Bicycle Infrastructure

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
MNdible
is great.
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby MNdible » July 14th, 2017, 4:32 pm

Sure.

Silophant
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Silophant » July 14th, 2017, 5:10 pm

I've noticed it too. Drives me nuts, but I'm trying to look at it from the perspective of someone who's not as brave of a biker as I am dealing with all of the lane closures this summer.
Joey Senkyr
[email protected]

SkyScraperKid

Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby SkyScraperKid » July 14th, 2017, 5:55 pm

I've noticed it too. Drives me nuts, but I'm trying to look at it from the perspective of someone who's not as brave of a biker as I am dealing with all of the lane closures this summer.
YES! my policy is always ride in the bike lane downtown OR if you ride on the sidewalk go slow and give pedestrians the ROW. I always do that when I use Nice Ride and the station is mid block or I need to use the sidewalk for a shortcut. I had that happen several times in loring park. Zoomed right by on the sidewalk when there is an ACTUAL bike trail not but 12 feet away! :evil: ...there needs to more education, such as a quick tutorial for nice ride memberships/rentals (keep it under 20 seconds) and bike police & walking officers doing education and tickets. Cops riding in cop cars driving past does nothing to address important issues such as this, since they seem to never stop.

cnelson
City Center
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby cnelson » July 17th, 2017, 8:17 am

Seriously, ticketing people who ride on the sidewalk? Given the many things that MPD ignores these days, this should be way down the list of enforcement priorities.

Also, given the way low level stuff like this is unevenly enforced (see also: NYPD stop and frisk) and in light of incidents like this -http://www.startribune.com/woman-killed ... 434782213/ - I'm not inclined to encourage unnecessary confrontations between the police and the public.

amiller92
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby amiller92 » July 17th, 2017, 8:55 am

bike police & walking officers doing education and tickets. Cops riding in cop cars driving past does nothing to address important issues such as this, since they seem to never stop.
Please do not wish more cops on anyone, much less people of color on bikes.

amiller92
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby amiller92 » July 17th, 2017, 8:57 am

As for biking on the sidewalk, given all the construction it's hard to get anywhere at the moment. Even where there are bike lanes, they disappear crossing the Mall construction, to say nothing of the various buildings going up.

Save your consternation for dangerous behavior, not the technical violation of biking considerately on the sidewalk.

SurlyLHT
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby SurlyLHT » July 17th, 2017, 9:53 am

I haven't notice more people biking on the sidewalks, but then I work on the edge of the Downtown core. I think we need more bike police/officers walking the beat. I'll be fine with them educating/warning people. Overall in Minneapolis we at least need some bike ambassadors or etc. even on the Greenway to inform/remind people to share these public spaces. Things seem to get a bit crazy during the summer. Given that people seem to be getting more careless the biking on the sidewalks and not even looking both ways when running a stoplight with headphones in people need warnings or etc. given that it's a safety issue.

Anondson
IDS Center
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Anondson » July 19th, 2017, 10:56 pm

Hennepin County announced its list of grants for bike trail projects as well as some sidewalk grants.

https://content.govdelivery.com/account ... ns/1a9059c

moose
Block E
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby moose » July 23rd, 2017, 9:39 pm

European cities are proposing and building elevated bikeways! this type of thing would suit TC so well! TC is one of the top American bike friendly cities as is, but if we had this, we would definitely be number 1! Heres a cool article https://qz.com/277394/these-elevated-bi ... g-traffic/

Image

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Anondson
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Anondson » July 23rd, 2017, 10:06 pm

About 4 years ago that article is, I’m not sure how entirely serious it ever was though.

SurlyLHT
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby SurlyLHT » July 24th, 2017, 7:38 am

We might want to focus for now on getting an elevated bikeway across the Mississippi to extend the Greenway to St. Paul. Honestly, I don't really see the benefits of having it here given that we have the Grand Rounds and rail trails. You would want a really dense area with limited free land. Although something like this across some of the interstates as a bridge would be nice. Another idea would be what if we built bikeways into the upper portions of the embankments of the interstates? There could be some elevated portions at interchanges. I'm sure the red tape for building bikeways on the interstates is pretty substantial.

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EOst
Capella Tower
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby EOst » July 24th, 2017, 8:33 am

There's been some noise about exploring a bikeway along 94 in Saint Paul as part of MnDOT's current study. Interchanges would more likely have to feature tunnels (bleh) than bridges. Plus, you run into concerns about emissions.

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EOst
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby EOst » July 25th, 2017, 12:12 pm

http://www.bikeleague.org/content/comin ... s-bike-tax

Unpopular opinion: If someone in the legislature proposed a tax on new bikes to fund bike infrastructure, I would probably support it. Obviously it would be better to raise the gas tax and generally discourage energy-intensive transportation methods, but I wouldn't mind killing the "bikes don't pay for roads" meme.

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VacantLuxuries
Foshay Tower
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby VacantLuxuries » July 25th, 2017, 12:15 pm

Hell, I'd be vocally in favor of it if the revenue stream was enough to fund a faster buildout and would help keep maintenance current on existing trails.

SurlyLHT
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby SurlyLHT » July 25th, 2017, 1:39 pm

I'll be in favor of it. Especially if it was on bikes above $1,000 given that many of these bikes are luxuries and that I won't want it to raise the cost for lower-income populations. I'll also be in favor of some sort of voluntary program where you pay in and become a yearly member and get a special spoke card or etc with the funds being dedicated to cycling improvements/maintenance through grants. (Maybe a non-profit government partnership)

Vagueperson
Union Depot
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Vagueperson » July 26th, 2017, 6:34 am

As long as we don't then get into a protracted fight about exactly how much revenue is raised from $1000+ bike purchases vs. the cost of the infrastructure. You know, the belief that cars fully pay for streets and bikes should fully pay for bikeways. We have a user fee for transit, but that doesn't end the argument about subsidies.

Is it a strawman argument to say that pedestrians aren't targeted for pedestrian improvements? Perhaps this is because all people are considered pedestrians while not all people bicycle. Sidewalk improvements are often paid for with assessments to nearby property owners.

I think it might be helpful in St. Paul to have the bicycle portion of street projects come from a general fund rather than assessments, so local property owners get a little bit less emotional about what an injustice it will be for them to pay for a bikeway they'll never use.

Silophant
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Silophant » July 27th, 2017, 6:15 pm

According to an email the county sent out today, the Washington Avenue cycle tracks are anticipated to open in August. Freaking finally.
Joey Senkyr
[email protected]

Korh
Union Depot
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Korh » July 28th, 2017, 9:27 am

I doubt we could ever get enough money to build an operate it as well as some questions whether or not it would be necessary, a automated bike storage system would be kinda of cool to have.

https://youtu.be/TTnX-MlVvjU

Qhaberl
Foshay Tower
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Qhaberl » August 16th, 2017, 9:10 am

cities around the country are starting to see a proliferation of a new bike share scheme. The idea is not having to doc you bike.

More than likely it will not be niceride MN that will facilitate this new type of bike sharing scheme.

Does nice ride have any agreements with the city that would prohibit other bike share and companies from entering the area? What type of monopolistic agreements are in place, if any?

How successful do you think this new type of bike sharing skiing would be in Minneapolis? Obviously these bikes would not be used in the winter.

Anyone know if there's anything in the pipeline? Is Minneapolis going to get one of these new schemes anytime soon?


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MattW
Rice Park
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby MattW » August 16th, 2017, 9:25 am

It's a decent concept, but doesn't work.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... giant-pile


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