Officials announce $250,000 for bicycle projects in Northeast
(Photo: Mayor R.T. Rybak with Lea Schuster of Transit for Livable Communities announcing $7.3 million in awards for bike and pedestrian projects. BY DAN HAUGEN)
By Dan Haugen
Northeast Beat Editor
Bicyclists in Northeast Minneapolis can look forward to new lanes, signs and bike racks, and – maybe someday – a more bike-friendly Central Avenue.
Transit for Livable Communities, a federally funded nonprofit, today announced funding for $7.3 million in bicycle and pedestrian projects around the Twin Cities, including four in Northeast.
They include:
- $50,000 for a Central Avenue planning study. The route has a high pedestrian and bicycle crash rate. The study will look at ways to improve conditions for bicyclists from the Mississippi River to 37th Avenue.
- $50,000 for a “bicycle boulevard†on 5th Street NE. The 1.97-mile project will add signs, striping, bike racks, curb cuts and traffic diverters to 5th Street between 26th Avenue NE and 3rd Avenue SE. The result will be a street that gives priority to bicyclists.
- $50,000 for a bicycle boulevard on 22nd Avenue NE. Speed limits will be reduced to 25 mph on a 2.21-mile stretch between the Mississippi River and the Northeast Diagonal Trail. Also included: speed bumps, fewer stop signs and “no passing cyclist†signs along the route.
- $150,000 for bike lanes on Plymouth Avenue N and 8th Avenue NE. The number of lanes for auto traffic will be reduced from four down to two or three along most of a 1.08-mile section near the river.
The awards were announced at a press conference this afternoon at the Brian Coyle Community Center in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.
They’re part of the Bike/Walk Twin Cities initiative, a four-year pilot program aimed at boosting the share of people who walk or bike instead of drive to where they need to go. It’s funded by an appropriation in the 2005 federal transportation bill.
Lea Schuster, executive director of Transit for Livable Communities, which was selected to administer the program in the Twin Cities, said an exact time line wasn’t available for the projects, but that they hoped to measure their impact by 2010.
Peter Wagenius, a senior policy aide to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, said planning funds were allocated where they knew there was interest in bicycle riding but they weren’t sure how to accommodate it. Central Avenue is a prime example, he said.
“Obviously, that’s going to take a lot of community conversation to figure out,†Wagenius said.
How about we start the brainstorming here. How would you make Central Avenue, or any other parts of Northeast, more bicycle-friendly? Leave your comments below.
Map of bike projects announced for Northeast. Click for full view.
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Filed under: Central Avenue, Transportation
Great news. I’m particularly excited about the 5th St. and 22nd Ave. NE bicycle boulevards. I rode on bicycle priority streets in Boulder, CO a couple years ago, and that was one of the most wonderful and empowering bicycling experiences I’ve ever had.
But where is the 18th Avenue Greenway?
Wow! I think that word captures both my excitement and confusion. As John mentioned, where is 18th Ave in this mix. 18th Ave has been the number one priority for the City and many NE neighborhoods for the last several years. If you look at the City 5-year bicycle plan (http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles/5YR_NE.pdf) also approved by the MPRB, you will find none of the listed routes that received funding. Not that I don’t welcome it, and not that NE doesn’t need/deserve additional investment for bicycle and pedestrian improvements, but there has been no communication with neighborhoods. The City has also pushed the implementation of the 18th Ave route from 2006 (as identified in the 5-year plan) to 2010 (as evidenced by the most recent CLIC project submission - and that only for the portion between the river and Monroe).
Several NE neighborhood have already dedicated a significant amount of NRP dollars toward the development of the 18th Ave route. In fact, the amount neighborhoods have committed could cover the amounts above dedicated to the Central Ave study, 5th St route AND the 22nd Ave route.
I’m glad there will be some improvements, but I’m disappointed that there wasn’t more communication (hell, I didn’t even hear about the press conference).
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I’ll believe it when I see it - what is it, maybe another 10 years from being reality? Thanks Commandant Ryback!
Bike lanes are a great start, and it will be nice to have 5th St be focussed on cycling, however, there is currently a dead end at 5th and Broadway (not to mention a wacky 5 way stop next to Webster OS), are they going to open this dead end to bikes, or will the route start North of Broadway?
It sounds like the “bicycle boulevard” concept involves dead-ends for cars that have a thru for bicycles. I’m not sure how they’re planning to deal with that specific intersection at 5th and Broadway, but maybe they’ll add a bike route over the curbs.
If you look at the map above, the 5th Street route will run from about 26th Avenue, south across Broadway, and on over toward Southeast and the Marcy Holmes neighborhood. There’s already a bike lane on 5th Street SE from Central Avenue to Dinkytown. It looks like it’ll connect to that.
Altered Esthetics gallery in NE Minneapolis
Bike Art II exhibition, May 31-June 28, 2007
This summer more than 40 artists celebrate the bicycle with over 100 great new works of art! Featuring sculpture, prints, photography, painting, comic and interactive art, the “Bike Art II” group show once again brings together the cycling and artistic communities in an engaging and unique juxtaposition.
http://www.alteredesthetics.com/
http://www.bicycleart.org/
Good news! I was sorta hoping they would build a sweet launch ramp over Broadway. We’ll see what happens.
One of the things that’s unique about Bike/Walk Twin Cities is that it’s not administered by the city or MnDOT; it’s administered by a nonprofit organization, Transit for Livable Communities. I encourage you to give us a call (651-767-0298) or an email (tlc@tlcminnesota.org) if you have any questions about the funding or how to get involved in the initiative.
Give me an old cool bicycle, and I’ll ride around the city for days.