Bicycle Infrastructure

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
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mister.shoes
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby mister.shoes » April 27th, 2016, 11:21 pm

Construction on the TH 100 segment of the Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail has been in full swing this spring. It's a tight fit on the west side and an incredibly tight fit on the east side of the highway. They're squeezing it between the NB on ramp at 77th and the back yards of those houses, as well as going through the north edge of the Burgundy Condos property. The bridge over the highway will start west of Metro Blvd and land on the embankment between 100 and Lake Edina. It's quite ambitious and fun to check out every day on my drive home.
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Anondson
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Anondson » April 28th, 2016, 7:35 am

The east side is causing some ruffled feathers on Lake Edina. Essentially a private lake, the trail has demolished the vegetation that was helping reduce highway sounds. But also by running the regional trail along a formerly inaccessible portion, the lake is no longer a private lake.

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mister.shoes
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby mister.shoes » April 28th, 2016, 8:30 am

When I saw the removed trees, I originally assumed they were building a sound wall along the lake. Discovering recently that it was the trail made me realize exactly what you just pointed out: lots of people are going to be upset.
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Mcgizz
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Mcgizz » May 4th, 2016, 5:21 pm

Star Tribune article about bike lanes on Cleveland Avenue in St. Paul.

http://www.startribune.com/bike-lanes-t ... 378011871/

Also did I miss something further up thread about the new paint job on the bike lanes on South 2nd Street. They repainted the lanes from Gold Medal Park (or as far as I could tell since that is where I entered) all the way to 3rd Avenue (ish, construction). The Bike lanes are wider and it seems like the car lanes are narrowed along with the on street parking areas.

EOst
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby EOst » May 4th, 2016, 6:20 pm

That happened last year, when part of the street was resurfaced. The lanes have good buffers, though that doesn't stop people from stopping in them.

grant1simons2
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby grant1simons2 » May 4th, 2016, 7:37 pm

No, they repainted it this year. We went all of last fall, and winter, with partially visible lanes.

EOst
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby EOst » May 4th, 2016, 8:10 pm

I'll admit that I don't really remember when the paint was laid down (though I apparently emailed/complained to Councilmember Frey about the 2nd Street mess last summer) but Google Earth says it was between 8/11 and 3/11. I was pretty sure they were repainted by last November? But I'll take your word for it.

Has anyone else run into the huge pothole (couple feet wide, maybe a foot deep, sharp-edged) in the advisory bike lane on 14th Street in Elliot Park, just east of Chicago? It catches me by surprise every time. Actually, I almost wrecked the other day swerving away from it.

MNdible
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby MNdible » May 5th, 2016, 9:35 am

311 that pothole, baby.

Qhaberl
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Qhaberl » May 5th, 2016, 10:41 am

I happen to be snooping around the city website today and found something interesting. According to this map sometime this year. First Avenue will get a protected bike lane from 40th St. to Franklin. It also looks like Blaisdale will receive the same thing. Yet this is the first I'm hearing of it. Anyone have any info?


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mattaudio
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby mattaudio » May 5th, 2016, 10:45 am

Yep those were brought up a while back, but not a lot of discussion. I didn't think Blaisdell was going to have PBLs due to lane configuration. Also, these will extend south of 40th St via restriping Nicollet Ave to have bicycle lanes down to Richfield.

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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Qhaberl » May 5th, 2016, 10:59 am

So will there be protected by claims on first Avenue? What kind of protected are we talking about? Are we talking about the little cones on the sides?


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twincitizen
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby twincitizen » May 5th, 2016, 11:11 am

Are you sure it would be buffered or protected through Whittier (28th to Franklin)? The neighborhood fought hard to get that street section converted to two-way. The 2 traffic lanes, NB bike lane, and parking lane fill up the entire street. There is no room for any further changes.

Or are the changes proposed only between 29th and 40th, where it is already (mostly) generously buffered and would be easy to add some kind of protection?

