Star Tribune Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:10:30 GMT
From freeway to greenway as workers dust off bikes
Rush hour hits the bike lanes as high gas prices push people to pedal to work. When Marian Hayes took an evening bicycle ride along the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis last year, she felt as if she had the trail to herself. Now the greenway is a freeway. Fast cyclists pass slower ones on the left. Commuters get on and off via exit ramps. Traffic moves along at 15 miles per hour. "You feel like you're in rush hour," said Hayes, who commutes 25 miles roundtrip from Mendota Heights to downtown Minneapolis. The latest bicycle boom has little to do with fitness and everything to do with $4 gas. People are hauling long-neglected bikes to repair shops and snapping up bicycle saddlebags. In Minneapolis, already home to the nation's second-highest number of bicycle commuters, the network of bicycle paths is getting crowded.
[[keywords: PublicWorks;Living;Metro;]]
No comments:
Post a Comment