motorman

A few weeks ago, I was wasting some time with a colleague at work discussing the important issues of the day. During these random vignettes, he told me how awful his commute was that morning. “I could tell it was the beginning of a holiday weekend, the traffic back-up started miles before the usual point,” he said. He lives in the sticks so he kind of brings it on himself, but the topic reminded me of one of the unheralded perks of bicycle commuting – immunity to traffic jams and tie-ups. I figure this immunity from traffic bring predictability to travel in addition to the bonus of an annual savings to me of $7,350 and 50-hours of time.

The aforementioned points are difficult to believe so let me explain:

As a bicycle commuter, I am able to ride to the right of the vehicles in traffic at a consistent speed. For this fact I have reliable ride times to and from destinations. Only my desire to take the “long way” and an occasional puncture factors into these calculations. Remember time is money, and for most who do not ride the commute is becoming and expensive activity.

In the United States single-occupancy commuting continues to reign, but due to development patterns and growing metropolises this activity is taking longer and costing more. Let us explore the commuting time of a typical Twin Citian as an example. According to the Texas Transportation Institute’s 2005 Urban Mobility Study a typical commute that took 20 minutes in 1980 now takes 26. That is not a whole lot of time for one individual trip, but if you look at this 6-minute increase per trip over a year, it adds up to an additional 50 hours per-year. One (alas now growing typical) additional workweek per year more spent in your car than in 1980 for every 26 minutes of commuting time. I would guess that is not factored into the vacation compensation package of most firms.

In addition to growing commuting time is the added cost that driving alone has on a family’s bottom line. In a quick calculation of my commute I found that I would spend over $2,300 per year to own a car, drive it to work and park it for a year. My estimated costs for bike commuting (with a few bus trips thrown in during major weather events) is $850 in the same year. Riding to work saves me $1,450. With my logic in place I should be able to buy a new bike every year with the money I save or go on a nice weeklong trek with the time I save, but time and money are not the only benefits in the ride vs. drive debate.

The third and fourth significant benefits to the bicycle commute are the physical and environmental rewards. Quantifying the environmental impacts of driving alone Dan Scheuller sites a UC Davis study that the average vehicle mile has a $0.20 environmental cost. For my commute of 50 miles round trip per week that equates to $500-per-year in external environmental costs savings, my contribution to the planet, you’re welcome Earth.

Physically, by me riding, I burn about 800 calories per day going to and from work. In a purely unscientific calculation, 800 calories is about the majority of an 8-ounce bag a chips or $2 per-day, which extends to $500 per-year. But more importantly, my heart works better considering the aerobic activity and that fact that I am not pushing 400 lbs. And what is a heart worth? According to the Battelle Institute/Seattle Research Center the average cost of a heart transplant is $148,000. If, say, it takes, 30-years to destroy a heart, the annual cost to me is just over $4,900. That is simply for the heart, I will not ever begin to try to quantify the cost of increased health care premiums.

It is good to realize (really to quantify for once) that bicycling is better both physically and financially for me than driving a car. The only dilemma I have now is what to do with all these savings. I will go out for a ride and think about it.

Minneapolis will soon be known for something new. For most they are cute and cuddly but for others they are simply a menace. Regardless of your position on the matter the proliferation of these creatures will not be sustainable and has to be stopped. For what is becoming a common occurrence in the city are the rascally rabbits. I am not a scientist but I have noticed more and more of these hoppers in and around the area, and sir, I do not like it.

A close friend asked me the other day, “Why do you care?” I have a number of reasons of concern for this growth in the rabbit population, but it comes down to two main points – one they have to eat, and two they keep on multiplying. If you have read between the lines of this post you probably have guessed that I have more personal vendetta towards these herbivores. Yes, yes I do.

It began a few years ago. motorwife is an avid gardener, a botanical artist, so we decided that the motorhome needed some landscaped pallets on which to create. We spent one entire summer pulling up sod, tilling earth, shoveling soil, compost, and mulch, and set over 400 9-lb brick pavers to edge these beds. This was pain-staking work, through the rain, heat, and winds of the summer. Fortunately, they look great and motorwife has really brought some life to these in the past years. The motorhome looks great. Unfortunately, all good must weather a storm or two to become great.

