2012 Bike-Friendly Policy

On the important--but wonky!--end of things, we'll be working to advance several bike-friendly policies in 2012. These policies come primarily from the Bike Plan Implementation Plan that passed the City Council in November, 2011.

Our list of potential 2012 policy work includes:

• Creating a better Open Streets permitting process, so that we (or anyone else) can realistically expand Open Streets events to additional streets. Basically, the permitting burden for hosting Open Streets is quite high and the required costs (primarily for police and barricades) are disproportionate to need. So, we'll be seeking a solution that protects the City, but enables more Open Streets events in the future.
• Ensuring that the City maintains the staff capacity to support needed bicycle and pedestrian work. Last year's addition of a City Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator was a very important step. We'll be working to make sure that Coordinator continues to have the support team needed to be successful.
• Establishing a process for converting low-traffic residential streets to greenways. The Coalition is extremely supportive of the effort to bring a "greenway" to North Minneapolis (and potential additional future areas), which is being led by Twin Cities Greenways, the Minneapolis Health Department, and others. While the outreach work around a greenway is in great hands, we'll be doing what we can to help by working to craft policy to make converting a street to a greenway possible. This work will be done once we have capacity or the first two policies are completed.
• Implementing a meaningful City Complete Streets policy. While the Complete Streets movement has taken off in Minnesota and around the country, Minneapolis does not have a formal policy. The City certainly does have many of the core elements of Complete Streets already in place, but there are some gaps that a policy could help address while it would also provide a clear way to connect with the community about balancing different safety considerations in future road projects. Getting a meaningful Complete Streets policy will take quite a lot of work, and we will start this late in 2012 or maybe 2013 depending on capacity.

We could definitely use a few more dedicated volunteers for this bike-friendly policy work. If you have an interest in the wonky side of things and might be interested in being a regular member of our policy group, please contact volunteer@mplsbike.org. The group meets on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, typically from 8:00-8:30pm upstairs at Uncommon Grounds (2809 Hennepin Avenue S).

Back to 2012 Priorities