Woodbury, a suburb on the far eastern edge of the metro area, is a mixed bag for bicyclists. During a weekend research ride, riding buddy Dave Olson and I finally discovered the bike trails that run between suburban lots connecting many subdivisions with Carver Park. The trails are well maintained, about 10 feet wide and under used. To their credit, the city built the trail along the border between housing lots, making the it immediately accessible to thousands of residents. The residents, however, were not out in force despite a sunny and cool summer day.

My biggest complaint about the trail is that it has no signage. “You are Here” maps or other indications about where the trail goes would help trail users find their way around the system.  The problem is compounded in the parks by multiple intersecting trails, some merely connectors to a neighborhodd,  others major trails in their own right. We wandered around for several hours, enjoying the scenery for the most part and re-orienting ourselves when we reach major intersections, but I never got a real sense of where the trails went until the next morning when I downloaded my GPS track onto a map. The trail also has a few very steep exit/entrance connectors that will make most folks walk uphill and scare any mother who’s child wants to skate down the ramp on a scooter or skateboard.

Getting around Woodbury by road is more of a challenge.  Woodbury was built when cul de sacs and winding roads with no destination were considered the height of residential development. The net effect is a constant funneling of all vehicles, bikes included, into collector routes and major roads. Woodbury has done a credible job of building and maintaining bike trails in the right-of-way of the major roads, but like all bike trails along major roads, these are noisy, the scenery is minimal and crossroads are dangerous.

Despite the drawbacks, we found some beautiful roads, such as Pinehurst Rd north of the Tamarack Nature Preserve. The new routes will appear on the 2011 update.

One road that will disappear as a bike route is Lake Rd. When first built, a decade or more ago, it was a low traffic, free flowing road through the city. Traffic has increased dramatically ove the years and with new updates of the Twin Cities Bike Map it has gone from low traffic to high traffic.  Traffic is now high enough that it is no longer an acceptable bike route. Several alternates have been found and more research is needed to avoid the last mile or two of  Lake Rd. The changes will appear on the updated bike map.

Hastings, in the far SE corner of the Twin Cities Bike Map has a surprisingly robust set of bike trails, called the Veteran’s Home Bikeway. The trail starts just north of Lock and Dam #2, runs on top of the dike that creates the pool behind the locks, and follows the river around downtown Hastings. The trail heads inland along railroad tracks that skirt the eastern edge of downtown, then splits, with one trail leading to CP Adam Park and a second that follows the Vermillion River around the southern edge of town.

Hastings is separated enough from the metro area to be surrounded by farmland and gravel roads, but not far enough to avoid metro area traffic. Ninineger Rd (Hwy 42) is the best escape route out of town. It will take you to the very attractive Spring Lake Park, an excellent destination with a modern visitor center, picnic grounds, hiking paths and great views of Spring Lake (Mississippi River).Traffic is moderate to heavy depending on day of week and time of day.

Hwy 54, SE of Hastings is designated part of the multi-state Mississippi River Trail. This route is recommended for experienced riders only. Traffic is high and the road is narrow with no shoulder.

If you are looking for a 20-25 mile route near the metro area, I recommend visiting Hastings. Downtown has a mix of bars, coffee shops and restaurants for post ride food and drink.

Just spent an afternoon researching the northern parts of Savage and Burnsville. For me this is “ugly” research.  It’s necessary, but not that much fun. A comprehensive bike map has to be more than a collection of pretty rides. In some areas a good map can only strive to get cyclists through an ugly area as painlessly as possible. Burnsville and parts of Savage fall into that category.  They aren’t wastelands by any means. In fact, many neighborhoods and parks are quite nice. The challenge is getting around town by bike, and that often means wandering through a maze of twisting streets or hugging the curb on a feeder street while cars whiz by at 40 to 50 miles per hour. My goals were modest: Reduce the number of miles that cyclists have to ride on McColl Drive and Burnsville Parkway, two connectors with lots of traffic and not much in the way of alternate routes. A bike path through Neil Park cut out half a mile of riding on Burnsville Parkway and lead to Upton Ave. From there I went north and mapped out a couple of side streets that were straight and ran parallel to McColl Dr. The streets ran through pleasant suburban neighborhoods with few stop signs and low traffic.  I managed to eliminate another mile of McColl Dr. If you have revision 8.2 of the map, you will also find a decent alternate to McColl in Savage.  The part that will still be on the map is served by a bike path on the south side, but at the time I rode it, the path had remnant snow piles and plenty of sand and gravel.

