Is your community bike-friendly?

Somewhat.

I live in NE Minneapolis. If you wanted to ride your bike somewhere, the residential streets are a good bet. They’re very bike friendly because of the low traffic. But if you wanted to ride directly to where you’re going on a major street in my area (Central, Lowry or University), you’re really taking your life in your own hands. There are no bike lanes and a lot of traffic. Most of it is oblivious to bikes. Bike lanes would be awesome on these roads but I don’t know how they do it without widening the roads or causing more traffic congestion.

For a leisure ride, the trail around Columbia Golf course and the Grand Rounds trails on the Pkwy’s are nice.

I do most of my riding south of the river in Dakota and Scott counties. Last year I pedaled over 4000 miles. My experience tells me that my local communities are very bike friendly and MN as a whole is bike friendly. It is getting to be a larger part of our tourist economy as well. For evidence of this one needs to look no farther than at the out-state trail development in recent years.

For a very few bicyclists I will give you this advice: You want respect? Special lanes? Obey the law.

For a suburb Mounds View is pretty bike friendly. Having large shoulders on the street helps give bikers and vehicles distance from each other. And they built a path that stretches County Road 10 from one edge of the city to the other. New Brighton, just south of us and what I bike through on my way to work, has a dedicated bike lane on one of it’s major thoroughfares Long Lake Road. Now that being said it doesn’t have the bike traffic like MPLS does and like all places there are drivers that are unwelcoming of bikes “on their road” and cyclists that don’t understand they too need to follow the rules but when it comes to outer city communities I think these two are two of the better ones.

I find it a mixed bag as I also see the behavior of the bicyclists. I don’t think the population has decided if bikes are vehicles or pedestrians. A lot of bicyclists want to be treated like traffic but then run traffic lights and stop signs. The city of St. Louis Park has interpreted state law that the bike paths are not cross walks (which is safer) while Minneapolis treats the paths more like cross walks and all those biker stop signs on the paths get ignored. As a biker and car commuter myself I wish there were more bicycle paths and lanes and that bicyclists would use them whenever possible. Oh and bicyclists I don’t care how much spandex you wear, you are not as fast as a car.

I think we’re asking the wrong question when it comes to this issue.

I think we should ask ‘Are our communities car, bike, and public transportation COEXISTENCE friendly?’

It’s a shared responsibility, but it’s all too often framed as ‘Those mean old cars won’t share the road’ versus ‘Those stupid bikes want equal rights but won’t share equal responsibilities, like actually stopping at stop signs.’

And bicyclists, I beg you: stop passing cars that are turning when you’re coming up from behind them.

They don’t expect anything to be there because other cars aren’t allowed to pass from behind, and pedestrians don’t move fast enough to come up on a car by surprise.

I see you do this ALL THE TIME on the U of M campus. Even if it’s within your ‘rights’ because you’re in the bike lane, assuming the car has thought to look for a small, fast moving object approaching from the rear is a recipe to get smushed on the pavement.

I am a bicycle commuter in Saint Paul. I would have to say that in parts of the city, things are quite bike friendly. Summit, Grand, Minnehaha, the parkways, and a few other areas are very nice. Wide lanes, courteous drivers are usually plentiful. But other areas, such as Snelling, Rice, Dale avenues, and the edges of downtown Saint Paul can be seriously hairy. No bike lanes, no shoulder in areas, no sidewalk, and high car speeds make some parts of the city downright suicidal! Minneapolis seems, to me at least, to be better than Saint Paul. And some of the suburbs also have some nice parkways.

The real problem with cycling in the Twin Cities comes down to one word: respect! Respect for the law, and respect for each other. Whether you are on two wheels or four (or on two legs, for that matter) we must ALL respect the laws. We all KNOW the laws, and if we all followed them, we would become very predictable. Predictability creates order.

Drivers need to respect bikers. There are more and more bikers on the roads these days and you need to respect us and treat us as any other vehicle on the road. Give us our three feet, even if it means getting to work 5 seconds later. Please remember that you inattention or feeling of righteousness can kill a cyclist, who is a person with the same hopes and dreams as you, and has people that love them.

Cyclists need to respect the drivers. Being right does not protect you from being killed. Also, cyclists: if want more respect from the drivers, follow the law! When you blow a red light (which you would not do in a car, I’d bet) you make all cyclists look bad. It’s no wonder they honk at us (and much worse – I have the scars to prove it. Literally.)

I would also like to see more enforcement on cyclists by the police. I have seen bikers run a red right in front of a cop and gotten no more than a lazy “Hey, don’t do that.” From the cop’s window.

If we all follow the rules and respect each other, we can all enjoy our commute safely. Thank you.

Tai Koma – yeah it happens – and it s pretty dangersous for the biker – besides being stupid. Whe you are “traffic” whether biek ro car – behave like traffic. But, on the other side , I’ve been hit twice by drivers who chose to ignore that a bike could be legally in the left turn lane waiting to turn at a green light.

How they missed seeing a guy in a blaze orange jacket with a black and green helmet with blinking lights is beyond me.

My community is bike-friendly & continues to improve. Bravo Minneapolis!

St. Paul has some very good East-West dedicated bike routes, but it lacks North-South routes. I reside in the North End and it’s somewhat of a challenge to feel save while traveling from the northern boarder of the city (near Roseville) if your destination is south of I-94. A bike bridge on Chattsworth to go over Pierce Butler would be wonderful– and Chattsworth has a bike/ped path over I-94. And it would be conveniet to those who like to bike around Como Park.

Ugh – I wish it was! We live in Wayzata, on the far side of the Grays Bay Bridge. When they rebuilt that a few years ago, they did a nice job but Bushaway road, while scenic, is far too narrow for kids to bike. The result? The family can’t access downtown Wayzata and its ice cream parlors, shopping and restaurants, not to mention the Luce Line Trail! There’s been a move to widen the street, but its come up against fierce opposition concerned that they’ll turn it from a beautiful, winding byway to an ugly, faceless thoroughfare. Can’t say I blame them – towns tend to screw up everything they touch in the name of progress.

In Brooklyn Park it seems to be a big mix. It’s not very biker friendly in the southern half, unless you ride on the sidewalks (which you’re not supposed to do). Then, there is the north side, where all the newer developments are. It has the slow, “middle income family with young children at a theme park” feel to it. For commuting, not so much.

Oh, and since many of these posts are addressing both motorists and cyclists behavior, I’d like to add one thing: bikers could treat other bikers better.

When passing, one should announce it, typically with a ‘passing on your left’ or just ‘on your left’ or ‘passing’. I see cyclists decked out in the best gear and official apparel not do this, proving that you can look like a professional cyclist but still ride like an insensitive amateur.