Last night at the Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, Minneapolis Bike and Pedestrian Coordinator Shawn Murphy discussed the City’s plan to install flexible marker posts along the 1st Avenue N. bike lanes downtown. According to Murphy, the posts are intended to provide better guidance for drivers and bicyclists and should help prevent drivers from parking in the bike lanes. The white markers will be bolted into the pavement at 10 foot intervals.
The introduction of the marker posts is based on practices that have been implemented in other cities, such as Chicago’s Kinzie Street protected bike lane. Murphy said he toured Kinzie Street and found the marker posts to be an effective piece of the bicycle infrastructure.
In regards to other agenda items, the Bicycle Advisory Committee took the following action:
Washington Avenue: The BAC agreed that they would encourage Hennepin County to use bicycle and pedestrian-friendly design standards for the upcoming Washington Avenue reconstruction. The Committee recommends removing traffic lanes in order to install a curb-separated bicycle lane, or “cycletrack”.
Glenwood Ave, Marshall St, and Penn Ave N: The BAC recommends a pilot project bike lane on one of these streets. Given that all three of these routes are relatively narrow streets (44 ft.), the BAC recognizes the difficulty of implementing bike lanes along them. However, since all three of these routes are in the Minneapolis Bicycle Master Plan, the BAC will recommend that the County test 5 ft. bike lanes along one of these routes that would still leave 10 ft. for traffic lanes and 7 ft. for parking. Where the bike lanes are not implemented, the Committee will recommend that the County stripe the roads in a way that will allow for bike lanes in the future if the test route works.
Bike-friendly Business District pilot: The BAC supports the development of a Bicycle-friendly business district as was discussed in the April BAC Meeting and which has been tested in Long Beach, CA.
