Minneapolis – A Bicycle Friendly City

The city of Minneapolis helps those who live and work in the city use bicycles as a safe, healthy, and low cost way travel.  Minneapolis is ranked as one of the best biking cities in the country by Bike Score as “Very Bikable”, was ranked the #3 biking city by Bicycling Magazine in 2014, and the #2 bicycle commuting city by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2014 as well.   The 2016 “Best 50 Cities for Bicycling” ranked Minneapolis as #6, despite its cold weather location and small size relative to megacities like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco.

As of 2015, Minneapolis had nearly 150 miles of on-street bikeways and more than 100 miles of off-street bikeways.  But its going to get even better for cyclists - the City Council recently approved a 30-mile network of protected bike lanes and allocated robust funding to the project.  Already, as 2017 begins, three major downtown corridors – Washington Ave., Hennepin Ave., and 3rd Street, are either completed, under construction, or slated to receive protected bike lanes by 2020.  Finally, Minneapolis has also been awarded as Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.

Come learn how Minneapolis, as the nation’s 15th largest city, has become acknowledged as one of the best cities in the U.S. for bicycling.  And with bicycling in Minneapolis up nearly 70% over the past 5 years, learn how accidents and bicycle crashes have decreased over the same period.

Gary Sjoquist, the Advocacy Director for Quality Bicycle Products, the nation’s largest distributor of bicycle parts and accessories headquartered in Minnesota, in conjunction with Bike Anchorage, will host a presentation and discussion on what strategies, policies, and practices have been used in Minneapolis to create a bicycle-friendly infrastructure.  Minneapolis – A Bicycle Friendly City will focus on the following:

• Plans, policies, and implementation

• Categorizing cyclists to leverage infrastructure improvement

• Evolution of street and trail treatments for cyclists

• Inexpensive treatments and signature projects

• Improving cyclists’ safety

After the presentation, Sjoquist will lead a discussion on assessment of Anchorage as a bicycle friendly city, what strategies might be implemented, and how safety for cyclists can be improved in Anchorage.