Shortly after the completion of the summer long construction project, we began to notice the presence of a new critter in the yard, a small grey-furred white-tailed rabbit came hopping through the back forty each dusk and again around dawn. We both thought this was great, this cuddly little creature hopping around the happy yard. What a slice of the American dream, the yard – our land – our sanctuary is inviting and welcoming to more of god’s creatures. The majesty of it all, ah, well that euphoria was short lived.

This creature of god, hero to millions of the world’s youth, has an unexpected hunger. It became evident to the two of us that it was not the tranquility of the yard and the beauty of the gardens that was drawing this rabbit to live with us at start and end of each day, for buggs has got to eat and we had the buffet of buffets for his gluttony. Shortly, the stalks, leaves and petals of a number of the plants that created the horticultural portrait disappeared. Slowly at first, then so quickly that it seemed like the autumn harvest was underway.

As soon became clear, the harvest that continues summer long, was due to buggs’ new and growing family. For the term “like rabbits” is there for a reason. This spring the family has grown into an extreme force. The first attack came early, and our tulips had no chance. Tasty, I am told. Then the assault turned to towards the hostas. “Hosta la vista” the battle cry of this conquering army. Our defenses were weak and after a number of applications of liquid fence we had no choice but to erect the chicken wire. Our once picturesque garden started to resemble the battlefield of Verdun (without the artillery impacts of course, but a devastated landscape none-the-less),

We are strong and we will rebuild. The garden enemies are now found hoping down more and more streets of the Minneapple, I even found them downtown yesterday. So the war will continue and the more battles will be forged. The question I keep asking is how aggressive will it become, I am reminded of the events of from Springfield were Homer and the gang were overrun by lizards or pigeons or something and the response was to find it natural predator to eradicate the herd. This continued up the food chain to the gorilla, then winter came to take care of them. Will be need to go to these lengths? I hope not, but in warfare common sense has a tendency to disappear. On to the battlefield and victory!

Find your way through new territory
motorwife and I just returned from traveling, a bonafide out-of-town vacation, complete with airline tickets and hotel reservations. The big package and at the right time for it has been more than four years since we have been on this type of trip and given all that is going on it will be the last for quite some time, so that trip had to count.

We packed-up what seemed like 20 suitcases, backpacks, and duffels in order to attack NorCal’s cities, valleys, and shores. It was quite a site, most observers probably thought we were moving west – to try my luck in California as Mason Jennings might say. Our travels through the streets of San Francisco, along coast highways, into wine county, campgrounds, and back again became an exercise in orienteering. A true test of a region’s ease of movement has the visitors experience as the denominator. Our experience traversing the cityscape and countryside reminded me about the importance of way finding through any system for both locals and foreigners.

Being airlifted into a new territory without a local guide puts the skills of traveling to the test. No previous experience, a slight disorientation that is common with air travel, and the need to act immediately scurrying with a few hundred of your unknown plane mates, the ease to which one can move in the correct direction becomes very evident.

Is there a search engine for the bicycle superhighway?
Bikeways are no different than this airport passage, a highway system, or hiking trails, in the need for easy to read and accurate directional signage. To improve mode share, way finding is the most important physical component after the infrastructure is complete. Successfully moving from a recreational trail that one uses on a warm and sunny summer afternoon to a transportation system that is navigational from on side of the town to the other depends on the effectiveness of signage and the maps that tie it all together.

In the Minneapolis area we are a bit behind the curve on an easy way finding system. It is not that the system is nonexistent, rather it is not uniform and it is inconsistent. I have been on routes that are signed with a simple “regional trail ” to “Cedar Lake Trail – Highway 100 1.1 miles that way – Downtown 1.3 miles the other way.”