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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby EOst » May 5th, 2016, 11:15 am

From what I've been told, only Blaisdell 31st-40th is getting PBLs this year. One traffic lane, wide buffer with bollards, parking on the east side. North of 31st has been delayed; it would require a lane reduction on Blaisdell, which some are very wary about (shades of Third Ave downtown), and 1st would need to be converted to one-way.

1st through Whittier needs that same treatment pretty desperately, but the neighborhood is opposed, apparently because people like the convenience of the two-way configuration. I can't think of any other reason, since 1st south of Lake is a lot calmer and slower even as a one-way than in Whittier.

Qhaberl
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Qhaberl » May 5th, 2016, 11:25 am

I work on the corner of 1st Avenue and 22nd street. I teach students how to travel with a white cane. I walk on first almost all day. There are far more cars traveling north than south. I am blind and for the longest time, bassed on traffic noise, i thaught it was a one way. Lol


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RailBaronYarr
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby RailBaronYarr » May 5th, 2016, 1:32 pm

Would Blaisdell through Whittier really require a lane reduction? At 36' curb-to-curb, you could get 2x 10.5' lanes, a 7.5' parking lane, and then 7.5' of bike lane + bollard area. Not ideal on the latter, but wider than what's currently striped (which is 5' right next to cars who may be riding near the line). I can't say for sure, but think I'd rather have 2 tight-ish lanes than one 15' lane next to an 8' parking lane that's not even fully utilized on much of the area south of 26th St (at least, during rush hours).

EOst
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby EOst » May 5th, 2016, 2:22 pm

Is the current bike lane really only 5"? It feels wider than that. I also believe (going from memory) that the travel lane would be 13" wide, not 15".

As far as I know, 7.5" for lane and buffer would be the narrowest PBL in the city by a pretty significant margin. The city's design guidelines call for at least 10 feet, with 7 of that for the lane. You can see the plan for 11th meets that (7 lane/4 buffer) and Franklin almost does (6 lane/3.5 buffer). 26th/28th certainly do as well. Hard to tell from the city's design for Third, which doesn't specify the buffer width (though it looks at least 3"), but even that constrained lane is 6.5" wide.

If we're talking about a minimum of 5.5 feet for the lane, that's only two feet of buffer, 1.5" feet if you want to widen the lane to the minimum seen elsewhere. I don't know if that really provides any protection. And I don't know how that would interact with the state law requiring drivers to keep at least 3" distance from bikes when passing, since there would be no maneuver room at all in a 10.5" lane.

I don't know. Parking is always full north of 26th, and the street sees significant truck traffic. If it's a choice between that and no PBL, sure. But I'd rather do it right.

EOst
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby EOst » May 5th, 2016, 2:29 pm

Again, if I were King of the City, I would've left Lasalle/Blaisdell for the cars and put a two-way lane on 1st all the way from Grant to 40th. Blaisdell is going to be easy compared to Lasalle, where cars go even faster and you have to climb a big hill.
Last edited by EOst on May 5th, 2016, 2:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mattaudio
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby mattaudio » May 5th, 2016, 2:32 pm

Didn't they have to seek an exemption under MSA rules because one-way one-lane streets are hypothetically problematic for fire trucks to get past other traffic?

xandrex
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby xandrex » May 5th, 2016, 2:49 pm

1st through Whittier needs that same treatment pretty desperately, but the neighborhood is opposed, apparently because people like the convenience of the two-way configuration. I can't think of any other reason, since 1st south of Lake is a lot calmer and slower even as a one-way than in Whittier.
Agreed on this. Just drove on 1st from around 36th up to 22nd. The one-way, one-lane portion is just so much more calm. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Blaisdell and 1st getting this treatment from Franklin on down.

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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby MNdible » May 5th, 2016, 4:23 pm

Bizarro World where Streets.mn regulars advocate for turning a two way street into a one way.


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