City of Duluth Bike Route Network Public Input Meetings

City of Duluth
Bike Route Network
Public Input Process

Duluth Bike Route News:

May 17, 2010
Lake Voice News, a student run news organization from UMD, dedicated an entire section of their website to focus on our efforts to make bicycling easier in Duluth. Click here for an article that was written after the public meeting at UMD.

May 7, 2010
The six bike route meetings were a huge success! Nearly 100 cyclists from Duluth came out to describe issues they have with biking, their favorite bike routes for both transportation and recreation, and ideal locations for future bike racks. This information is now being reviewed and compiled and should be readily available in late June or early July.

Regional Bicycling News:

June 11, 2010
The Twin Ports will be celebrating Bike-to-Work Day on June 11th this year. There will be two bike events held from 6:30am to 8:30am that morning for bike commuters. One is at the MN Power Plaza (Lake Ave and Superior St) in Duluth, and the other is at City Center Park (Tower Ave and Belknap St) in Superior.

June 3, 2010
A recent study shows that children that grow up in areas where walking and biking are encouraged are less likely to become obese. For more information, click here.

May 6, 2010
The City of Duluth has announced that they will be painting "sharrows" on Kenwood Avenue late next week. The sharrow indicates that motorists and bicyclists are to share the marked travel lane. Duluth is the first city in Minnesota to implement sharrows. Click here for more information.

April 19, 2010
The Unchanging Red Light Bill was passed into law by Governor Tim Pawlenty. This law makes it an affirmative defense for a bicyclist to proceed through a red light at an intersection IF the cyclist comes to a complete stop AND it becomes evident that the traffic signal will only change if a vehicle is at the intersection.
To learn more about Minnesota bicycling laws, click here.

Purpose:

To create a recommendation for the citywide bike route network based on the best routes as identified by the Duluth community.

Background:

Roadways in Duluth should be safe for all people to use. However, the truth is that this isn't always the case, especially for cyclists. High traffic speeds, bad road conditions, parked vehicles, and poorly marked lanes are all potential hazards that put both cyclists and motorists in danger.

As the City adopts a Complete Streets policy, a new process will be developed that takes the safety of all users (pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit, and automobiles) into account when a new road is being built or when an existing road is reconstructed or resurfaced. Some roads may need to be reconfigured with additional shoulder space or possibly bike lanes, while other roads will need no changes at all.

Type your email address here to receive periodic updates on our progress:

Our habits don't need to be this way. Think of what Duluth would look like if this chart was different.

Examples:

There is no "one size fits all" solution for incorporating effective bicycle routes. Instead, each route needs to be assessed individually to determine the most practical design for that particular roadway. Simply posting Share the Road or Bike Route signs alone are usually not effective unless the physical infrastructure is designed to ensure safe bicycle passage. Here are some examples of what other cities have done to make cycling safer and easier:

-- Click on any image to enlarge it --

Grand Marais, MN
Our neighbors to the north have bike lanes downtown

Minneapolis, MN
More sidewalk space along retail corridors helps calm traffic speeds

Sioux Falls, SD
Bike Lane where parking is not possible

Madison, WI
Separate bike and bus lanes for one-ways

Boulder, CO
Attractive physical separation between bikes and vehicles

Tuscon, AZ
Bike lanes in the middle of the road make cyclists more visible and allow other traffic to continue without interruption

Long Beach, CA
Bike lane is far from parked cars to avoid "dooring" accidents

Portland, OR
Painting lanes makes them more visible

Portland, ME
Fitting a lot in a small space

Austin, TX
"Sharrows" to alert drivers of cyclists

Davis, CA
Bicycle left-turn lanes allow drivers to make right turns without interruption

New York, NY
Bike lanes can change locations to allow room for vehicles to turn

Copenhagen, Denmark
Clearing bike lanes after a snowfall encourages year-round cycling

Copenhagen, Denmark
Who says you can't bike in the winter?

Berlin, Germany
Clearly designed bike paths can help eliminate collisions with cars as well as pedestrians

Brighton, United Kingdom
A "Shared Roads" plan was implemented to open the streets to all users

Melbourne, Australia
A physical separation between bike lanes and driving lanes makes it safer for both users

Tuggerah, Australia
Even small suburban towns can implement safe bike routes

Possible Solutions:

With great views of Lake Superior and our many scenic parks, Duluth has an incredible opportunity to help people get outside to take advantage of the wonderful assets that unite our community. Here are a few examples of things that could be done to make our streets safer for bicycles:

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London Road

Rice Lake Road

Grand Avenue
Take the VIRTUAL TOUR

19th Avenue East

6th Avenue East
This is one idea of how to resdesign a roadway to make it safer for all users.

This is an example of how bike route signs alone are oftentimes not effective, because the physical infrastructure does not support bicycle passage.

Contact:

For additional information, or if you would like to give your input but can't make it to any of the meeting, contact:

Codie Leseman
Active Living Coordinator, Fit City Duluth
(218) 940-3186
lesem002@umn.edu