Monday, August 22, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm

WALK: Creative Enterprise Zone Mural Tour
The CEZ is a City of Saint Paul recognized district and nonprofit organization dedicated to attracting and supporting creative people and businesses to #MakeItHere! The CEZ uses public art as a means to contribute to the long-term beauty, economic vitality, safety and walkability of the CEZ. Join us to see how large outdoor murals are helping to transform a gritty industrial area of Saint Paul and get inspired to bring more public art into your walkability work!
• Route Map
• Length: 1-2 miles

 

Ayd Mill is a corridor with a surprising history. A ravine connecting I-35E and I-94, the easement was initially acquired by Railroad companies to build a commuter rail line, and subsequently acquired by the City of St. Paul for “Highway Purposes”. The vision since the 1960s was originally for a highway connection, complete with interchanges, relieving congestion and supporting the newly constructed interstates. Over multiple decades, years of advocacy, public and City and Mayoral discussion, the vision changed to what has now been constructed in 2020, a 3-lane roadway, with an off-street pedestrian and bicycle trail. Join us to learn how the conversations changed the vision from a freeway to linear park and future extension of the Midtown Greenway, one of the Twin Cities proudest trail networks. The bike tour will include the renowned trail network along the Mississippi River, a stop at the historic Franklin Avenue bridge, and bicycle lanes on Summit Ave or the Country's longest avenue of Victorian homes.
• Route Map
• Length: 12.4 miles
• Know Before You Go: Tour information PDF, https://www.stpaul.gov/projects/public-works/pw2020aydmillrd and https://streets.mn/2020/03/27/the-case-for-the-current-ayd-mill-road-proposal/

BIKE: Exploring the Midtown Greenway’s Connections & History
Join us for a tour of Minneapolis’ renowned Midtown Greenway, the West River Parkway trail and additional facilities that connect to these popular cycling corridors. Highlights include the history of the Midtown Greenway and the Martin Olav Sabo Bridge, the historic Milwaukee Avenue greenway and its connection to the Hiawatha LRT Trail, the 1st Avenue South separated bikeway, and all the connection points along this loop. Hosted by representatives from DezignLine, Cyclehoop, Midtown Greenway Coalition, and Matthew Dyrdahl, Transportation Planner with Alta Planning and formerly Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator for the City of Minneapolis.
• Route Map
• Length: 11.4 miles

BIKE: Reorienting to Suburban Complete Streets
**not utilizing Lyft/NiceRide bikes
Richfield is a community of neighbors who love their city for its affordability, small town feel, and solid infrastructure. This biking tour will guide participants across multiple street reconstruction and reconfiguration projects that include separated bikeways, highway barrier crossings, restriping retrofits, regional trails and new economic development. The tour will demonstrate how a suburban community can build on its “good bones” to create a place where it’s easy to get from A to B via walking, biking and transit.
• Route Map
• Length: 9.5 miles
• Know before you go: Tour participants will utilize two rapid transit modes to get to Richfield: the Green Line LRT and the newly opened (in 2022) Orange Line BRT.

Monday, August 22, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

WALK: METRO Green Line Light Rail Station Tour
Celebrating opening day in 2014, METRO Green Line Light Rail is a major 11-mile backbone of transit transportation in the Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area. The line connects downtowns as well as the University of Minnesota, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, carrying 13.8 million people. Descended from age-old streetcar lines, the Green Line modernized the corridor and exceeded ridership numbers from opening day. From walking and bicycling connections, funding, construction, additional in-fill stations, displacement, to ADA-compliance, ask all your technical questions to the experts, both the Director of Capital Programs for the Metropolitan Council, and the agency partner, the Director of MnDOT’s ADA Office. Both experts will be riding with us from the Graduate Hotel in Minneapolis to Snelling Avenue (with connections to the Minnesota Wild soccer stadium, and C-Line BRT) and Hamline Avenue stations in St. Paul.
• Route Map
• Length: 4.2 miles (0.5 miles of total walking)
• Know before you go: Group will be boarding the METRO Green Line Light Rail train at 2:16pm, just outside of the Graduate Hotel at the East Bank Station. The tour will include discussion and question and answers on the train with Robin Caufman, a Metro Transit employee, about the work surrounding green infrastructure and construction through the University of Minnesota. The group will disembark at Snelling Avenue Station at 2:29pm, home of the Minnesota Wild professional soccer team, and home to Minneapolis third major Bus Rapid Transit route, the C-Line. The group will walk along the Green Line alignment two blocks to Hamline Station to discuss features of the Light Rail and walking and bicycling connections. The group will board the train at approximately 4:12pm or 4:24pm at Hamline Station to return to the Graduate Hotel by 4:37pm. See MnDOT’s ADA 31st Anniversary Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpHx2FthveM

WALK: Collaborative Change: Seward Neighborhood and the Milwaukee Avenue Historic District
Collaborative change can take a long time to bear fruit—but once it does, it transforms a neighborhood! Join us for a walking tour of the vibrant Seward neighborhood, which includes the car-free Milwaukee Avenue historic district! We'll talk about recent infrastructure improvements, the importance of collaboration in street design, and the role of community activism in preserving historic assets, motivating change, and shaping the public realm
• Route Map
• Length: 3.2 miles

