Advocacy

by: Nick Mason, Advocacy Committee Chair

The Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota’s (BikeMN) advocacy efforts focus on implementation of the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly America family of programs and Complete the Streets policies. This will be done in partnership with other organizations, communities and our
members.

There are many efforts under way. Hennepin County, Rochester and St. Paul have passed Complete Streets policies. Minnesota was ranked as the 5th most bike friendly state and
Minneapolis, Minnesota’s only LAB ranked Bicycle Friendly Community, was ranked Silver on a scale of Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum.

However, we have a long way to go. The state and many communities are currently building and rebuilding incomplete streets. Perhaps the most visible example of this is University Avenue in St. Paul where the construction of light rail as proposed will result in traffic lanes too narrow to safely accommodate bicyclists and narrowed sidewalks that do not encourage pedestrians.