On March 7 the Star Tribune published a good article by reporter Laurie Blake entitled “Movement grows to get us out of our cars.” Here are the opening paragraphs

With hundreds of miles of off-road trails, Minnesota is already a national leader in recreational biking and walking. But that is no longer enough.

Concerned about obesity and worried about higher gasoline prices and global warming, people are pushing for more day-to-day walking and biking options.

Community workshops on strategies for making it safer and more inviting to walk or bike are drawing some of the largest crowds in the country. A few developments friendly to walking and biking have been built in the past five years.

Now two new programs will aim millions of dollars at getting Twin Cities residents out of their cars.

Those two new programs are Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s grants for “active community” planning, which use $1.5 million dollars form the state’s tobacco settlement, and the federal Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, which provides $21.5 million dollars to the city of Minneapolis and adjoining communities to promote nonmotorized transportation.

Cities are working with counties on this subject, including Dakota, Hennepin, and Ramsey Counties. Duluth, Minnesota, is getting involved as well:

To the north, using a Blue Cross grant, the Arrowhead region is pushing the active living agenda. At the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission in Duluth, Andy Hubley said his agency will meet with cities and encourage elected officials to require sidewalks to be kept free of snow, insist that developers build sidewalks or trails in new developments and adopt plans and, ultimately, budgets for city networks of sidewalks and trails.

Minnesota is leading the country in miles of bike and walking trails, and all that trail development means that people like to bike and walk, Hubley said.

“But the thing that I have always been disappointed in is that their connectivity to neighborhoods isn’t very good. Now the next step is to get that integrated back into the neighborhoods so they don’t have to drive to go do it.”

Amen to that.

Here in Northfield, Minnesota, a group of us tried to get the city to apply for a Blue Cross/Blue Shield planning grant, but city staff balked at the time it would have required. Staff resources are stretched thin, we realize, but that was a lost opportunity to get some real expertise put into our planning. And so we advocates go on looking for other opportunities and funding.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2007 at 2:57 pm and is filed under Biking/Walking, Energy, Environment and Ecology, Health, Minnesota, Urban Design.