Twin Cities Streets for People

The City of Minneapolis presented vastly improved plans for adding bicycle facilities to Central Avenue NE at a public meeting last night.  The proposals divide the corridor into four portions, based on exisiting conditions.  Bicycle lanes are proposed for two of the segments and shared lanes are proposed for the other two segments.  The proposals are all a huge improvement over the existing conditions, but it is the most southern portion of the corridor, south of 8th Street SE, where the current proposals do the least to improve cyclist safety and comfort. You can send comments in support of this project to the Minneapolis DPW (see the project page for contact info) and include any ideas you have for improvement.

According to the City's consultant, the proposals are intended to accommodate all types of cyclists.  However, the current design calls for a shared outer lane between the river and 8th Street SE, a segment with fast-moving car traffic and big, confusing intersections. 

By removing one travel lane in this area and creating a center turn lane, (a "road diet") the street could include on-street parking, bicycle lanes, through traffic and turns.  This treatment was considered but, according to the City's consultant, would result in too much delay in traffic vehicle speeds.  

Based on feedback at the meeting, the City said it will revisit proposals for this portion of the corridor to see if other additions, such as turn signals, could be utilized to allow for bicycle lanes in this portion of the roadway.  There are also bicycle lanes on Hennepin Ave and 1st Avenue NE south of 8th Street SE, although this does not lead as directly into the central portion of downtown.  There may also be potential to create an alternate route on one of the parallel Avenues if shared lanes are used in this portion.

The proposals north of 8th Street SE allow for a bicycle lane all the way up to 27th Avenue NE.  On one portion of this segment, the travel lanes will be narrowed to allow for a bicycle lane, two travel lanes and on-street parking.  On the segment between 18th Ave NE and 27th Ave NE, the City is proposing a road diet, or 4-to-3 lane conversion.  By removing one travel lane and adding a center turn lane, this portion of the roadway will have a wide parking/bus stop area, bicycle lanes, travel lanes and a turning lane.  This segment includes the dangerous intersection of Central Avenue NE with Lowry, where the bicycle lane should dramatically improve safety conditions for cyclists.

In 2004, the portion of Central between 27th Avenue NE and 37th Avenue NE was resurfaced and MnDOT constructed a median based on community plans.  Therefore, this portion will change the least, but shared lane markings will be added to the outside travel lanes, along with some kind of signage indicating that bicycles and cars should share the lane.  

During the comment period, several people voiced concern about potential interactions between bicyclists, buses and turning cars.  Because the bus stops are at the near side of the intersection rather than across the light, there is a lot of potential for conflict with buses pulling in and out of stops, bicycles trying to continue through the intersection, and cars trying to turn right.  The City's proposals add more space for buses to pull over and will utilize a dashed lane to indicate to cyclists that they should watch for conflict.  On this point, Minneapolis is far behind Portland, which, instead of a dashed line warning cyclists that their lane ends, uses brightly colored pavement to warn drivers to watch for cyclists.

While there is room for improvement, these proposals indicate commitment from the City to provide bicycle facilities on roads with destinations that people want to access by bicycle.  This will be a huge improvement for bicyclists and add a much-needed connection between downtown and Northeast Minneapolis.  With additional proposals coming for bicycle boulevards, the neighborhood should start to see a real bicycle network forming with facilities for all kinds of cyclists. The City is also smartly piggybacking off of a MnDOT resurfacing project, adding efficiency and saving costs while giving us a great new bicycle facility.