Other research in the area: The Frontage road from the Bloomington/Ferry bike path to I-35w got better. Current versions of the Twin Cities Bike Map direct riders to a private gravel road that connects the Frontage Rd to Quentin Ave.  That is no longer necessary. The Frontage road now connects directly to Quentin and continues nearly to the interstate. It isn’t a destination route, but it does work as a reasonable east/west connector with low traffic. I’ve ridden this stretch a number of times over the years and find it enjoyable in a twisted sort of way. Maybe it’s just that being on a bike is fun, even when riding in marginal areas.

It’s spring and that means route research is back in full swing. I spent Sunday afternoon exploring West St. Paul and South St. Paul, two surprisingly good biking areas. The best scenic view is on the bluffs overlooking Downtown St. Paul from Prospect Blvd. Prospect is about equal distance south of downtown and west of the St. Paul Airport. To get there, cross the High Bridge (Smith Ave), then turn left at the top. It’s a little clunky making the turn, but you’ll find a curb cut in the middle of the median strip. Go east on Congress, then north on Bidwell to Prospect. With each major update to the map, I ask cover artist Mike Wohnoutka to illustrate a new iconic image of the Twin Cities for the cover. The view from Prospect Ave is my current favorite for the 2011 update.

From Prospect, there is a very pleasant, although somewhat complex, route along the bluffs to Kaposia Park. The route is hilly, but that has its advantages. The most interesting houses are often placed on hilltops and West St. Paul is no exception. You will see a number of large, very well maintained houses with colorful paint schemes. Some, such as the one with the cannons in front, are also a bit quirky.

If you have revision 8.2 of the map, you will see that the bike trail from Kaposia Park now connects to the So. St. Paul Regional Trail down by the Mississippi River (steep drop down the trail- and a long climb back up). The trail also goes west to Thompson Park and hooks up with Emerson Av, a new addition to the map.

Sunday’s ride will result in two new additions to the 2011 update. Caesar Chavez Rd/Concord St and Dodd Rd. Both have heavy traffic, but Caesar Chavez has bike lanes that run almost to the Kaposia Park Trail and Dodd has a wide shoulder. Both are escape routes that will take you quickly from near downtown to the Southwest and southeast. Dodd is especially fast, with very few stop signs and no stoplights. Chavez runs through an active Hispanic commercial area, then flows quickly to the Kaposia Park Trail and its connection to the South St. Paul Regional Trail.

Bikeverywhere has just released a minor update to the Twin Cities Bike Map. Map changes reflect new research and suggestions from map users. Some changes include the addition of the Aldine St bridge in St. Paul, a trail connecting Fish Lake Park to Elm Creek Park Reserve,  a corrected alignment of the LRT trail out of Hopkins and a number of changes in the inner suburbs north of Minneapolis.

This update is part of the ongoing research that keeps Bikeverywhere maps as current as possible. The irregular pattern to the minor updates reflects the realities of publishing. When I run out of maps, I reprint and incorporate any changes since the last update.  I don’t usually make a big deal of the change. The cover and ISBN numbers are the same. The only way to tell the difference is to look at the back cover. Just above the price you will see “Rev 8.2.”  The original version doesn’t have these words.

