Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition Seeks Board Applicants

Do you want to help Minneapolis become more bicycle friendly?

The Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition is seeking applicants for its Board of Directors (see below for more information on what it means to be a Board member). If you are interested, please send to ethan@mplsbike.org a resume and 1-2 pages that answer at least the following questions:

• Why are you interested in serving on the Board?
• What areas of expertise and what experience would you bring to the Board?
• What contributions do you feel that you can make on the Board?

Application Deadline: Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Process: A subset of the Board will review applications, interview candidates as needed, and make a recommendation to the full Board to consider at the November Board meeting. All candidates will receive final word in early November.

Thank you for your interest!

What it means to be a Coalition Board member

The Coalition has a “working board,” which means that Board members help drive much of the work of the organization. The current Board has 18 members, 4 of whom will be stepping down after the November meeting. The maximum size we consider for the Board is 21.

Board members make governance decisions and perform tasks in the best interest of the Coalition in fitting with the mission, vision, and core values. Board members perform at least the following tasks that are expected to take a minimum of 8 hours a month:

• Regularly attend a Board meeting once every other month (likely to continue to be on the first Tuesday from 6-8pm) and review related materials;
• Actively participate in at least one work group beyond the standard Board meetings;
• Work to help update and implement the Coalition’s strategic plan, which will be updated with 2012 work focus areas with the help of new and existing Board members;
• Support key Coalition initiatives as needed; and
• Offer personal outreach as appropriate to stakeholders and generally further the reputation of the organization.

Board members serve two-year terms, with an option for a one-year term upon request. Terms will begin at the January 4, 2012 Board meeting.

Some key 2012 Board decisions include deciding on 2012 priority work areas, budget, fundraising goals, and if or when to hire any paid staff to support the Coalition’s effort. This is an important year.

Specific Skills and Qualities the Coalition is Seeking

The Coalition is looking for people who have a positive passion for bicycling in Minneapolis and are ready and willing to get to work. Some skills or connections we are especially looking for at this time include:

• fundraising and marketing;
• organizing and volunteer management;
• event planning;
• financial and tax;
• nonprofit governance and legal;
• connections to bicycle businesses or bicycle-friendly businesses;
• connections to large Minneapolis companies;
• connections to immigrant communities;
• connections to low-income communities;
• connections to youth or college student communities; and
• residents from North and Northeast Minneapolis.

Met Council approves draft Regional Transitway Guidelines for public comment

News from Met Council

The Metropolitan Council recently approved a draft of the Regional Transitway Guidelines for the purpose of receiving public comment – a major milestone in the project that began in early 2010. Comments will be accepted through Nov. 18.

The guidelines were created to document best technical practices and provide guidance for developing transitways in corridors that will be served by commuter rail, light rail (LRT) and bus rapid transit (BRT).

“These guidelines will create an important foundation to help project partners who are planning and devoting resources to corridor development,” said Arlene McCarthy, director of Metropolitan Transportation Services for the Metropolitan Council. “Corridor development begins at the local level, and these guidelines will give local planners a place to begin, so each project doesn’t have to start from scratch.”

The effort to create the guidelines engaged policymakers, transit planners, and transit operating staff from agencies across the region serving on technical committees according to the following areas of expertise:

• Project development process, governance and management
• Runningway infrastructure (e.g., dedicated right-of-way, HOV or HOT lanes, managed lanes, bus-only shoulders or mixed traffic)
• Station spacing
• Stations and facilities
• Service operations
• Vehicles
• Fare collection systems
• Technology
• Identity and branding
• Funding

An advisory committee of policymakers, chaired by Council Member Wendy Wulff, oversaw the effort and recommended approval of the draft guidelines.

“The committees involved the region’s experts in these areas, and the draft guidelines reflect existing business practices and anticipate other areas for coordination,” McCarthy said. “We’re doing a lot of things well in this region, and the guidelines provide an opportunity to share that knowledge gained through our experiences in developed and developing corridors.”

The draft guidelines also provide flexibility so each corridor can develop according to its unique characteristics, McCarthy said.

The region’s 2030 Transportation Policy Plan outlines anticipated transitway development for the next 20 years. The region’s first transitway was the I-394 express bus corridor, now a MnPASS lane, followed by the region’s first LRT line, Hiawatha (Blue Line) in 2004. The Northstar Commuter Rail Line opened in 2009.

The Central Corridor (Green Line) LRT is under construction and set to open in 2014. The Cedar Avenue BRT line (Red Line) and the I-35W BRT line (Orange Line) are in development. The Southwest LRT line (Green Line) recently received approval from the federal government to enter preliminary engineering. And several other corridors throughout the region are being studied for development in the coming years.

The Council will receive public comment on these technical guidelines through the Regional Data Center. Public meetings will also be scheduled to receive stakeholder and public comment.

