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Residents of a Minnesota community are driving less and walking, biking and busing more — thanks to St. Paul Smart Trips’ efforts to promote sustainable transportation alternatives.

Since its inception in 2008, the Smart Trips program has used direct, individualized marketing techniques to help more than 3,000 households in three St. Paul communities make smarter trips. According to the follow-up survey of the most recent program in Highlands Park, residents…

• Increased biking by three percent
• Increased walking by five percent
• Reduced drive-alone trips by three percent

... all during a six-month period. Even more impressive: More than 80 percent of survey respondents reported taking new walking, biking or transit trips as a result of the program!

Smart Trips achieves these impressive results through direct mailings, bike deliveries of Smart Trip Kits and free events that engage households and get them the information they need to explore sustainable transportation options. “We’ve found that the more engaged neighborhood stakeholders are in the development and implementation of the program, the more successful it is,” says Program Director Emma Pachuta. “Each of our past programs has included a coupon book for neighborhood businesses and has engaged local experts to lead rides, walks and classes. These local connections have helped to foster an excitement and commitment to our program.”

Smart Trips also tailors each new program to suit the unique transportation needs of the target community. Highland Park has a high percentage of senior citizens, so Smart Trips held focus groups on the best ways to engage older residents.“Our results concluded that having events that included all members of the community, regardless of age, income, ethnicity, was the best way to engage residents in any neighborhood,” say Emma. “For example, a group ride would be advertised as a “no drop ride” where no one is left behind, regardless of pace.”

St. Paul Smart Trips envisions a future where sustainable transportation is a safe and easy choice for all St. Paul residents. They hope to bring the Smart Trips Program to every neighborhood. “For our future programs, we have discussed how lack of good bike/walk infrastructure, higher rates of crime, and language barriers may impact participation,” say Emma. “Thus far, the selected neighborhoods have been fairly similar to each other without the need to address those barriers.” So, right now, the advocates are looking at ways to adapt the model to serve the diverse needs and characteristics found across St. Paul neighborhoods.

For more information, contact Emma Pachuta at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or visit the Alliance Resource Library to access Smart Trips final reports and maps.

When I was in Minneapolis for the Safe Routes to School National Conference this summer, I took the opportunity to pedal the area’s extensive trail system. Minneapolis boasts a Gold Level Bicycle Friendly City ranking from the League of American Bicyclists and one of the crown jewels of its bike facilities is the Midtown Greenway, a 5.7-mile rail trail used by commuters and recreationalists alike.

Thanks to the Midtown Greenway Coalition and the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition all users will feel a whole lot safer at a previously dangerous intersection at 28th Street.

That particular stretch of the multi-use path got a big boost in ridership in 2007 with the opening of the Martin Olav Sabo Bridge, a 2,200-foot, cable suspension, bike-ped bridge that carries the Greenway over busy Hiawatha Avenue. But more folks traversing the bridge meant far more cyclists and pedestrians crossing 28th Street, just west of the bridge. And conditions at-grade put those users at risk.

“The City of Minneapolis put in a crosswalk and a light that flashes if a button is pushed — which many bicyclists, unfortunately, do not push,” Soren Jensen, executive director of the Midtown Greenway Coalition, explains. “There were two lanes in both directions, but the outside lanes were striped and cars were not supposed to be in them. The problem was that many cars illegally went down the striped lane, anyway, causing a double threat to bicyclists. Often, one car would stop for the cyclists in the crosswalk, blocking the sight line of the car illegally using the striped lane. That’s how several bikers got hit by cars over the past few years.”

So the Coalition started meeting with officials in the city’s public works department to improve the safety at that crossing. Progress was slow but two major developments helped to tip the scales. The first was getting a larger constituency involved in the campaign. “In particular, the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition took an active interest in making the crossing safer,” Jensen says. ”Together, we represent a large constituency of cyclists and Midtown Greenway users.” Together, they also garnered some political punch, winning the support of Minneapolis City Council Member Gary Schiff.

Then, there was another tragedy.

“Unfortunately, another thing that probably tipped the process was yet another bicyclist getting hit a few months ago,” Jensen says. “I met with public works and let them know that the Coalition had fixing that crossing at the very top of our list — and that we would not sit by quietly and let another cyclist get hurt. I think they finally got the message, and moved to install the medians/islands.”

The medians funnel cars into a single lane, which serves to both slow traffic and eliminate the “double threat” to bicyclists. “They asked us whether they islands should be all concrete or have dirt for plantings,” Jensen adds. “We said plantings, and they said we would then have to be responsible for the landscaping and plantings. We think the plantings will increase safety, as cars will slow down even more when they see a garden in the medians.” So the advocates partnered with Mother Earth Gardens for temporary greenery, in anticipation of rooting some native plants next spring.

The 28th Street crossing isn’t the group’s only recent victory. Click here to read about the success of its Greenway Challenge and the installation of new amenities at the Cepro site.

To kick off National Bike Month with some serious national buzz, the League of American Bicyclists announced the latest round of Bicycle Friendly Community designations yesterday.

According to the League: “The BFC program recognizes communities that promote bicycling and provides technical assistance in the form of a roadmap to help cities build great communities for bicycling. The League has identified projects, policies, programs and plans that most effectively improve cycling conditions and make up the foundation of a bicycle-friendly community.” The lure of bronze, silver, gold or platinum designation has helped and inspired hundreds of municipalities to improve conditions for bicyclists. In fact, since the program’s inception, the League has received 452 applications and designated 179 BFCs in 44 states.

In the latest round announced yesterday, Minneapolis took gold, while Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C., earned silver. A number of new cities were added to the list with bronze status, too, including Kansas City, MO; Harrisonburg, VA; and Juneau, AK to name a few. While BFC designations give government leaders well-earned recognition, these awards aren’t confined to City Hall. In many (if not most) communities, bicycle advocates play a pivotal role, pressing policymakers to pursue BFC status and providing the public backing to execute the projects and programs that get them there. As we noted in our 2010 Benchmarking Report: “Strong advocacy organizations are often necessary to local jurisdictions with hopes of passing and implementing progressive policies for biking and walking. Government and elected officials passionate about these issues often promote or work with emerging advocates, recognizing the need for increased citizen involvement in policy discourse.”

So kudos to visionary leaders like Mayor R.T. Rybak in Minneapolis, Mayor Thomas Menino in Boston and Janette Sadik-Khan, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation. But congratulations to advocacy organizations, like the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota, Boston Cyclists Union, LivableStreets Alliance (Boston), MassBike, Transportation Alternatives (NYC) and so many more for working with their government representatives to boost biking and walking in their communities, too.

Read all about the BFC program and latest winners on the League’s blog.

On January 25, BikeMN attended a key US DOT listening session on Surface Transportation Reauthorization with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Congressman Jim Oberstar in Minneapolis. Dorian Grilley, Executive Director of the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota (BikeMN), made a statement on the organization’s behalf about inconsistent spending of 402-safety money on bike/ped issues and the importance of establishing performance measures for bike/ped safety similar to those measures for motorized modes of transportation.

Taking this opportunity to highlight their issues, the MN Complete Streets steering committee also met with Barbara McCann, Executive Director of the National Complete Streets Coalition for breakfast, and the organization co-sponsored a forum for the candidates for governor, bringing 11 candidates and plenty of bike/ped advocates.

For more information on BikeMN, please visit:
http://www.bikemn.org/index.cfm