Critiquing Minneapolis' Pedestrian Infrastructure Efforts

According to an article by Kristoffer Tigue "while the City of Minneapolis has been making active efforts over the last year to fund pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure projects, some residents said the city needs to do more to prioritize making its transit ways more pedestrian friendly, especially in areas of the city where residents are more dependent on public transportation."

Tigue spoke with Minneapolis Pedestrian Advisory Committee member Scott Engel, who argues that the most important priority for the city should be making poorly designed roads safer for pedestrians. "It almost feels suburban, the way the roads are built," says Engel in the article. "Plymouth Avenue and West Broadway and Highway 55 …. A comfortable, connected, walking network is not there."

So what's the city doing? Tigue notes that the city of Minneapolis's 2016 budget allocates "tens of thousands of dollars to reconstructing specific roads around the city," which is when a lot of pedestrian infrastructure gets upgraded (Louisville recently provided an example of just the opposite, however). "The city is also putting more than $20,000 into sidewalk repairs," adds Tigue.

Pedestrian advocates say that's not nearly enough money, nor are those improvements a reflection of any coordinated vision for improved pedestrian to the public right of way.