I know that the specificity of this series of posts will mean they’re irrelevant to most of the few readers I have, but it can’t be helped. I’m on a deep dive and can’t come up for breath. I do have a post about baskets and porteur racks on my mind, so that’ll come about soonish.
In the first post of this series I talked about the ideal North/South routes and noted that unfortunately they won’t happen, with the possible exception of Marshall. Though even there I have recently heard that intended protected lanes will only go as far north as Lowry. Even to 27th would’ve made some sense, since there is a high concentration of injurious crashes on Marshall north of Lowry. Ultimately they should go to St. Anthony Parkway. Alas. What I wonder now is whether the Lowry intersection will be a wash, which would be bad as it is one of the worst intersections for safety in the entire city.
If, then, we can’t hold our breath for the best routes, let’s talk about second best north/south routes. To the east of Johnson is my blind spot. There is nothing up there I need to bike to on a regular basis, and the way up involves the steepest and highest climbs in the city. But if we take continuous routes as the baseline, two options stand out: McKinley meets with 37th Ave in the north and nearly-but-not-quite joins up with “The Great Northern Greenway,” which we will simply call “18th Ave.” Cleveland connects to 18th Ave yet terminates before joining 37th. But since there is an alley that could be modified relatively easily to join 37th, I think Cleveland makes the most sense between the two. Especially because it’s a gentle grade for the climb to “Upper Northeast.” Instead of either of these straight shots, the current plan is to start in the north on Johnson (will it be protected?), turn east onto Ulysses, turn east again onto Hayes, turn west onto 22nd, then turn south onto Johnson.
Between Johnson and Central, a problem presents itself. Namely, the problem of Demming Heights, or as I have heard it affectionately called: “Upper Northeast.” The closest we get to a semi-continuous route in this section is Fillmore. However, starting immediately at Lowry heading north it climbs steeply, before falling to 29th, and…climbing again immediately after. So it doesn’t make sense as a route to the north of Lowry. To the south, it at least extends past Broadway, but dead-ends before hitting East Hennepin. So it’s not ideal on its south end either. (Spoiler alert, it’s the route they’re planning. See below)
So then, if Fillmore makes the most sense south of Lowry, but not north of Lowry, what are the alternatives? What we have here is the mysterious case of the vanishing bicycle boulevards. On the All Ages and Abilities Network map the green lines indicate “Existing Bikeways.” Curiously missing from the map is the currently existing boulevard pair of Tyler (north of 29th) and Polk (south to 18th). Let us for a moment ignore the fact that I posited in the first post that bicycle boulevards aren’t real infrastructure. Why is this pair omitted? The street signs, lonely roundabout, and painted bicycles clearly declare them official. Most importantly there is an island refuge at the intersection of Polk and Lowry, making it by far the safest Lowry crossing. What does this mean for safely crossing Lowry? For those who don’t know, Lowry is going to be rebuilt over the next few years from Johnson to Washington. My current series has not yet gotten to East/West routes but for our present purposes it’s important to note because by the looks of it there will no longer be an island to facilitate safe crossing. There will be flashing beg lights at Fillmore, but no islands at Fillmore, Taylor, or Polk.
Polk makes the most sense because it is the only one of the Tyler, Taylor, Polk trio that goes to 37th in the north. So Fillmore could dead end (as a bike route) at Lowry (which is the plan), and Polk could run from 37th to 18th. That is not the route they have chosen.
Instead they want to make Taylor a “low stress bikeway” from Lowry to 29th before turning west to hit Polk the rest of the way. The Taylor section introduces more complication than is necessary or ideal. On my current daily route it would mean I head east at 29th to Taylor, east again at Lowry, south onto Fillmore, then west again. I probably will not go through that rigamarole unless Lowry presents a problem. Which it shouldn’t after the rebuild, beg lights or not! Since not even a single drop of paint has yet been spilt, I hope Minneapolis considers skipping the Taylor section and just filling Polk out from 37th to 18th.
