Effective April 29, the City of Minneapolis will begin creating “Stay Healthy Streets” in the 3 geographical areas of the City (North, South, Northeast).
From the Minneapolis Website:
Streets on these routes will generally be closed to thru car traffic but remain open for local resident access. On-street parking will generally be retained; some connection points will have parking restrictions on one side of the street to ensure space for walking, rolling and biking.
This is a great example of how Cities can use their own land (Public ROW, yo!) to benefit public health and active recreation instead of prioritizing the deadly, noisy, high-speed, high-carbon motorized transportation that used to stifle our access to fresh air.
Like the recent news of Minneapolis automating walk signals across the city, these are changes that had not been enacted prior to the Covid-19 pandemic despite the City of Minneapolis passing the Climate Action Plan (2013), Complete Streets Policy (2016), Vision Zero (2017), and the Minneapolis2040 Comprehensive Plan (2019) but since it’s happening now, I hope these new ways of prioritizing active recreation will continue as the standard practice especially after a vaccine is created and we gradually reenter society in-person.
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- South Minneapolis Loop
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- Northeast Minneapolis Loop
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- North Minneapolis Loop
Minneapolis Public Works estimates 1.5 to 2 hours to walk the loops, and 25-35 minutes to bike them. In words from the website: “Check them out, stay active and stay safe.”
You can also still make comments on the Draft Minneapolis Transportation Plan until May 22.