New bike lanes! This stretch of road feels totally different.
On my bike commute Wednesday morning, I reached the bottom of Lowry Hill to find a surprise — new bike lanes! It’s on a stretch of road just west of the Walker that I’ve always found awkwardly wide. Is it two lanes? One wide lane and parking?
Magically, now it was clear what to do, and I found myself being sucked into the new bike lane.
About 30 yards later, I was disappointed that they suddenly ended.
And, the lanes end. Confusion for all…
As a new Streets.MN writer, I was inspired to stop and take a picture. That’s when I realized that whether they disappear into thin air or not, I LOVE the new bike lanes.
While standing there, a car came towards me, in the right-hand driving lane, but much more slowly than cars of the past. Even better, when she got to the end of the newly defined lanes, the paint created a corner that is VERY sharp and a bit confusing. She braked before slowly turning the newly tight corner onto the next narrower section of Kenwood Parkway.
I was at a meeting just yesterday with a couple bike lane detractors, and you’re absolutely right: a bit of paint can make a difference.
Slogan should be, “Bike Lanes: Much Better than Nothing.”
Does it continue over in front of the walker? I’m thinking they ended it there is because they want you to hop on that bike side walk.
I can now confirm that the bike lanes do continue over in front of the Walker (Vineland Place) up to that nightmarish Hennepin/Lyndale intersection — and (in theory) across onto 15th. However, they didn’t include it at the pork chops in the middle of that big intersection, so the scariest part of that crossing is just as scary as ever.
Maybe the lesson is we just need to stand in the street more often and cars will slow down!