more.

Then I read this today in the Northeaster:

In Beltrami Neighborhood, where workers had dug out pavement for another mini traffic circle at Fillmore and Spring, Third Ward Council Member Diane Hofstede requested that the Public Works Department put construction on hold “because of the feedback received by me from community members, and businesses stakeholders, in order to engage the community in a discussion about the design of the intersection, and meet the needs of neighborhood.”
In a letter hand-delivered to nearby residents, she said “Public Works crews will be filling the hole with temporary concrete and gravel. Crews will also place a test miniature traffic circle, in order to evaluate concerns, including parking, and truck and school bus access. This will be a test and temporary measure, and will have temporary traffic posts and yield signs. Parking will not be removed as part of the test. The test does not mean the traffic circle will be permanent, or that any parking will be removed.” Hofstede met with neighbors and Public Works representatives Wednesday, Nov. 13, about design options. It’s expected a solution will be decided and implemented in the first half of 2014.

I am not going to miss Diane Hofstede. I wonder if Jacob Frey wants to put an under-construction bicycle project on hold because of meritless neighborhood concerns about school bus access...

[MNdible]

I will also not miss Hofstede.

I believe that her departure will make Barb Johnson (who I actually have a soft spot for) the last elected official with direct connections to Old Minneapolis.

I guess there's Kari Dziedzic too.

[woofner]

Fillmore is clearly the futureproof alignment because it allows for an overpass that would connect directly to 5th Ave SE someday (at which point 5th becomes the preferable bike blvd in Marcy Holmes rather than 6th). Since bike boulevards just use common sense calm street design features that should be a standard part of road design, I don't see anything wrong with using Pierce instead of Fillmore in the short term. But I also don't understand what this two block detour will accomplish. If she has it realigned to Pierce, it better have a traffic circle on Pierce anyway or it's not a bike blvd at all. Why would we need to be concerned about truck access here? Shouldn't truck traffic be banned on these streets?

[eazydp]

WATM is officially opens to bikes (and buses... and dopey cars). For a trip from Oak/Washington to the West Bank, Bikes have a bike lane from Oak, to Walnut, bikes have the entire lane from Walnut to Church (buses switch to Rails), from there they are expected to take a right, then an immediate left to the lane which has been painted through the mall over, from there, take a left after Kolthoff Hall, down a ramp, through the silly planter barriers, and across the Washington Ave bridge. Extremely user friendly (sarcasm)! If you are going the opposite direction, the biggest different would be that you are required to take a left through a traffic signal from Church Street to get on the East bound side of Washington.

I am struggling to see how this bike lane will be a success, because it is going to get awkward (and likely dangerous for all involved) when the buses are shifting to and from the rail lanes. There will also be the rubes in for sports, hospitals, campus visits who will end up mistakenly driving down them. I would imagine a physically barrier might be called for or a change in policy. Really foresee a Hennepin Avenue outcome here, but as long as cars stay out it should remain a good experience for transit and tolerable on bike.

Google maps makes it look SO simple (http://goo.gl/maps/CmKed).

[orangevening]

I wrote this on the green line thread, but I swear the bike infrastructure on campus was designed by someone who has never been on a bike. I'm worried a biker is going to get hit taking a direct left (& getting their tires stuck in the tracks). I attended a happy hour meeting with Steve Sanders (the U's bike coordinator) and he just shaked his head at the biking decisions made at the U (like the area in front of STSS) for bikes. The board of directors are clueless.

[hoffm83n]

and the newly installed bike lane/divider connecting pleasant to the Washington bridge doesn't get cleared because of the barriers. Biking solutions at the U should be cheap and require no new pavement,i dont get it.

New bike count totals
http://www.bikewalktwincities.org/sites ... lowres.pdf

University Ave. West of Prior, leads the way with 65% of bikers on the sidewalk.