Edina bike leader visits Northfield

On Tuesday, June 5, Steve Rusk, chair of the Bike Edina Task Force and Bike Edina, visited Northfield at the invitation of the Nonmotorized Transportation Task Force. Steve is a dynamic individual who is doing important work to improve conditions for cycling in Edina, a southwestern suburb of Minneapolis that is currently developing a comprehensive city bike plan. He has done a lot of work to educate himself about cycling safety and infrastructure, and he’s a fount of statistics and information.

He’s also an excellent road cyclist, as I discovered when Bruce Anderson and I led him on a tour of the city. I struggled to keep up with Bruce and Steve as we made our way around town. I discovered that my favorite pace for biking is my own!

Steve seemed to be most struck by Northfield’s wide streets. Edina, he said, has older, narrower streets. Northfield’s wide streets mean that for the most part there’s plenty of space to share the road with motor vehicles. On the other hand, I noted, wider streets tend to lead to faster motor vehicle traffic.

Steve repeated something that I had heard from Steve Clark of Transit for Livable Communities during his visit here last October: the state of Minnesota needs to allow cities to set speed limits of 25 miles per hour on appropriate streets. The current law allows a minimum speed limit of 30 miles per hour except in school zones, where 25 miles per hour is allowed.

There are some area streets that aren’t wide enough, however. Wall Street and Spring Creek Roads, for example, lack sufficient shoulders. Steve agreed that expanding the shoulders on those roads would make cycling safer.

Steve later spoke to a meeting of the Nonmotorized Transportation Task Force and gave us an impressive presentation on bicycle safety, infrastructure, and the accomplishments and goals of the Bike Edina Task Force, which was established in September 2006. Steve explained that Bike Edina got started when he opposed the development of an expensive side path (an off-street, multi-use, bi-directional trail alongside a road) as unsafe.

One thing that was slightly surprising was that Steve de-emphasized the use of bike lanes on streets. He generally doesn’t favor removing motor vehicle parking to allow bike lanes because it’s politically difficult to do so. Instead of bike lanes, he often favors simple bike routes, which are marked with signs every block. He said that of the 80 miles of bikeways that he hopes to create in Edina, about 20 miles will likely include on-street bike lanes. Whether to install a bike lane or not depends in part on traffic volumes.

Steve also emphasized the importance of holding public meetings to gather information and educate the public, and he strongly advocated creating a comprehensive bike plan.

Following are more of Steve Rusk’s observations during his visit:

• Education is key both to getting more people to bike and getting them to do it safely. Education and encouragement can help people to learn that cycling is safer than they realize. Motorists also need to be better educated about laws relating to cyclists.
• Pedestrian and bikes don’t mix well because of the speed differential between the two. Bikes need to stay off sidewalks in busy pedestrian areas.
• The needs of cyclists of all skill levels – novice, average, and skilled – must be considered.
• Cars and trucks can safely travel in lanes ten feet wide.
• Build bike facilities as wide as possible. On-street bike lanes, for example, might be as much as 8 feet wide. Allow room for bikes to pass each other.
• When possible, separate cyclists and pedestrians, including on multi-use trails (such as the Mill Towns Trail).
• Biking on sidewalks and side paths is generally less safe in urban areas than biking on the road. Or to put it another way, riding on a busy four-lane road is generally safer than riding on a sidewalk or side path. This is partly because traffic on sidewalks and side paths is bi-directional; drivers are less likely to notice sidewalk/side path traffic than they are road traffic, and they tend to look for traffic coming only from the opposite direction. Crossings at driveways and intersections are dangerous for cyclists who are using side paths or sidewalks. When pressed, Steve conceded that small children should bike on sidewalks rather than the road, but they should be very careful at crossings.
• It’s very important to install appropriate parking for bikes. A lack of adequate parking is a major reason that people don’t bike for running errands or other utilitarian purposes. If a bike is going to be left in a spot all day (as with some commuters), some type of bike locker or enclosed storage space is necessary.
• Cycling is a year-round activity in Minnesota.

Bill Ostrem is the chair of Northfield's Nonmotorized Transportation Task Force.