Star Tribune
St. Paul bike plan wants to add 119 miles, separated bikeways
The first major overhaul of St. Paul’s bike plan since 2015 envisions 119 miles of new bikeways throughout the capital city.
The proposal calls for more separated bikeways, like the raised one planned for Summit Avenue that sparked months of fierce debate last year.
Without a dedicated funding source, additions to the existing 218-mile network would likely take place over decades. The plan would serve as the new blueprint for city planners when opportunities to build new bikeways arise.
St. Paul’s Planning Commission is accepting feedback on the proposed bike plan, with a public hearing scheduled for Friday morning. Here’s what you need to know to get caught up to speed.
What is a bike plan?
If passed by the City Council, the 97-page bike plan will be an addendum to St. Paul’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan, the city’s roadmap for development for the next two decades.
“It might not affect you right now,” said Jimmy Shoemaker, a planner for St. Paul’s Public Works Department who is leading the bike plan update. “But 10 years from now, when there’s a project on your street, where we start is the bike plan.”
Bikeways are often built or improved when streets are reconstructed to minimize costs and disturbances, Shoemaker said, though standalone projects happen too.
He emphasized that the bike plan is a starting point. Once a project gets funding, it goes through the city’s regular design and community engagement processes.
What’s new in this proposal?
The city’s original bike plan, adopted in 2015, prioritized additions to the St. Paul Grand Round, the downtown Capital City Bikeway and the Highland Bridge development. Since then, St. Paul has added 65 miles of bikeways.
The new plan aims to substantially expand the city’s network of separated bikeways — those with physical barriers between cars and bikers. Shoemaker said national best practices have changed to favor separated bikeways over painted on-street bike lanes. This allows for narrower streets, which reduces driving speeds, he said.
“City staff routinely hear from members of the community that people want to ride, but they feel unsafe and uncomfortable riding in on-street bike lanes.” Shoemaker said. “We want to make biking a comfortable option for all ages and abilities. We want to attract new bikers.”
The plan identifies priority areas, including the segments of the Grand Round and the Capital City Bikeway that have not been completed and streets that are going to be reconstructed with money raised by St. Paul’s new 1% sales tax.
What is the city trying to achieve?
Boosting bike ridership is key to the city’s longer-term goals. Thirty percent of St. Paul emissions came from the transportation sector, according to the city’s 2019 Climate Action and Resilience Plan. St. Paul’s 2040 Plan set a goal to reduce vehicle miles traveled by 40% to combat climate change.
The plan also says forecasted population growth will lead to higher density in the city, which in turn will increase traffic and reduce parking. “We’re trying to give people more options,” said Shoemaker, adding that a full build-out of the proposed network would give people a bikeway within a quarter mile of every destination in the city.
What are people saying about it?
Many bike advocates, such as Matt Privatsky, have praised city staff for proposing ambitious upgrades. Even though the plan will take years to realize, Privatsky noted that the plan instructs the city to consider smaller-scale improvements to bikeways in the meantime.
“It’s just a really big step to put this forward — because then you have what you need to go fight for the funding and fight for the political buy-in,” Privatsky said.
“Every single municipal, county, regional, state plan in Minnesota has incredibly ambitious goals for reducing the amount of dependence we have on single-occupancy vehicles,” he added. “This is one of the very few times where a plan is meeting that level of ambition.”
Neighbors who opposed the Summit Avenue regional trail approved by the council last year are rallying to raise concerns about the bike plan, many of which echo the arguments they previously made.
Opponents of the trail said the elevated trail will reduce green space and lead to the loss of mature trees. They expressed concerns about a loss of parking. Some have warned that poorly designed separated bikeways can be more dangerous than on-street lanes.
Critics have also questioned whether there’s an interest in biking to justify the costs of building out bike infrastructure, particularly given the cold and snowy Minnesota winter months. While it may be cost effective to add a bike lane during a street reconstruction, it’s not cost neutral — the 5-mile Summit Avenue trail will add an estimated $12 million to the $100 million street project.
What are the next steps?
The Planning Commission will host a public hearing Friday at 8:30 a.m. in Room 40 in the basement of City Hall. Members of the public also have until Monday afternoon to submit comments by mail or by emailing bikes@stpaul.gov.
The city may revise the plan based on feedback before submitting a final version for consideration by the Planning Commission’s Transportation Committee and the full Planning Commission. If passed by those entities, the bike plan, will be taken up by the City Council, which will hold another public hearing on the proposal before taking a final vote.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
Minnesota may get snow Thursday. Here’s how much more the Halloween Blizzard Of 1991 dropped.
Suspect “led us to the evidence” in Montana camper’s brutal killing, initially thought to have been bear attack
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
Minnesota may get snow Thursday. Here’s how much more the Halloween Blizzard Of 1991 dropped.
Suspect “led us to the evidence” in Montana camper’s brutal killing, initially thought to have been bear attack