Tag: Trails

Carless in Duluth

Posted on by Rondi Watson

It’s no secret that we Americans are in love with our cars.

They demonstrate our status and standing in society.

The way we’ve invested in roads and highways and the way we’ve developed our cities pretty much mandates that you need to own a car to be able to access jobs, food, education and recreation.

Driving a car has become the default mode of travel for almost all people for every trip of any distance.

And here in Duluth, perched on a steep hill with prominent winters, it makes sense that people want to drive.

So why would a person choose not to?

Video documentary and panel discussion

Carless in Duluth, a video documentary about people who walk, bike, or take the bus instead of driving, will premiere on:

Tuesday, March 20, 2012
6:00 pm
Teatro Zuccone
222 East Superior Street, downtown Duluth

Following the video, there will be a panel discussion with engineers, planners, and other experts in the area.  Afterward, an informational tabling session will be held in the atrium where food and drinks will also be available.

Area bike and ped projects, and lots of them

The event, hosted by the Healthy Duluth Area Coalition, follows a series of public meetings that were hosted throughout Duluth about one month ago.  At each meeting, residents were given the opportunity to learn about ongoing and upcoming bicycle and pedestrian projects happening all over the city, including the Cross-City Trail, the Duluth Citywide Sidewalk Study, and the Duluth Traverse Mountain Bike Trail, and gave their feedback about their interest in these projects as well as other potential ideas. Over 50 residents participated in these meetings.

The Carless in Duluth premiere and transportation forum on March 20th will conclude this series of public outreach events. Organizations including the Duluth Transit Authority, the Metropolitan Interstate Council, City of Duluth Engineering, and the Bike Cave Collective have already confirmed their participation in this event, with pending confirmation from the Northern Lights Express, COGGS, and the UMD Cycling Club.

Check it out – it’s free and open to the public.

How to Get From Here to There: Access and Connectivity in the Lincoln Park Neighborhood

Posted on by James Gittemeier, BPAC Vice-Chair

Transformative changes are taking place in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

View from the new Western Middle School
Looking down from the new Western Middle School site to the new Clyde Iron recreational facility (lower left)

A major redevelopment of the old Clyde Iron industrial complex was just completed. A new Western middle school is rising on the hillside. A segment of the Cross-City trail will be winding through this neighborhood in the next few years as it spans the city from east to west along the waterfront.

Here at the MIC, we see these exciting new community-oriented developments and start to think about…access, connectivity and land use.

We’re kind of geeky that way.  Let me explain.

Access is about making sure that people, who have different mobility options and who need or want to use these facilities, can get to them easily and safely.

Connectivity is about making sure that usable and intuitive transportation links exist between the new developments and other destinations.  At the base of this this neighborhood, popular destinations would include Wade Stadium, Wheeler Field and Harrison Park.  And along the top of the ridgeline are Skyline Parkway and the Superior Hiking Trail.

Complicating the situation, the land uses for these facilities are distinctly at odds with each other.

The middle school is located on the edge of a traditional residential neighborhood that is easy to walk through, with square blocks, houses close together and minimal, slow moving traffic. It can actually be characterized as a semi-rural area, with few sidewalks and narrow streets, many of which dead end into large open spaces.

The Clyde Iron complex, in contrast, which also houses a Boys and Girls Club, indoor athletic fields, year-round ice rink, and in the future a nearby Duluth Children’s Museum—is located in an established industrial area, where a significant level of pedestrian traffic was not anticipated.

Last but not least is the huge barrier of the railroad tracks that run between the school and the Wheeler Field park space and the Denfeld neighborhood immediately west of the school.

So, a number of our current studies are taking a look at how people move around this neighborhood in light of the new developments.  Creating a walking corridor between these facilities is a key transportation piece for this neighborhood.

The Lincoln Park Pedestrian Corridor Plan is focused on creating a walking route up and down the hill from the middle school to the Clyde Iron complex.

An upcoming Safe Routes to School site assessment will further examine the school and walking and bicycling routes to the middle school to the surrounding neighborhoods.

And a larger neighborhood wide transportation study, the Lincoln Park Multimodal Transportation Assessment will build off of the other 2 studies and focus on all modes of travel in the neighborhood.

Lots of work is ahead.  We’ll keep you posted.

Photo credit: Scott Byykkonen

Co-writing credit: Rondi Watson

What Makes an Award-Winning Bike Map?

Posted on by Rondi Watson

Congratulations to our GIS Specialist Kody Thurnau. His redesign of our popular Duluth-Superior Metropolitan Bike Map took not one but two awards from juries of his peers at the 2011 Esri International User Conference in San Diego, CA.

The map was awarded first prize in the category Best Cartographic Design Single Map Product – Large Format Press Copy.  Judged by 38 Esri staff members for general and specific cartographic quality, entries in this category had to be a single map product larger than 11 in. x 17 in. but not exceeding 48 in., printed professionally on a printing press.

The map was also one of three overall winners of the Cartography Special Interest Group (Carto SIG) Map Awards, out of 1,200 conference Map Gallery entries.

