Bikers Increase 81 Percent on Protected Bike Lane in Minneapolis

"Minneapolis recorded a slight increase in bike use [in 2014], but officials saw a dramatic surge of usage on the city’s first protected bike lanes," reports Steve Brandt.

A bike count from September "found bike traffic up sharply on the Plymouth Avenue Bridge after where the city installed bike lanes separated by plastic tubes from traffic lanes."

"Bike traffic on the bridge is up 81 percent since the city installed the protected lanes during a bridge repair project in 2013. During five years when the bridge offered only shoulders or sidewalks for bikes, the city recorded an average of 350 bikes a day in its annual count. Bike traffic jumped to 720 estimated bikers in its Sept. 11, 2014, count."

Brandt provides more data from the bike count, made timely by the city's funded, but not approved, plans to spend  $790,000 to build an additional 30 miles of protected bike lanes in 2015.