Photo of Whitney pedestrian bridge by Sandy Richard. Click on photo for other sizes and photos on Flickr.
Minneapolis Named America's #1 Bike City
Link to a news story about Minneapolis overtaking Portland as the #1 city for cyclists in 2011.
Biking Statistics for Minneapolis
Click on the thumbnail to the left to view a larger image of biking statistics from the Minneapolis Department of Public Works - October 2010. Note: I was unable to find this on the new City of Minneapolis website.
The screen capture below links to the website.
The MPLS Bicycle Coalition is a volunteer organization created to promote bicycling in Minneapolis. Their website provides news stories related to cycling, links to other organizations in the Twin Cities, and links to bicycling advocacy sites in other cities.
Minneapolis is now classified as a gold medal city by Walk Friendly Communities. Their website provides information and links about walking in Minnneapolis.
Profile of Minneapolis from Walk Friendly Communities
This page provides an attractive summary of the pedestrian friendly attributes of Minneapolis.
This website provides its own information and news about biking and walking in the Twin Cities. The site also provides a great collection of links to other websites, including a large number of maps. If you explore their website, you will definitely find plenty of information to help you explore the Twin Cities area without a car.
This is an amazing but huge pdf map from the Bike Walk Twin Cities website. It shows on and off road bike routes, bike sharing kiosks, Hourcar locations, and all bus and rail lines in color.
Infographic for biking and walking in the Twin Cities.
Bike Walk Move Minneapolis Search Results
There are lots of links to news stories and trail recommendations (including some with amazing photos). Most of them deal with biking rather than walking.
Walking Resources
A lot of the walking resources and maps can be found along with bicycling resources. The section below this from the City of Minneapolis is an exception. Many of the walks that their site links to include maps.
There are also two books I would recommend. The first is Walking Twin Cities by Holly Day and Sherman Wick (published by Wilderness Press.) This book contains 34 walking tours in the Twin Cities. All walks are loops, and they all include directions for reaching the starting point using mass transit. You might find, depending on your starting point and mass transit choices, that it is more convenient to start the walk somewhere other than the starting point specified in the book. If you are willing to walk more than half a mile, you might select a transit route not mentioned in the book.
The other book is Take a Hike Minneapolis & St. Paul by Jake Kulju. The first chapter, Twin Cities Metro Area, contains twenty hikes. Most of these hikes include mass transit information. The hikes without transit information in the first chapter were also close to mass transit, as were some of the hikes in other chapters.
The section below was copied from the "Where to Walk" section of "Walking in Minneapolis"
which, in turn,is a portion of the website for the City of Minneapolis.
The following links can help you know where to walk around Minneapolis.
University of Minnesota Walking Information/Maps
Nicollet Mall Public Art Walking Tour
Northeast Minneapolis Audio-Guided Walking Tours
Minneapolis Guided Historic Walking Tours
Saint Anthony Falls Historic District
Citywide Bicycle Map – includes bicycle/pedestrian trails and pedestrian shortcuts
A free tool for calculating the distance of your walking trips is also available, at www.mapmywalk.com . In addition, a mileage chart for local parkway paths is located here.
Trails and Pathways from Minneapolis Parks
This site from the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation board includes a link to a list of paths and trails along with trail distances.
You can use this site to find maps and some information about walks people have taken in Minneapolis (or anyplace else).
Bicycling Resources
About 60% of the bicycles outside a the University of Minnesota Sanford Residence Hall.
Photo by Sandy Richard. Click on photo above to view larger sizes on Flickr.
This section of the Metro Transit site provides information about traveling with your bike on Metro Transit, as well as additional information and links. There are even locations with practice Metro Transit bike racks.
Click on Steven Vance's image below to see other sizes and more photos on Flickr.
Practice Bus Bike Racks are Located at:
Bike/Walk Twin Cities Ambassadors
Downtown Minneapolis
612-333-3410 (call for an appointment)
Freewheel Midtown Bike Center
On the Midtown Greenway - between 10th Avenue and Elliot Avenue
2834 10th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55407
Commuter Connection
US Bank Plaza
220 South Sixth Street, Suite 230
Minneapolis, MN 55412
St. Paul Smart Trips
55 East 5th Street, Suite 202
St. Paul, MN 55101
Link to Steven Vance's Photostream on Flickr
The Bikes on Northstar Trains page of the Metro Transit website provides information about how to bring a bike along with you on a Northstar train (including a video and photos).