Help celebrate openings of new biking improvements in Minneapolis

News from: City of Minneapolis 

Several long-awaited bicycle and pedestrian routes and connections, as well as a new bicycle center at the University of Minnesota, are all opening around Minneapolis in the coming days. Everyone is invited to check out these new additions at a variety of grand opening events.

New downtown Minneapolis bike routes
Grand opening, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 4:30 p.m.
Loring Park.
Several new bicycle routes are opening in downtown Minneapolis, including a long-anticipated extension of the Hiawatha Light Rail Trail onto bike lanes on 3rd Street South and 4th Street South. On the south side of downtown, there are new bike lanes on 15th Street and 16th Street. and advisory bike lanes dashed bike lanes on either side of a low volume street, leaving one central travel lane for automobiles) on 14th Street, connecting Loring Park to existing bike lanes on 11th Avenue South. The grand opening will include a group ride to show off the new bike lanes and the Hiawatha LRT Trail extension.

Northeast Minneapolis biking and walking enhancements
Group ride, Thursday, Oct. 6
A new designated bicycle route on 5^th Street NE and SE extends from Dinkytown, near the University of Minnesota, to 26^th Avenue NE, with an easy connection to the Grand Rounds bicycle trail. The new 22^ndAvenue bicycle boulevard extends west-to-east from Marshall Street NE to New Brighton Boulevard, with connections to the Quarry Shopping Center and Minneapolis Diagonal Trail. To learn more, click here.

Emerson Avenue North and Fremont Avenue North dedicated bike lanes
Grand opening parade and bike ride, Saturday, Oct. 8, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (From corner of Lowry Ave. N. and Fremont Ave. N. to the new Venture North Bike Walk Center, 1830 Glenwood Ave. N.)
Dedicated bike lanes have been added to Emerson Avenue North and Fremont Avenue North (parallel one-way streets) between Plymouth Avenue and 33rd Avenue North. New bike lane designations have also been added to 7th Street North, from Plymouth Avenue North into downtown Minneapolis.

1st Avenue South and Blaisdell Avenue South designated bike lanes
Grand opening, Sunday, Oct. 9, noon to 3 p.m.
Martin Luther King Park (Nicollet Ave. and 40th St.) 
Bike lanes have been added along these parallel streets connecting downtown Minneapolis with south Minneapolis. These routes intersect two major east-west routes across south Minneapolis: the Midtown Greenway and the RiverLake Greenway. Along with the celebration at Martin Luther King Park, activities are planned all along the bike route.

These projects have all been supported by Bike Walk Twin Cities. The metro area is one of four U.S. communities to receive $22 million through the federal “Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program” to enhance bicycling and walking as transportation and to improve health, community livability, and air quality. Bike Walk Twin Cities, a program of Transit for Livable Communities, administers the Minneapolis-Saint Paul pilot program. By 2012, Bike Walk Twin Cities will have supported more than 75 miles of new bikeways and walkways in the Twin Cities.

For more information on bicycling in Minneapolis, go to www.minneapolismn.gov/bicycles.

22 routes detoured in Downtown St Paul beginning Sept. 28

Westbound service on 22 bus routes in downtown St. Paul is scheduled to go on detour Wednesday, Sept. 28, to accommodate Central Corridor light-rail project construction.

The affected routes all travel westbound on 6th Street and will be adjusted for a period up to eight weeks due to the closure of 6th Street at Cedar Street.  Eastbound service on these routes, which travel mostly on 5th Street, will not be affected.

Westbound buses on 6th Street will serve existing bus stops on 6^th Street between Jackson and Robert. They will resume their regular routing at the intersection of 7th and 6th streets, near Xcel Energy Center.

Three temporary bus stops will be established to serve customers. They will open Wednesday at these locations:

• On 7th Street just before Cedar Street
• On 7th Street just before St. Peter, and
• On 7th Street just before Old 6th Street

> Map

Ten local and limited-stop routes are affected by the westbound detour. They are 21, 53, 54, 61, 63, 64, 65, 70, 74 and 350. Another 12 express routes are affected: 265, 275, 294, 351, 353, 361, 364, 417, 480, 484, 489 and 860.

Detour information will be posted at affected bus stops and at metrotransit.org/construction. Any last-minute adjustments will be announced via Twitter@MetroTransitMN.

MnDOT seeks public comments on 50-year transportation system vision

News from: Mn/DOT 

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Department of Transportation invites public comments through Oct. 21 on a draft 50-year vision for transportation in the state. The vision was developed with input from the public and diverse representatives of the transportation community who participated in advisory group meetings, public workshops and online during the past several months.

Beginning today, the public can view the seven-page document at the Minnesota GO website, www.minnesotago.org, and share their thoughts online, by email, fax or U.S. mail. MnDOT will accept comments until 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21.

