Bicycle Infrastructure

[Tyler]

Not applicable to all, but most ebikes have directly swappable batteries and easily rebuildable/replaceable motors.

[tedlanda2571]

...I'm not sure if the industry has matured and standardized much, but a buddy of mine bought an e-bike a few years ago with a 'swappable battery' only to find such a battery could no longer be purchased when he actually needed to do it.

That one is in a landfill I'm pretty sure...

[Tyler]

I think in general if you're buying cheaper and/or off brand stuff you are going to run into that a lot more.

[Tyler]

still surprising he couldn't find something on ebay or whatever.

[SurlyLHT]

My next bike is going to be a SingleSpeed...no worries about batteries!

On another note. I guess the Midtown Greenway repaving is coming up and will be between Dean Parkway and 5th Ave if my memory is correct. I've been on the Greenway everyday and I thought the issues were already fixed. I see nothing wrong with the surface.

[schwinnletour]

Bike lanes proposal killed on France Ave S from Excelsior to 50th St. due to the mobilization efforts of Tom Neiman - Former Southwest-area schools Community Education Administrator & Coordinator on N3xtd00r.c0m:

"Hello:

Thank you for your engagement with the District 3 office and Hennepin County Public Works regarding the future of France Avenue between Excelsior Boulevard and 44th Street.

County staff completed a comprehensive review to evaluate all needs and constraints along France Avenue. Staff received public comments through a variety of means including in-person neighborhood events, an open house, an online comment form, phone calls, and emails. Some common themes that emerged included safety concerns related to vehicles speeding and pedestrians crossing, the need to preserve on-street parking, and the desire to incorporate a continuous bike facility.

As a result of the county’s evaluation and public engagement, county staff recommend only minor striping revisions along France Avenue to enhance safety and preserve on-street parking – to include painted medians and left-turn lanes at key intersections. Although on-road bike lanes were considered as an option, width constraints would prevent a continuous bike facility along the corridor. In addition, current use and upcoming transit enhancements with Metro Transit’s upcoming E Line Arterial Bus Rapid Transit project led to prioritizing accessibility and mobility for people walking and taking transit along the corridor.

Hennepin County is currently getting ready to do a “mill and overlay” on that stretch of road. A mill and overlay is a surface treatment that extends the life of the roadway, and also is an opportunity to consider restriping changes to meet current and future needs of people using the corridor. You can track all France Avenue updates for this project here.

Thanks and please feel free to follow up with any questions, or contact Carl Reim of Hennepin County Public Works directly at [email protected].

My best,
Elie

Elie Farhat
Principal Aide
Office of Commissioner Marion Greene, Chair
[email protected]"

[Anondson]

A particularly terrible section of suburban bike lakes have been the Blake/Interlachen section of Edina.

It looks like some sort incremental improvements are happening. Currently Blake Road just north has has garbage bike lanes.

Blake Road had been under total reconstruction in the Edina section for the past summer. Blake Road in Hopkins finished a couple years back.

The Hopkins’s reconstructed section has disappointingly painted lanes where in one spot disappears into a sparrow for a couple houses. The nice part is that the Blake School side also put in a curb separated mixed use lane, in addition to the painted lane. The north bound lane gets the sharrow treatment.

The new Edina section is getting full lane widened concrete gutter pans on both sides. Now I wish these lanes coulda been behind a curb, but it’s better than just asphalt with paint in the Hopkins section.

We’ll see what the future holds for the crumbling section of Blake that bends by the lake to connect to Interlachen. But if it also has full lane concrete segments I’ll be happy.

[schwinnletour]

Interlachen's bike lane is super narrow and shrubs make portions impassable due to encroachment on the bike lane. Drivers drive faster than the speed limit and the constant up and down hills limit visibility for drivers too. There's no way I would use it as a east-west bike route.

Edina missed the mark on that bike lane.

Would rather bike the Excelsior sidewalks from Colorado to Meadowbrook or bike east-west on Vernon.

[Anondson]

Interlachen's bike lane is super narrow and shrubs make portions impassable due to encroachment on the bike lane. Drivers drive faster than the speed limit and the constant up and down hills limit visibility for drivers too. There's no way I would use it as a east-west bike route.

Edina missed the mark on that bike lane.

Would rather bike the Excelsior sidewalks from Colorado to Meadowbrook or bike east-west on Vernon.

100% true.

Supposedly the painted lanes on Interlachen is a temp stage before future reconstruction. We’ll see how soon if ever though.

[schwinnletour]

Not sure where to really post this - Carol strikes again:

https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis ... 600248663/

[MNdible]

I mean, she's not wrong. They definitely were lobbying.

[Hero]

Minneapolis ranked #123 best biking city (#21 for large cities) in people for bikes city rankings.

https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/ ... eapolis-mn

St Paul did a bit better #83 (#15 for large cites).

I'm a bit sceptical of these rankings but I'm hoping we can do better in the future especially if Minnesota passes this bike bill.

https://www.minnpost.com/state-governme ... ll-dooley/

[daveybabymsp]

Minneapolis ranked #123 best biking city (#21 for large cities) in people for bikes city rankings.

https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/ ... eapolis-mn

St Paul did a bit better #83 (#15 for large cites).

I'm a bit sceptical of these rankings but I'm hoping we can do better in the future especially if Minnesota passes this bike bill.

https://www.minnpost.com/state-governme ... ll-dooley/

I saw this rating earlier and I found a data issue that causes us to be rated way lower than we should be… I emailed them about it and they acknowledged the issue but aren’t going to fix it, just correct it when they release the 2023 ratings in June. They said we will rank much higher in that ranking. In their rating they gave us a 37/100 for our “network score”, but if you click on the link to “explore the people for bikes BNA Tool” it shows us at a 63/100. They confirmed that the 63/100 is correct and the 37/100 is not.