Bike Everywhere - Northstar Map Set
Bike Everywhere sells a large collection of bike maps, including a set of maps linking Northstar stations to bike routes. This set of maps is available either as a large pdf or as a print map (regular paper or tear and water resistant). The link above is to the Northstar maps, you can link to the home page to find out about other maps.
Bike Everywhere's home page has an interactive map with links to their maps.
The menu on this page, copied from the Maps & Where to Ride section of the Bicycling portion of the City of Minneapolis website, provides excellent links to help you explore Minneapolis by bike.
New! Online Bicycle Map – Pan & Zoom
New! Online Bicycle Map – Printable pdf’s
A new Minneapolis bike map is available at all Minneapolis bike shops and libraries. If a bike shop or library has run out of maps, please contact the Bike Walk Ambassadors at 612.333.3410. Funding for online versions of the Minneapolis Bicycle Map comes from Bike Walk Twin Cities.
Descriptions of Where to Ride:
Additional Bike Map Resources:
Meet Minneapolis Bike Trail Map (pdf)
Minneapolis Bikeways: Existing, Funded and Planned (pdf)
Metropolitan Council Bicycle Maps
Regional printed maps are currently available from bikeverywhere ($11.95) online, at bicycle shops, and at bookstores in the Twin Cities.
The Minneapolis Parks Board provides a mileage chart for local parkway paths.
Cyclopath provides point-to-point online route-finding. Twin Cities bicyclists contribute comments about specific routes.
A free tool for calculating the distance of your bicycle trips is also available at www.mapmyride.com .
Ride the City provides online route-finding, and shows the location of bike shops and Nice Ride MN bike share locations.
The Minnesota DOT is currently working on a revised State of Minnesota biking map. The link above is to a list of links to currently available biking maps statewide. There is also a link to finding the status of the new map which is due in 2012.Minnesota Department of Transportation
Nice Ride provides bike rentals from stands located throughout the Twin Cities area. Nice ride is usually open from the first week in April until the first week in November. Nice Ride closes for the winter because they keep their bikes in racks on sidewalks where they would be in the way for snow removal and they would be damaged by salt.
This page from the City of Minneapolis website includes a link to a list of bicycle shops, traffic rules, and other useful links and information.
Full service bike shops including rentals, sales, service, and more.
Examples using Google Maps for cycling and walking are on the Google Maps page of this website.
Sites Dealing with Improvements in Mass Transit, Walking, and Bicycling in the Twin Cities:
Bicycling Report for the City of Minneapolis
This page contains a summary of the information from the 2011 Minneapolis Bicycling Account. The paragraph below is copied from the page.
2011 Minneapolis Bicycling Account
The Public Works Department released the first edition of the Minneapolis Bicycle Account, highlighting bicycling accomplishments made over the past year. The report covers key topics including bicyclist traffic counts, safety improvements, new projects, innovative facilities, bike sharing, education and encouragement efforts, and new bicycle-related policies and ordinances. The Bicycling Account is set to be released on a biennial basis, alternating years with a Walking Account. The full report can be viewed here.
Summary of the Minneapolis Bicycling Report
This summary is from the City Pages blog.
This page contains links to all the chapters of the pedestrian master plan including an excellent "executive summary'.
Alliance for Metropolitan Stability
Click on image below to view the Corridors of Opportunity September 2011 Status Map.
Concerned with planning the expansion of transitways in order to promote healthy, vibrant, and sustainable communities.
Transportation Equity and Equitable Development
Advocates for transportation choices that consider the needs of all the people, especially those who have been marginalized in the past.
Minneapolis Urban Partnerships Agreement
Plan to replace shoulder bus only lanes with "wider priced dynamic shoulder lanes (PDSL), and will be moving these lanes from the right-most to the left-most portion of the roadway to minimize conflict with entering vehicles." Buses would travel free of charge and their speeds should be able to be increased from the current 35 mph or less to 50 mph.
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