In addition, MnDOT will host a public hearing Tuesday, Oct. 4, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., at the Transportation Building in St. Paul, 395 John Ireland Blvd., Room G15. The public also may participate via videoconference at MnDOT offices statewide or from their personal computers by using Adobe Connect (instructions will be posted on www.minnesotago.org). Print copies of the draft vision will be available at the meeting sites.

In February 2011, MnDOT launched the Minnesota GO visioning process in collaboration with many partners to better align the transportation system with what Minnesotans expect for their quality of life, economy and natural environment.

The document consists of a vision statement and guiding principles, as well as a broad look at the desired outcomes. The vision recognizes that transportation infrastructure is only one of the many elements to achieving a high quality of life, a competitive economy and a healthy environment.

MnDOT and other transportation organizations will use the vision and information from this project in developing short-term and long-term plans. The vision will offer guidance in determining the transportation initiatives that the state chooses for investment.

Submit comments to Philip Schaffner by 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, 2011 by:

• E-mail: philip.schaffner@state.mn.us
• Fax: 651-366-3794
• Phone: 651-366-3743
• Mail: Minnesota Department of Transportation
  Office of Statewide Multimodal Planning, Mail Stop 440
  395 John Ireland Blvd., St. Paul, MN  55155

Bryant Avenue Bikeway Grand Opening

A grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony will be held this Thursday, September 22nd for the Bryant Avenue Bikeway. Meet on Bryant Avenue one block north of Franklin Avenue at 4:15pm for a ribbon cutting ceremony. Then ride the length of the route with other bicyclists, stopping at area businesses along the way. Bring a bike helmet and receive a 50% discount off any purchase at Jackson’s Coffee & Gelato (Bryant & Lake). Free snacks will be offered at The Malt Shop (Bryant & 50th) while supplies last.

For more details visit the project opening website.

Safe and reliable public transportation is at risk! Attend the Minneapolis Transit Rally

Congress has proposed to cut more than one-third of federal funding across the board for public transit and surface transportation programs. If these cuts are implemented, transit riders can expect service delays, fare increases and over-crowding.

The proposed cuts to funding will increase unemployment and leave many Americans stranded without access to their jobs and basic services such as grocery stores, doctors and faith services.

What Role Can You Play?
Get involved by taking action on September 20 and telling Congress that now is the time to invest in public transportation infrastructure! Now is not the time for cuts.

• Attend the Minneapolis Rally Event
• Contact your Congressional representatives
• Spread the word
• Ride public transit and WEAR RED!

In addition to taking the above actions, tell us why public transit is so important to you. Share your transit story of about 500 words with us by e-mailing us at dontx.publictransit @ gmail dot com.

FTA gives go-ahead to start engineering on Southwest Corridor light-rail transit project

ST. PAUL – The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has granted approval to begin preliminary engineering (PE) on the region’s third light-rail transit project, the Southwest Corridor.

FTA approval represents a significant step toward winning federal matching funds and building the 15-mile LRT line between downtown Minneapolis and Eden Prairie.  Projected ridership on the corridor is nearly 30,000 riders each weekday by 2030, comparable to current ridership on Hiawatha LRT.

“What this means in the eyes of the FTA is that we have a sound and viable project that will create jobs and benefit employers as well as those who live and work near the transitway,” said Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh. “We have the confidence of the federal government, in addition to all the local partners, that we have a project that meets the standards for moving forward amid all the projects standing in line for federal transportation dollars.  The FTA’s blessing is a very good sign.”

During preliminary engineering, the Council and project partners will finalize plans for station placement and design, refine the estimates of project costs, benefits and impacts, finalize management plans, and identify and fully commit local funding sources. The PE process will take about two years and complete about 30 percent of the design work.

If the project ultimately receives FTA approval to enter final design and obtains federal funding, construction of the line will begin in 2014 and operations in late 2017/2018.  The corridor will pass through the cities of Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Hopkins and St. Louis Park and link with the Central Corridor line in Minneapolis, becoming the 26-mile Green LRT Line.

The proposed LRT line is part of the Council’s 2030 long-range plan for a network of rail and bus “transitways” to serve heavily traveled corridors in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. These transit investments are intended to improve mobility, build transit ridership, slow the growth in traffic congestion and provide opportunities for housing, job and economic development along transportation corridors.

The region’s first LRT line opened in the Hiawatha corridor in 2004.  Last year, customers rode the Hiawatha line a record 10.5 million times.

“This is an important milestone,” agreed Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman. “The addition of the Southwest Light-Rail Line will connect residents from throughout our metropolitan region to major job centers and key destinations throughout downtown Minneapolis, the central cities and western suburbs. Southwest Corridor will generate strong ridership, serve as a catalyst for housing and economic development, and build on the successes of Hiawatha and Central LRT.”

