A Next Year's Resolution on Sidewalk Ice & Pedestrian Safety

Workers remove winter deocrations on Hennepin Ave.

Tis’ the season we go from snowy sidewalks, to slushy, and then icy ones. And in many ways that’s a hopeful sign. A promise of warmth and fun, of walks around the lakes, Open Streets, Nice Rides across the Stone Arch, and everything else you can fit into 7 months of t-shirt weather.

So while you’re in a good mood regarding the impending change of season, I need you to make a promise. Make a Next Year’s Resolution to your neighbors that you’ll do everything in your power to keep them a little safer next winter.

That is to say: Clear your damn sidewalks.

This is a tale of a journey fraught with thrills, near-spills, and the eventual triumph of one man over mother nature and the neglectful property owners determined to put him on his ass. It was biblical. Thus sayeth the pedestrian: I am returned! And I will immediately take up my laptop to compose this message to my city.

OMG Transit: Integrating Bike-share with Transit, Car-share

OMG Transit is an app that gives real-time transit info. They're releasing a new version soon. What separates this app is the integrated Nice Ride and car-share info that you don't get from an app like Spotcycle (for bike-share) or MetroTransit's mobile site (for public transit). Very nice to have all this info in one place for people using multiple services to live car-free.

Snowfall & Bike Share Season Length

Chart comparing average annual snowfall with season-length of major North American cold-weather bike share systems.

It would be nice to have a longer season here in Minneapolis. In snowfall terms, the two most analogous cities to MSP are Denver and Toronto. Both of those cities operate year-round. So it would at least seem within the realm of possibility for Nice Ride to do the same here in the Twin Cities.

Also posted in this thread on the forum for discussion.

Nice Ride Station Suggestions

Nice Ride has a pretty cool station suggestion map. I've been playing around with it.

These came to mind immediately (these suggestions come with a south Minneapolis bias):

• Minnehaha Trail and 50th st -- This would make trips between the Lake Harriet station and Lake Nokomis possible without going over 30 minute limit.

• Calhoun Village shopping center (just off Midtown Greenway) -- I've regretted not being able to bike to Barnes & Noble a few times. Lots of other shopping in this area.

• Lyndale Park Gardens -- I enjoy the park. Would make me happy to have a station here.

• Area just north of Lake St. Target/Cub Foods (just off Midtown Greenway) -- One of the big weaknesses of the current station layout in S. Minneapolis is the lack of stations on the Midtown Greenway, especially as you near Hiawatha. Putting a station here would give great access for errand-running at Target or Cub Foods; and it would serve the interests of recreational riders heading east on the greenway to the Mississippi River and points beyond.

I put them on my own map here.

Put down a couple of suggestions on Nice Ride's map. Love to hear some other ideas in this thread on the forum.