hotebike
2020-09-07 04:44:54
Will Wlizlo appreciates good biking infrastructure. He has lived with no automobile for greater than a decade, and biking is his main type of transportation for commuting to work, visiting household and buddies, and working errands.
Wlizlo mentioned he logs 1000’s of miles yearly on his bicycle.
“I depend upon the Hennepin County path community,” mentioned Wlizlo, who’s the Secure Routes to Colleges coordinator for the Richfield Public Faculty District. “I need to see it thrive and develop.”
This week, Wlizlo will assist the Hennepin County Transportation Division gather the info it wants to enhance trails and determine locations the place future bike lanes or trails could also be wanted. For 3 days this week, volunteers will fan out throughout 36 websites countywide to rely the variety of bicyclists, walkers and scooter customers. Wlizlo will likely be at Glenwood Avenue and Turners Crossroad in Golden Valley on Thursday to file his observations.
“We attempt to get quite a lot of places to search out out the place there may be excessive exercise to determine gaps on the system,” mentioned spokeswoman Emily Kettell.
That is the fifth yr the county has performed the handbook counts. Information will likely be gathered from 4 to six p.m. Tuesday by means of Thursday, the busiest hours for bicyclists. Earlier years present that 20% of these biking and 18% of these strolling had been out within the late afternoons, Kettell mentioned.
It’s not a precise illustration, Kettell mentioned. However information will likely be extrapolated to point out what a typical day may seem like and “give us at a look how persons are utilizing roadways,” she mentioned.
The info may also present how folks use roads even in locations the place there isn’t a motorbike lane, she added.
Wlizlo mentioned he volunteered as a result of he believes “good information will assist the county make sensible funding selections when constrained by budgets.”
Minneapolis conducts its personal counts and can accomplish that Sept. 15-17. Town makes use of its information to judge the variety of folks strolling and biking earlier than and after building tasks, mentioned metropolis spokeswoman Sarah McKenzie.
“We additionally use the ‘earlier than’ counts to assist us perceive how a avenue is functioning, which is useful for designing new infrastructure and interesting round that course of,” McKenzie mentioned.
Town conducts counts on the identical 30 places every year to search for long-term utilization patterns. This yr, the info must be particularly attention-grabbing as a result of the town will have the ability to analyze the affect of the pandemic on strolling and bicycling habits, she mentioned.
A brand new path in Dakota County?
Plans for a brand new bicycle path connecting Eagan and Inver Grove Heights took a step ahead final week when the Dakota County Board approved a marketing consultant to start designing the proposed Veterans Memorial Greenway.
The brand new 5-mile east-west path would run from close to Lebanon Hills Regional Park previous the Wealthy Valley Athletic Advanced to the Mississippi River Greenway alongside Hwy. 52. It might present neighborhood entry and native park connections and have 5 to seven veterans memorials.
Awarding the contract to marketing consultant SEH is “an vital first step towards building,” mentioned Scott Wente, a Dakota County spokesman. It permits the corporate to start establishing the route, proper of means wants and the plan for memorial websites, he mentioned.
Funding for the path has not been secured.
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