> News+Events > Features > Transit

Council to study bike and pedestrian connections to transit

Sometimes pedestrians can’t get to a bus stop easily because there isn’t a sidewalk along a street or a crosswalk at an intersection. Sometimes the bike rack at the front of the bus is full, and bike racks or lockers at bus stops are rare.

Transit for Livable Communities (TLC), a nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, wants to change that. The TLC board allocated $100,000 of federal Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Project funding to the Metropolitan Council to identify gaps in pedestrian and bicycle access to transit facilities.

“We recognize that for many people, just biking or walking won’t always get them where they need to go,” explained Joan Pasiuk, director of TLC’s Bike/Walk Twin Cities initiative. “Multi-modal trips are the way we want to approach encouraging people to use their cars less, given congestion and growing concern about greenhouse gases.” 

Focus: Communities surrounding Minneapolis

The focus of the study will be high-priority transit corridors located in communities immediately surrounding Minneapolis, the same area included in TLC’s initiative.  The corridors either are or have potential to be part of Metro Transit’s Hi-Frequency Service Network (with buses or trains coming at least every 15 minutes), or otherwise have a high level of transit service.

The study will have several facets:

• Collecting base data, such as bus routes, transit shelters, bike trails and lanes, and the sidewalk network.
• Assessing the adequacy of bicycle access to bus stops and the overall environment for bicyclists in the study corridors.
• Assessing the adequacy of pedestrian access to bus stops, looking at crosswalks, lighting, benches, shelters and other factors.
• Surveying current usage of bicycle racks on buses, LRT and at park-and-rides and other facilities.
• Based on the above findings, identifying specific infrastructure needs to improve bicycle and pedestrian access, and identifying barriers to their implementation.
• Ranking the identified infrastructure improvements and estimating their costs.

The study is scheduled for completion in spring 2008. At that time, said Pasiuk, the results will be shared with local communities to help them plan projects that will improve bike and pedestrian access to transit.

Grant made with Bike/Walk Twin Cities funding

TLC is administering the four-year, $21.5 million Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Project – which TLC dubbed Bike/Walk Twin Cities – in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration and the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Minneapolis was one of four pilot communities nationwide to receive federal funds under the program.

The TLC board in June also allocated $7 million in grants for specific projects in Minneapolis and several surrounding communities that will make neighborhoods more welcoming and safe for pedestrians and bicyclists. See the list of TLC Bike/Walk Twin Cities projects (pdf). Funding decisions were made with the input of an advisory committee consisting of members of neighborhood organizations, nonprofits, small businesses and advocacy groups, as well as elected officials and agency partners.

Council policies encourage bicycle, pedestrian facilities

The Metropolitan Council encourages cities, through regional incentives such as Livable Communities funding and federal transportation funding, to create bicycle-, pedestrian and transit-oriented neighborhoods. Well-developed bicycle and pedestrian systems have several benefits:

• Energy conservation
• Reduced pressure on the roadway system
• Improved air quality
• Better health for residents who bike and walk.

The Council’s Transportation Policy Plan includes a variety of strategies to encourage the growth of region’s pedestrian and biking system. Communities that seek federal transportation funding for pedestrian and bike facilities through the Council’s regional solicitation process must include such facilities in their local comprehensive plans.