The Twin Cities metropolitan region has a political structure that will make a comprehensive bicycle way finding system difficult but not impossible. We have grown from a seven county to a thirteen county metropolitian area with over 100 local governmental units. This fragmentation makes cooperation complex and adds time to decision making. However, if the region is to continue to be a national leader in bicycle mode share, this is the next hurdle that if lowered should increase bike use.

Getting there from here
Regardless of the fractured nature of the area’s governance, a comprehensive bicycle way finding system is possible with some unity from the bicycle community. First, we must come together to name or number regional routes. I am in favor of numbers considering some routes follow multiple existing named streets through different jurisdiction. Think a county road network where a particular county road will travel through multiple municipalities where the street names change from town to town.

Second, this system needs easy to understand and consistent road markers that not only depict the route and direction but also include context markers and distances. The context makers, such as the distance to an activity center or adjoining routes from the signpost, help connect the bicyclist to areas that he or she can shop, work, or connect to other bikeways. This furthers solidifying the bikeways as true transportation system.

Finally, these routes need to become part of an easy to use map. There are many examples of existing bike maps. Here in Hennepin County bikeways are on the reverse of the official county road map. Portland, Ore. color codes it street on its official map to show levels of bicycle friendly streets, such as green is good and red is not so good for bicycle traffic. Other such as Boulder, CO have an interactive Internet map the accompany its printed from for those who plan ahead. In Milwaukee, you can simply type your location and your destination and through Goggle maps it provides a bicycle friendly route to follow.

How to pay the toll
What is promising for the Twin Cities region’s way finding is that we do not have to create the system from scratch. We can pick and choose from the best practices from other regions. Even better, there is a new funding source so that with this important work of bringing together the region’s bicycle community we can implement it appropriately. For this effort fits perfectly within the intent of the Non-motorized pilot program. It appears that the window of opportunity is wide open for this to move forward.

Minneapolis like many other regions around the county is now benefiting from extensive bikeways networks. As these networks mature, we see a growing need to navigate the system seamlessly. Even though we are a bit behind the curve in signage development and the regional cooperation, we are poised to rectify the situation. Through the benefits of learning and adapting from other regional signage systems and a $25 million federal grant to improve the bicycle mode share in its final approval stages, we will have an opportunity to design and implement a way finding system equal to its corresponding bicycle infrastructure.

As I explored in the first three parts of this series, we are pretty fortunate in the City of Lakes. We have miles of bicycle facilities that have translated into the largest bicycle commuter population in the county. In Part 2, I explained that the origins of an independent park board and good timing in the history of planning built the foundation of the system through the preservation of land for parks as the city formed around it. And in the third part I left the sanctuary of the City’s bike trails to explore our on-street bikeways system and connection to our neighbors. The system is stong, possibly one-of-a-kind, but has some gaps that need to be filled before it can be a world class system.

This was not a difficult area of the county to implement this system, however. Minneapolis is lousy with lakes, streams, and ol’ man river. Geographically, these lakes chain together through a series of canals and stream at the southwest corner of the city. Close to the City’s southern border the Minnehaha Creek brings this water east, past another two lakes then over a spectacular falls before it enters into the Mississippi River.

Moving up river, the bike route follows both banks into the City’s center (on the left descending bank – for you Army Corps readers) and the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis East Bank Campus (on the right descending bank). From the northern reaches of downtown the bike trails end, then one-quarter mile further upstream, access to the river disappears into industrial uses that own the river’s edge.

This gap in the system is what occupies a lot of time for advocates in the northern half of town. For reference, the Mississippi basically divides the northern half evenly into two parts, commonly referred to as the Northside and Northeast (or Nordeast as a homage to the large Eastern European that settle the area). The connections to the river in this area has been dominated by industrial users since Europeans began to descend on the area and found that the Falls of Saint Anthony could power massive small mills for the lush northern Minnesota forests harvests. Throughout the decades, the exact users have changed from the former timer floats to aggregate, scrap metal, rail, and other related industrial users.