This is the first time I’ve labeled the revision numbers, and ironically, I did it wrong.  This is the 9th edition of the map so I should have labeled it Rev 9.2.  And those of you who care about this sort of thing at all will wonder “Why 9.2 instead of 9.1?”  The answer is that I did another minor update about a year ago, but didn’t label it. Check your map. If it has a break where the I-35W bridge collapsed, it is 9.0, the major update. Rev 9.1 reconnected the bridge. It also has other small updates, but it would require some deep sleuthing to discover those changes.

I spent a couple of hours revisiting the Diagonal Trail at New Brighton Blvd and I-35W on Sunday. The visit generated a series of changes and updates to the Twin Cities Bike Map. The most obvious change is the addition of a second leg to the trail at New Brighton Blvd and Stinson Blvd. The Stinson Blvd segment runs south to Hennepin Av. From there 18th Av is signed as a bike route south to Elm St. SE. This makes a good north-south connector in an area that has been underserved by bike trails. Use caution on the Stinson Blvd bike trail, however. It runs next to the road and intersects driveways and streets in an unsafe way. The problems are inherent with any two way bike trail placed next to a street.

Minneapolis has designated Talmadge St as a bike route between 18th and 27th. It’s a pleasant residential street and connects student housing to the greater campus area. It’s a good local connector, but it is short and doesn’t serve the larger area covered by the Twin Cities Bike Map very well, so I haven’t symbolized it as a bike route. While researching it, however, I discovered a very good alternate to the Industrial Blvd/Hennepin Av/29th Av SE route. See the attached map for the alternate. I’ve also added Ridgeway Pkwy between Industrial Blvd and Stinson Blvd. This has always been a very pleasant road, with a substantial hill in the middle, but it didn’t connect well to the rest of the routes until the Diagonal Trail was built.

Just north, on the overview side of the map, I added part of Long Lake Rd and 33rd Av and eliminated most of W. Co Rd C. The new routes, although not as direct, are more bike friendly.

This area still needs some work. One intriguing possibility is to run the Stinson Blvd bike route north to Silver Lake, then connect with 44th/Cty Rd E. If anyone has insights into this option, please let me know.

This is a note I received today from Brady Clark of Smart-Trips.org, a group dedicated to helping folks get around via non-automotive methods.

Hi Doug-
We were producing a neighborhood amenities map for our Smart Trips Neighborhoods program, and noticed that the Twin Cities Bike Map is missing the Aldine bike/ped bridge. Here’s an aerial shot of it:

http://bit.ly/F5cKz
Brady Clark
Communications &
Outreach Specialist
651.224.8555 x23
brady@smart-trips.org

I’ve connected it via Pierce and Carroll to Fry south of I-94 and added Aldine going north to Minnehaha Ave north of I-94.

Thanks to Brady and the folks of Smart-trips.

Maps are dynamic. Bike routes change, new trails get built and old ones extended. Some trails get shut down, temporarily, because of nearby construction or because the trail itself needs an overhaul. Well post the updates here, then provide a permanent, one-top page for all of the posts within each of the metro areas covered. If you want to see what’s chqnged since your copy of a map was printed, click the links below. If you have update information that we should know about, please email us by using the contact form here.

Madison Map Updates

Milwaukee Map Updates

Twin Cities Map Updates

The new Hwy 12 bypass directing traffic around the Long Lake business district is finished. The impact on cyclists should be minimal because most bike routes through the area avoided the busy main drag. Gear West, the venerable bike and ski store in Long Lake, will lose some exposure with the re-routed traffic, but cyclists wishing to visit the store by two wheels will be able to get to and from the store without risking their lives.

The Griggs St. bike/ped bridge over I-94 has been closed due to loss of concrete on the bottom of the bridge beams. DOT hasn't decided whether to repair, replace, or remove the bridge. Considering the current budget for infrastructure work within DOT, bicyclists should consider the closure permanent and hope to be surprised.

The bridge closure affects the north/south bike route along Griggs St. If you own a copy of the Twin Cities Bike Map, please mark the following changes on your map. The changes will appear on an updated version of the map.