Well, biking is a huge part of what we are in Minneapolis and, you know, I think that
means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
For some it means it's a very economical way to get around.
For some it's really about health and fitness. For some it's time that it's actually quicker.
Minneapolis is a good place to bike, I think, because, A, there's a strong biking culture.
People are passionate about biking here. It's something you go to a party and people talk about
where they're going to bike the next day. So it's become part of our DNA.
You don't really need to be on the street with cars if you don't want to, if you stick to our
off-street pass system, which is about a hundred miles. And in a city that's about six miles wide
by ten miles tall, that's quite a few miles of paths.
So they go around all of our lakes. They go along the Mississippi River.
They go along our creek. They go along our parkways.
And then they also cut through our old railroad corridors.
So one of the exciting developments in Minneapolis, of course, is the Midtown Greenway Corridor,
which is an old industrial railroad trench that was cut straight right through the
center of Minneapolis on an east-west axis. And the industrial use became obsolete
in the last couple of decades.
Wish a train came down maybe every two or three weeks just to pick up grain,
and it wasn't being used for anything else. And then there was a determination that the
grain elevator needed to come down, so then that's when the negotiation started heavily
to build a bike walk corridor through there.
It's 20 feet below city grade, so that means it passes underneath all the North-South avenues,
which makes it the fastest way to get across town, including public transportation or driving.
The numbers of people who have ridden on it and walk on it and roll a blade on it
has just grown steadily through each of them. Many years it's been open, so it's just been a real
asset to the city. You will see families on the trail, you will see grandparents on the trail,
you'll see lots of urban hipsters on the trail, everyone in between, commuters, it's for everyone.
You see, I think nearly as many women as men, that's a big difference. When biking began to
take off in the city, you began to see just a lot more females out on bikes, and I think
it's simply because they feel safer, there's a lot of bikers on the street.
Some of the results from studying the census last year revealed that a lot of people are
moving into these neighborhoods along the Greenway, and the Greenway is a big draw for those people.
There's a lot of development going on in terms of like apartment buildings and new businesses
in the uptown area. When you have a bike trail that the community embraces, then suddenly there's
a lot of development along there. It becomes a desirable place for people to live, and you start
to see property values to go up. What was made to be once an old abandoned warehouse now suddenly
becomes you got graphic design firms, you have all sorts of cutting-edge businesses going.
People that take the Greenway come in here to, you know, they have flat tires and they want
some nourishment or some food, and then along the Greenway there's all these ramps, and the ramps
provide people opportunities to get off of the streets up top, but also to go and use businesses
in uptown along the corridor. There's been a resurgence in the quality of life in these neighborhoods,
and I think it directly related to the creation of the Greenway. This is a city where people want
to get out, you want to take advantage of the seasons, and we have great bike paths throughout,
so people are out, but our leaders are out too. I see Mayor Rybeck, the mayor of Minneapolis,
on his bike cruising down the city, Mayor Coleman as well, and we have legislative leaders who are
also real champions for the whole idea that you need to have city streets that allow pedestrians,
bikes, as well as other forms of transportation. I have to say in the last few years it has been
just a transformative, and to be able to get around on your bike gives you a connection to the
place where you live that's very different than moving around in your car. You can see the people
along the street, other bicyclists, you can see all the shops, all the houses, all the activity
that's going on in a much more connected fashion.
