Minneapolis provides evidence of the power of robust bike infrastructure to attract additional bike riders.
"Minneapolis recorded a slight increase in bike use [in 2014], but officials saw a dramatic surge of usage on the city’s first protected bike lanes," reports Steve Brandt.
A bike count from September "found bike traffic up sharply on the Plymouth Avenue Bridge after where the city installed bike lanes separated by plastic tubes from traffic lanes."
"Bike traffic on the bridge is up 81 percent since the city installed the protected lanes during a bridge repair project in 2013. During five years when the bridge offered only shoulders or sidewalks for bikes, the city recorded an average of 350 bikes a day in its annual count. Bike traffic jumped to 720 estimated bikers in its Sept. 11, 2014, count."
Brandt provides more data from the bike count, made timely by the city's funded, but not approved, plans to spend $790,000 to build an additional 30 miles of protected bike lanes in 2015.
FULL STORY: Traffic spikes on protected bike lanes in Minneapolis
Bike Lanes Help Sidewalks, Too
A growing body of evidence shows that bike lanes put more people on bikes while also helping those people on bikes stay off sidewalks. The latest example: Honolulu.
Minneapolis Getting Bike Friendlier
The city of Minneapolis will add 30 miles of protected bike lanes to its city, especially around Downtown.
The United States' Top Large City for Biking Is...
Portland (top city in 2012)? Minneapolis (top city in 2010)? No, it's the Big Apple! New York City leaped from #7 in 2012 to the top spot this year for cities with populations of 100,000 or greater.
Red Cities, Blue Cities, and Crime
Homicides rose across the nation in 2020 and 2021. But did they rise equally in all cities, or was the situation worse in some than in others?
The Shifting Boomer Bulge: More Bad News for America’s Housing Crisis?
In the first of a two-part series, PlaceMakers’ Ben Brown interviews housing guru Arthur C. Nelson on the sweeping demographic changes complicating the housing market.
A Serious Critique of Congestion Costs and Induced Vehicle Travel Impacts
Some highway advocates continue to claim that roadway expansions are justified to reduce traffic congestion. That's not what the research shows. It's time to stop obsessing over congestion and instead strive for efficient accessibility.
Tolling All Lanes
Bay Area transportation planners are studying a radical idea to reduce traffic congestion and fund driving alternatives: tolling all lanes on a freeway. Even more radical, the plan considers tolling parallel roads.
Federal SMART Grants Awarded for Transportation Safety, Equity Projects
The grant program focuses on the use of technology to improve safety, accessibility, and efficiency in transportation.
Fare Enforcement Upheld by Washington Supreme Court
But using armed police to enforce fare payment is less than ideal in the eyes of the top court in the state of Washington.
City of Greenville
City of Greenville
Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) AmeriCorps Program
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact: Mobility, Community, Possibility
City of Spearfish
City of Lomita
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