Let us consider north/south routes west of Central and south of Lowry. The main contenders as I see them are Monroe, Washington, 5th, and 2nd. Well, and Marshall, but we already mentioned it. All of them go as far north as 27th and as far south as to make a relatively easy connection into Downtown. At least theoretically speaking. There is currently no safe way into Downtown from NE, but I’m saving that discussion for the east/west posts. They also connect to current or proposed east/west routes.
Monroe makes sense because it runs next to Edison High School and has been identified as a high injury street, so it could use a rebuild for safety. Many factors make it unsafe, not least of which is many people take it to get to the brewery, distillery, restaurants, gyms, et al on Quincy St, because the intersection of Broadway and Quincy is a death trap. Many others use it as a collector to Central or Broadway. Or even an alternative to Central, since there are too many lights on Central (more on that in a second). Water pools under the rail bridges, which means ice lakes develop there in the winter, making the bridges frankly impassable. It’s also poorly lit in the extreme. If I’m not on my bike with powerful dynamo lights there are times when I can’t see 15 feet in front of me. So with all the brewery and distillery visitors driving around you can see how that’s doubly problematic. What could be done to make Monroe actually safe? Aside from the obvious given: Curb-protected lanes, it needs some kind of traffic filtering. Maybe alternate one way directions like on the Bryant rebuild, or some kind of barrier that only allows bikes and peds through at key points. As much as it pains me to say, we need to make Central “faster” so that it can function properly as what it is apparently destined to be – an arterial. We could stand to get rid of the lights at 24th, 20th, 19th, and 18 1/2th, putting in barriers to prevent left hand turns as on Lyndale in Uptown. This will also facilitate the forthcoming Bus Rapid Transit line. The filters should direct others to Washington, which is the logical collector street in the area.
But don’t just take my word for it. The city plans to put a low stress bikeway on Monroe. Which has me a bit afraid to be honest. I’ve been assured several times that such bikeways necessarily mean physically-separated lanes. However, as noted in the previous post, nothing of these bikeways has yet to materialize in Northeast, though the greenway network at least was supposed to have been built out by the end of this year. Instead of proper infra on Monroe, what we’ve had so far are dotted lines on the outside of the parking lanes. Not quite nothing, but not even painted door lanes, these dotted lines subtly suggest that cyclists can be found around here, but the city is not willing to make any changes to Monroe. Yes a couple bollards here and there have gently rounded out an intersection or two, or taken 10 or so parking spots away, and a speed bump has gone in at 13th and Monroe, but nothing has impinged on the space allotted to cars. Having added these dotted lines, will that be the end? There’s no way to know.
Which brings me to 5th. Unlike Tyler/Polk, the 5th St bicycle boulevard is noted as an “existing low stress bikeway” on the AAAN map. But if it already exists, does that mean it is complete? If so we have an answer to the riddle of Monroe: No, nothing will be done to make it safe for cyclists. A number of years ago 5th was turned into a bike boulevard. What this has meant is a speed bump at 18th, a couple roundabouts, and a filtered crossing at Broadway. But it has not meant any change to what space is allotted for cars. If 5th is an “existing low stress bikeway” then it would appear that Northeast can look forward to two decades more of no infrastructure. I hope this is not the case! But I will only believe what I can see.
Since Monroe is happening, I’ll forego talking about Washington, which, despite the fact that it will be where the Lowry rebuild terminates, should function as the car collector rather than a bikeway, so that there’s the greatest chance that Monroe and 5th on either side of it will be safer. I’m also running out of steam, so even though 2nd makes a lot of sense to discuss as a multi-modal route (it hosts a bus route), especially because it sits in an area with a high concentration of severe and fatal crashes, insofar as the city has given it a “connector” status, I’m not going to talk about it.
In summary, what have I laid out so far with regard to north/south routes in Northeast?
- The best routes will not happen
- The second best routes have yet to happen
- Even if they did happen there are key segments whose future status remains shrouded in mystery, and others will take a circuitous route
- It remains unclear what exactly, if anything, will be built in Northeast
Next time, we’ll look at east/west routes. Is there better news on that front? Is there any balm in Gilead?
The Complete Bicycle 
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