“The Counties Transit Improvement Board is investing in more than mobility and congestion relief; it’s investing 

in jobs,” said Counties Transit Improvement Board Chair Peter McLaughlin. “Southwest LRT will service more than 240,000 jobs and connect the region’s top job center, downtown Minneapolis, with the region’s sixth largest job center, Opus/Golden Triangle. Transit is just good for our regional economy, plain and simple.”

“This is a tremendous announcement as the competition for federal resources is fierce. Having Southwest LRT make the cut is incredibly important to our future economic development,” said Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Todd Klingel.

As currently proposed, the $1.25 billion line would have 17 new stations and provide a link to three other rail corridors at the Target Field Station in Minneapolis, including Hiawatha, Central Corridor and Northstar.

The Council approved light rail in the Southwest Corridor as the “locally preferred alternative” in May 2010 and submitted a federal “New Starts” application to the FTA in August 2010.  Funding for capital costs is expected to come from four sources:  The Counties Transit Improvement Board’s five-county sales tax (30 percent), the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority (10 percent), State of Minnesota (10 percent) and the FTA (50 percent).

The approval letter from the FTA specifically notes that the Council needs to continue work to resolve the relocation of a freight rail line in St. Louis Park. The Council has been and will continue to address this and other issues in order to keep the Southwest Corridor moving forward.

NOTE: More information on the Southwest Corridor project, including a map and timeline.

The Metropolitan Council is the regional planning organization in the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. The Council runs the regional bus and light rail system and Northstar commuter rail, collects and treats wastewater, coordinates regional water resources, plans regional parks and administers funds that provide housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. The Council board is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Governor.

Secretary LaHood and Transportation Leaders Join President Obama’s Call for Job-Creating Infrastructure Investments

SOURCE: US/DOT

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today joined with Washington, D.C. officials and construction industry leaders at the construction site for D.C.’s 11th Street Bridge Project and called on Congress to pass the American Jobs Act and make significant investments in job-creating infrastructure projects. He was joined at the event by Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray, DDOT Director Terry Bellamy, and Associated General Contractors CEO Steven Sandherr.

Secretary LaHood said, “We’ve got unemployed construction workers, standing by, ready to roll up their sleeves right now. This is the moment for Congress to set aside the politics and partisanship, to pass the American Jobs Act, and to put America back to work.”

In his address to the nation September 8th, President Obama called on Congress to pass the American Jobs Act, which will invest in job-creating transportation projects and establish a National Infrastructure Bank, a concept with strong bipartisan support. There is also wide agreement among business leaders, labor unions, economists and elected officials that making significant investments in America’s roads, rails, and airports will not only put hundreds of thousands of people to work quickly, it is crucial to the nation’s future economic growth and prosperity.

Steven Sandherr, CEO of the Associated General Contractors, said, “There are few more effective ways to create good jobs, deliver great roads, build a strong economy and protect taxpayers than to invest in infrastructure. That is why the Associated General Contractors of America stands with the President and everyone else that is willing to make the investments needed to revive our industry and rebuild our economy.” Associated General Contractors is one of the nation’s largest trade associations for the construction industry.

Secretary LaHood also called on Congress to immediately pass an extension of the surface transportation bill, which is set to expire on September 30. If Congress allows the current surface transportation extension to expire, more than 4,000 federal employees will immediately go without pay. If Congress delays actions for just 10 days beyond that, nearly $1 billion in highway funding that could be spent on construction projects across the nation would be lost. And if Congress waits even longer, almost 1 million workers could be in danger of losing their jobs over the next year.

Secretary LaHood spoke at the construction site of the 11th Street Bridge Project in Washington, D.C., which could be shut down if Congress fails to pass a surface transportation extension by September 30. There are roughly 380 workers on the 11th Street Bridge project, which will reduce congestion by replacing two existing bridges with three new bridges and improving interchanges for local and freeway traffic. By 2030, these bridges will serve almost 180,000 vehicles every day – helping the region become more economically competitive. Scheduled for completion in 2013, the $300-million project is being completed with $189 million in federal-aid.

All Vikings Games Served by Northstar Rail

The Northstar commuter rail line and Northstar Link Commuter Bus are providing service for all Vikings games at Mall of America Field in the Metrodome this season. Special trains will be added on game days to supplement the regular Northstar schedule when needed.

Fans can save on the train fare with a Northstar Roundtrip Family Pass which is good for two adults and up to three kids ages 6-17 for $20 or less depending on which station the group travels from. Fans arriving at Target Field via Northstar can transfer to the Hiawatha light rail line or buses for the last part of their trip to Mall of America Field at no extra charge. Northstar Link tickets are separate and cost $1.50 or less for one way.

Full schedules for every game and train fare information are available at metrotransit.org/vikings. The MN Vikings Northstar Link service is called route 887V.