76th Street

So the scoop on the bike trail status after the last city meeting November 28th is – no bike trail. That is, there will be a bike path on 76th Street but not on 75th Street. Which means no bike trail at least connecting Minnetonka to the Mississippi River, which is what they are toteing this bike trail for. What they are doing on 75th Street is “saying” that there is a bike path without actually making one or making room for bike paths. The road way on 76th Street is 38′ wide with 12′ of the being designated as bike paths. The road on 75th Street is 26′ wide total with no space designated for bike paths. There is simply no room for bikes on this road with cars. Their stated reason – there isn’t enough traffic to justify a separate bike path – does not fly with their logic for deciding to narrow the road in the first place, which is as a traffic calming measure. If there is no traffic on that street why does it need to be calmed? Obviously it does need calming since it is being used by cars looking for a way to bypass congestion on 76th Street at Best Buy. So it does need a bike path.

It was interesting listening to some of the neighbors complaining about bikes even suggesting that they were toy of the rich and Richfield will never be THAT fancy. Again, biking is a very viable mode of transportation, and Minneapolis, the second biggest biking city in the nation is right next door. Richfield is biking distance to downtown and has a large business community that biking can access long 494, if Richfield is going to attract young professionals to live here, we need to make it attractive for them. It is a good community development decision.