The City of Minneapolis Department of Public Works will hold its final public meeting regarding the West 46th Street repaving project this Monday, March 4, at 6:30PM at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on the corner of West 46th Street and Colfax Avenue South. The re-paving project covers a four-block stretch on West 46th Street from Aldrich to Dupont Avenues South.
I understand the city will purpose to keep parking on both sides and put in advisory bike lanes on both sides of the four-block stretch as well as put in zebra striping for the pedestrian crosswalks at West 46th Street and Bryant Avenue South. Council Member Betsy Hodges, who is running for mayor, supports this proposal and will be at this meeting. However, based on previous community meetings, there is a vocal faction that would like to move bicycles off West 46th Street and designate West 48th Street as a bicycle route contrary to the Minneapolis Bicycle Master Plan. These folks apparently do not want to deal with bicycles on West 46th Street and consider them a nuisance. This group was portrayed by the KSTP-TV news report at the last community meeting as the citizens who are blocking bicycle lanes on West 46th Street.
If you care about the Minneapolis Bicycle Master Plan, which calls for bicycle facilities on the entirety of 46th Street, please consider attending this meeting to support advisory bicycle lanes on this West 46th Street portion and counter those residents who want to move bicycle lanes off West 46th Street on to West 48th Street.
Bill