Judging criteria included ‛efficiency in communication of intended message’ and ‛maximization of the user’s cognitive experience.’  More specifically, the judges appreciated:

  • Its compact size
  • Its design, layout and the way it’s strategically folded
  • Its scale and legibility
  • Its topographical info
  • Its easily identified green space destinations
  • Its urban area destinations, including local bike shops
  • Its information about different riding surfaces
  • Its information about designated bike routes

In other words, it’s perfectly designed to for people who want to bike in, around or between Duluth and Superior, whether you’re a recreational rider or an urban commuter.

Your guide to biking Duluth and Superior

You can pick up own copy of the Duluth-Superior Metropolitan Bike Map at local bike shops, tourist information outlets or email us at dsmic01@gmail.com and we’ll mail you a copy.

Next up: online interactive version

Right now we have a pdf version of the map available for you to download on our website.  Never fear, Kody is hard at work converting the print version into an interactive map you’ll be able to access and use online.

Roads, Trails, or Both?

Posted on by James Gittemeier, BPAC Vice-Chair

Priorities for Duluth’s Transportation System

As discussed in our previous blog, approximately $45 million in federal funds are being programmed for Duluth area transportation projects for 2012-2015.

The draft Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) spells out costs and timeframes for a total of 36 high-priority projects over four years and is now open for public comment.

Balancing the needs of all users

It seems we easily divide ourselves into those who drive versus those who ride the bus versus those who bike and so forth….an “us versus them” scenario.

Well, in reality the transportation system—and the public spaces they are a part of—are used by people in a much more complex way. You might drive to your job or to shop, but there will always be some amount of walking involved, from car to final destination and back again. You might use the sidewalks for walking from place to place, but also for stopping to talk to your neighbor in a common space. You might ride your bike down the big hill but put it on a DTA bus for the trip back up.

Looking through this lens, from the perspective of the users of the transportation system, you can see how this TIP has a major focus on how to really connect people in the safest and most efficient way possible. 

Continuing to fix the highways

Preservation work on the two major bridges is needed to refurbish the Blatnik (I-535) in 2012 and the Bong (US Highway 2) in 2014. These TIP projects not only have the highest price tags and but also will receive the most attention—yes, just when the I-35 reconstruction “megaproject” is finished, there will be several more years of high-profile road construction projects, on the bridges this time!

Improvements for those who walk, bike, or take the bus

While the highway projects are devoted solely to cars and trucks, funding is also included to provide a safe alternative to driving.  A paved pedestrian and bicycle pathway, running parallel to I-35, will connect the whole city from west  to east. The Munger Trail will eventually extend all the way to the Lakewalk by constructing short segments of a new Cross-City Trail each year. The popular Duluth Lakewalk will in turn be extended from 60th Avenue East to Highway 61, and then out to Brighton Beach up the north shore.

Funding for the Duluth Transit Authority will purchase new buses and provide operating support for both its regular route and STRIDE bus service.

And thanks to recent Complete Streets efforts in Duluth, local street projects will take into account how the roads are being used by people every day and will be designed accordingly.

The projects funded in the draft 2012-2015 Duluth area TIP balance the need to move vehicles efficiently with the needs of all people who use these public spaces, including those who utilize public transportation, those who traverse the roads by bicycle and those who are on foot.

Which makes sense to us – what do you think?

Now Accepting Comments on…What?

Posted on by Rondi Watson

From now until Friday, June 24, the MIC is accepting public comment on the draft Duluth 2012-2015 TIP.  No, this TIP is not a hot piece of insider advice.  It’s a bureaucratic document, and admittedly it can be quite dry.  But it’s much more important than it sounds, and we think it will be of interest to you as something that impacts your day-to-day life.  Want to get a road repaved?  A trail built? A new traffic signal on a route you take everyday?  There’s a good chance that project has to make it through the TIP process first.

Transportation Improvement Program

TIP stands for “Transportation Improvement Program” and it’s an annual document that lists what local transportation projects will be receiving federal funding in the coming years.

The current TIP (2012-2015) for the Duluth area contains a total of 36 projects planned to receive approximately $45 million in federal funds.

In actuality, $45 million is just a portion of what’s being spent on transportation improvements in the region, with federal funds typically accounting for less than 25% of what’s spent on road improvements in Duluth in any given year.  And yet this federal money can have a very catalyzing effect.

80% Federal Funding = Incentive for Innovative Local Projects

It’s often this federal TIP money that incentivizes more comprehensive, and often more innovative projects.  That’s because local governments are only required to match those funds 20 cents to the dollar. Or another way to say it: the federal government funds 80% of the project.  This can make an improvement like the upcoming Cross City Trail (an exciting new link between the Munger Trail and the Lakewalk) a more feasible project for the City of Duluth to pursue. 

The other projects in this year’s TIP are aimed at preserving existing roads and bridges, as well as strengthening connections among alternative modes of transportation.

Virtual Public Meeting – Seeking Your Questions and Comments

You can take a look at the list of Duluth area projects for 2012-2015 and consider using Open MIC like a ‘virtual’ public meeting by leaving us any questions or comments you might have about the projects.

Public comment period runs until Friday, June 24, 2011.