The gaps in the northern half of the Minneapolis will be the most difficult to develop into bike trails, yet these will be the most important. These gaps are the highest fruit hanging on the tree. The land is developed and unavailable unlike the beginnings of most of the existing system. This land will be very expensive to purchase and the finding alternative locations for the existing land uses will be difficult. Plus, the industry that currently owns the property has a market and a purpose (for example recycling scarp metal) so we will need to find an appropriate new locations or a solution that allows co-habitation.

But, these hurdles are not insurmountable. Minneapolis grew from its roots on the river, and it can return. The connections from the existing system in to the west, south and parts in the east need to complete the vision of the true Grand Rounds. There are two areas of focus – the river and the “missing link” in Northeast. In addition to the difficulties of the river connections is the “missing link” that would connect to the terminus of Stimson Parkway (about half-way between the northeast corner of the city and the connection to the river). If attention moves to this in the system, like with the southern half, more-and-more will become bike commuters since the barriers to entry continue to reside.

I am not a fool in this request; I find much enjoyment in the current system and do realize that it is light-years ahead of many metropolitan systems. Though, I believe we in Minneapolis have high standards for quality of life, so I will continue to improve the intercity system. Maybe someday, we will a have bicycle mode share comparable to world leaders in Asia and Europe. Minneapolis is number one now, but at only 2.65 percent, we need to continue to work. See you out on the trails, bikeways and roadways!

Bike month is here again and that means National Bike-to-Work week is upon us. From May 15th to May 19th, join the millions of Americans who are beating the fuel cost crunch, improving their health, and adding to a cleaner environment, by riding their bicycle to work. To celebrate this activity and how municipalities are lowering the bar for communters I explore Minneapolis’ on-street facilities, rail-trails and connections to the neighboring communities in this part of the series.

Here in Minneapolis, bicycling to work is a trend that grows everyday. The public investments to the bicycle facilities are a big part of why. As I described in the first two parts of this series, the city is packed with dedicated bicycle paths, lanes and rail-trails. It is these investments that are paying off in the form of the number of residents who are shedding their cars.

Minneapolis has a number of on-road bicycle-only lanes that radiate from a downtown system. Minneapolis has an inventive approach to most of its lanes that travel down one-way streets; they follow the left side of the road (for those in the British Empire this is wrong side of roadway). To make it even more unique, streets in the primary business district have three lanes for general traffic and one lane for transit that travels in the opposite direction. Along these transit lanes are the city’s contra flow bike lanes.

Minneapolis has decided to move the bike lanes to unconventional sides of the roadway to add safety. The left lane bikeways are to avoid those pesky car doors. I will never understand why when reaching for your backpack, bag or purse in the passenger seat you have to balance yourself by pushing the driver’s door fully open. For the contra flow lanes, it places the bicyclist facing the bulk of traffic with only “professional” drivers (maybe more on that later) moving in the bicycle’s direction.

The other spokes in the system are the rail trails. Within the city we have the Midtown Greenway, Kenilworth, LRT and Cedar Lake Trails. These bituminous trails connect to the far reaches of the suburban and ex-urban Twin Cities on crushed limestone rail beads. In addition to the connections the inter-city trails that lead to cities such as Hutchinson, Chaska, Victoria, and Hopkins, there are rail trails out of Saint Paul. Our twin is far down the list in bike commuting, however it is making progress. Saint Paul is beginning to put together a system starting from facilities on Summit and Como Avenues, Wheelock Parkway, and their first rail trail named after the late Congress Member Bruce Vento.

Biking to work is a very relaxing and fun mode to work. However, for many getting on the bike for the first time can seem daunting. But once you establish a routine, it can be to work earlier than fighting traffic and finding parking, even when it rains. Some important points to remember is ride a comfortable bike, to ride at your speed, and to take the route with which you are most comfortable. Do not worry about gear, wear comfortable clothes (remember when you were a kid; whatever you wore was your bike clothes). Most importantly, wear a helmet. I am sorry to say this, however, if you lid is more than five years old (regardless of how often you used it) it is time to upgrade. Motorman says, “An $85 helmet expense every three years is better than relearning how to write my ABCs.”

Enjoy Bike-to-Work Week!