BIKE: Northeast Minneapolis President's Tour
We hope you know your U.S. presidents in order, we know that the kids in Pillsbury Elementary's Pedal Power program do. Journey through Northeast Minneapolis and ride on some of the high comfort bike facilities that students do to learn their presidents and how to ride a bike. Presidential transitions can be tough, but transitions between neighborhoods and bike facility types don't have to be. Explore creative signals, crossings, and connections to make a complete all ages and abilities bike network work.
• Route Map
• Length: 8.6 miles

BIKE: University of Minnesota: platinum bicycle friendly university
Join us for a ride through the University of Minnesota’s platinum level bicycle friendly university. Hear from university planning and engineering staff about how the university’s bikeway network and support facilities have been planned and built. Participants will see two pedestrian and bike only bridges, two rapid transit corridors and a wide selection of bikeway best practices and innovative design.
• Route Map
• Length: 7 miles

Tuesday, August 23, 2:15 pm – 5:15 pm

WALK: Through the Project Team's Lens: St. Paul's Capital City Bikeway
Take a walk along the Capital City Bikeway with the urban designers, planners and engineers that collaborated to design this network of pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets to and through Downtown Saint Paul. This walk will highlight a variety of separated bikeway treatments, protected intersections with bicycle signals, stormwater best management practices, urban design elements, redevelopment sites and points of interest along the way. The history of the Capital City Bikeway project shared on the LRT ride to St. Paul.
• Route Map
• Length: 1.6 miles

  

WALK: Minneapolis Skyways; the good, the bad and the ugly
Minneapolis is home to the largest continuous skyway system in the world. It connects eighty city blocks and stretches over nine miles. Originally conceived of to decrease the number of pedestrians on city streets to better facilitate the flow of traffic they have largely achieved their goal. Love or hate them the skyways are here to stay. Learn about how this unique pedestrian network has had a major influence on the street life and the development of Downtown Minneapolis. 
• Skyway Network Map with points of interest
• Length: 3.5 miles
• Know before you go: Tour participants will utilize the Green Line LRT to get to Downtown Minneapolis. The meeting location is the ground floor of the IDS build (Crystal Court). Tour leaders will guide participants to meeting location. View more information about the Skyway.

BIKE: Northside Protected Bikeways in Context
Join us to pedal around North Minneapolis for a tour that will not only take you deep into the technical aspects of bikeway design, but will also illuminate the rich historical, cultural, and political context behind building bikeways in this area with a deeply rooted history of strategic disinvestment and racial segregation. We will check out several types of protected bikeways, learn about future plans to better connect this area with Northeast Minneapolis, and hear about other local efforts to improve environmental sustainability, access to fresh food, and more.
• Route Map
• Length: 11.4 miles

BIKE: Shut Up and Play the Hits - Midtown greenway, Sabo Bridge, Nicollet Mall, Loring Greenway
Adoring fans of Minneapolis have spoken, and we’ve listened: this is the best of Minneapolis biking! Riders will tour the biggest hits of Minneapolis: the standard-setting Midtown Greenway, chart-topper Sabo Bridge, cult favorite Loring Parkway, downtown staple Nicollet Mall, and more! Join Deputy Director Bryan Dodds and BAC Chair Elissa Schufman on a tour to enjoy these time-tested hits and fan favorites.
• Route Map
• Length: 11.8 mile

Wednesday, August 24, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm

WALK: Making Connections; Downtown Minneapolis multimodal corridors
This walking tour will lead participants throughout Downtown Minneapolis along Washington Ave, Hennepin Ave. and 4th St to observe some of the city’s newest roadway and streetscape designs. Participants will also see one of the city’s oldest pedestrian only corridors, the Loring Greenway and Nicollet Mall, a transit and pedestrian corridor reconstructed in 2017. The tour will be led by project team members who will provide insights about design best practices, request to experiment designs tested and lessons learned and built upon during subsequent projects.
• Route Map
• Length: 3.3 miles
• Know before you go: Tour participants will utilize the Green Line LRT to get to Downtown Minneapolis.

BIKE: Reclaiming Space in Downtown Minneapolis
As downtowns evolve and change over time, the transportation system must as well. The area in and around downtown Minneapolis has reclaimed railroad and highway bridges, traffic and parking lanes, utility easements, and railines to piece together a high comfort bicycle network for travel that has become a destination in and of itself. This tour will feature new sidewalk level separated bike lanes, the Stone Arch Bridge, Nicollet Mall, the Dinkytown Greenway, and more.
• Route Map
• Length: 9.8 miles

BIKE: Beyond Rail-to-Trail: The Southside Greenway
You’ve heard of the Midtown Greenway—but what about the Southside Greenway? One of several local community-driven efforts to create more greenways in Minneapolis, the Southside Greenway builds on the success of the Midtown Greenway and pushes local leaders to move beyond the ‘rail-to-trail’ greenway model by incorporating greenway design into local streets. Hosted by Matthew Hendricks, a long-time local advocate for safer streets and the Southside Greenway, and Elissa Schufman, Chair of the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee. Join us for an enjoyable ride where we talk about successes, challenges, and what’s next for the proposed Southside Greenway!
• Route Map
• Length: 9 miles