Email they sent me:




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HuskyGrad]

Minneapolis ranked #123 best biking city (#21 for large cities) in people for bikes city rankings.

https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/ ... eapolis-mn

St Paul did a bit better #83 (#15 for large cites).

I'm a bit sceptical of these rankings but I'm hoping we can do better in the future especially if Minnesota passes this bike bill.

https://www.minnpost.com/state-governme ... ll-dooley/

I saw this rating earlier and I found a data issue that causes us to be rated way lower than we should be… I emailed them about it and they acknowledged the issue but aren’t going to fix it, just correct it when they release the 2023 ratings in June. They said we will rank much higher in that ranking. In their rating they gave us a 37/100 for our “network score”, but if you click on the link to “explore the people for bikes BNA Tool” it shows us at a 63/100. They confirmed that the 63/100 is correct and the 37/100 is not.

Email they sent me:




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

For reference that would put Minneapolis #3 among large cities for the Network rating. Was there a similar issue with St. Paul?

[daveybabymsp]

I didn’t see the same issue for Saint Paul. There could still be data issues there though. I’m sure it’s impossible to validate their scores for every city though, it’s only going to be as accurate as the data in OpenStreetMap

[thespeedmccool]

I didn’t see the same issue for Saint Paul. There could still be data issues there though. I’m sure it’s impossible to validate their scores for every city though, it’s only going to be as accurate as the data in OpenStreetMap

(Contribute to OSM, folks)

[Hero]

I didn’t see the same issue for Saint Paul. There could still be data issues there though. I’m sure it’s impossible to validate their scores for every city though, it’s only going to be as accurate as the data in OpenStreetMap

Shouldn't the city or meet Minneapolis have someone who could work with people for bikes to clean up the network analysis? Seems like a high ranking would be an easy way to get some good PR.

[Bakken2016]

https://racketmn.com/no-nice-ride-bike- ... year-lyft/

Well this is truly a shame.

[Oreos&Milk]

https://racketmn.com/no-nice-ride-bike- ... year-lyft/

Well this is truly a shame.

Nice Ride (and well as Car2Go) was a service that made NOT owning a car superior. You had the flexibility to bike to work and then take the skyway home if it was raining. Or take the bus. The flexibility Nice Ride offered with their dock stations really for me revolutionized mobility. I could bike to the METRO station then take the train to the MOA and then take the train back to catch a Car2Go and haul my stuff home myself.

It really allowed mobility flexibility that I never knew before and it made not owning a car far better than owning one. Now without Car2Go AND NiceRide you are at a far disadvantage NOT owning a car. Sure you can uber/taxi where you want but you don't get that same sense of satisfaction and independence.

Heck even HourCar helped supplement that need when you needed to haul more too or needed to take a day trip. It was awesome not owning a car, because of the services Nice Ride , Car2Go, and HourCar provided. Now two of them are gone? I couldn't imagine not owning a car and living downtown anymore. You can't even shop at Target in the evenings. Yikes!

The city should REALLY step in and fund Nice Ride before downtown becomes too toxic to continue to be a carless paradise. Although, I think it's already to late given nothing has ever replaced Car2Go.

I remember 4th of July, I took a nice ride to my friends then we went to see fireworks taking Nice Rides, then we took Car2Go to the store and then back again, then after that I just took the bus home. I didn't have to worry about my bike being stolen or having to bring it back home before dark, or where to park my car and then take it home. No I could just decide my mobility on a whim or the weather or the supply and just live. It was great what these services provided, they are going to be deeply missed as we all slowly go back to driving our own cars again. smh. The hay day of a great carless downtown paradise is over.

That is deeply sad and depressing.

[Bakken2016]

https://racketmn.com/no-nice-ride-bike- ... year-lyft/

Well this is truly a shame.

Nice Ride (and well as Car2Go) was a service that made NOT owning a car superior. You had the flexibility to bike to work and then take the skyway home if it was raining. Or take the bus. The flexibility Nice Ride offered with their dock stations really for me revolutionized mobility. I could bike to the METRO station then take the train to the MOA and then take the train back to catch a Car2Go and haul my stuff home myself.

It really allowed mobility flexibility that I never knew before and it made not owning a car far better than owning one. Now without Car2Go AND NiceRide you are at a far disadvantage NOT owning a car. Sure you can uber/taxi where you want but you don't get that same sense of satisfaction and independence.

Heck even HourCar helped supplement that need when you needed to haul more too or needed to take a day trip. It was awesome not owning a car, because of the services Nice Ride , Car2Go, and HourCar provided. Now two of them are gone? I couldn't imagine not owning a car and living downtown anymore. You can't even shop at Target in the evenings. Yikes!

The city should REALLY step in and fund Nice Ride before downtown becomes too toxic to continue to be a carless paradise. Although, I think it's already to late given nothing has ever replaced Car2Go.

I remember 4th of July, I took a nice ride to my friends then we went to see fireworks taking Nice Rides, then we took Car2Go to the store and then back again, then after that I just took the bus home. I didn't have to worry about my bike being stolen or having to bring it back home before dark, or where to park my car and then take it home. No I could just decide my mobility on a whim or the weather or the supply and just live. It was great what these services provided, they are going to be deeply missed as we all slowly go back to driving our own cars again. smh. The hay day of a great carless downtown paradise is over.

That is deeply sad and depressing.

FYI, Evie has replaced Car2Go as the "dockless" car share. I use it on the regular and it feels and works just like Car2go.

https://eviecarshare.com/