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Hello Mr Wojcik,

I want to thank you for your recent support of Complete Streets and ensuring Rochester mainatins equitable access to walking and biking infrastructure.  I just wanted to share my note to my council member and two resources you may already know about, but could be helpful for future council discussion.

This is a list of over 30 cities and counties that have followed Rochesters lead by passingComplete Streets policies AND implementing them!  http://www.dot.state.mn.us/planning/completestreets/examples.html

This video was developed because communities were wondering how to replicate Rochesters policy.  How unfortunate that now we are not living up the reputation of being leaders.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZVDDwO1eho

Again thank you so much for championing active living efforts and for thinking whats best for the city in the long term.  We cannot just bend to the wills of business leaders whenever it impacts their pocketbooks, thats why we have elected officials like you to ensure equity.

Thank you for your time,

Kelly Corbin

Bruce Synder tweeted a fair question about using the West frontage road. I ran the routes using Google Maps. It looks like the difference is about 1.1 miles and 23 minutes. Also going this route adds 4 crossings of Freeway enterance or exit routes. It is much faster than the rote the Chamber suggests, but still quite out of the way. This would continue to not provide access to places like the school.

East Frontage Road: 0.9 miles 16 minutes

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West Frontage Road: 2.0 miles 39 minutes

View Larger Map

Sandra Means, staff, and I met with John Wade and area businesses to offer options to ensure public safety on the NW frontage road.  Staff suggested 5 options, all of which ensured a sidewalk would be constructed in this area already suffering from a lack of connectivity.  Sandra and I made it clear that neither of us will tolorate redlining this poorer area of town. Read the rest of this entry »

I was disappointed that the John Wade representing the Rochester Area Chamber came to Monday’s city council meeting to oppose safe streets.  I support safe streets and safe neighborhoods. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people know that I am a champion for pedestrians and bikes. There are many good reasons to support biking in general. There are the very real health benefits, there is the reduction in congestion and pollution, there is the economic empowerment of not having to rely on a car. What many don’t realize is that biking is also serious business for a community.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is how the new bridge over Valleyhigh drive will connect the Douglas Trail to the new trail allong Valleyhigh.

I happen to agree with the concern, but I wanted to share this as this is a great example of how to communicate with an elected official. After reading this I absolutely would understand everything about the concern.

Here is a great article from Streets MN on why the 4 to 3 road diet makes sense.  While this is controversial, it is clearly good policy for those willing to study the facts.  We recently did this on 19th Street NW, and will do it on part of 2nd street SW this year.  The city council voted 4-3 to override staff and not do it on 16th street which was at best a dumb decision.

Elton Hills Drive, 16th Street South, 4th St. SE, and 3rd Ave SE are perfect examples of places where we should do this if we can muster the political backbone.

For any 4-lane street under about 20,000 cars per day, cities should re-stripe the street to have one traffic lane in each direction, a center turn lane, and improved pedestrian and bicycling space. The costs of doing this are minimal, but the benefits for cities and the people who live in them are immense.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a great article with picture that explanis how the build environment affects walk-ability and desirability.

http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/steve-mouzon/18645/walk-appeal

Walk Appeal promises to be a major new tool for understanding and building walkable places, and it explains several things that were heretofore either contradictory or mysterious. It begins with the assertion that the quarter-mile radius (or 5-minute walk,) which has been held up for a century as the distance Americans will walk before driving, is actually a myth.

When people walk more, property values and economic activity go up while obesity and healthcare costs go down.

Construction will soon begin on the next addition to Rochester’s alternate transportation system.  The next bridge will cross Valleyhigh drive near the trail head for the Douglas Trail.  The Douglas Trail is the most used trail in the MN state system.  This bridge is the latest safety improvement connecting Rochester’s vast NW neighborhoods to downtown.

We had estimated that bridge and approaches would cost $2.51 million, but the actual cost came in$2.11 million.  The funding source for the project is the constitutional sales tax, Federal Enhancement funds, and Municipal State Aid Funds.  No city levy funds will be used for this project.

In an unrelated bike safety story.  Look for significant safety improvements to the trail crossing of 2nd Street SW at West Circle Drive.  If the sales tax passes, 2nd street will be rebuilt between Highway 52 and West Circle Drive.