More details are emerging (see map below on Hennepin County's plans for restriping Portland and Park avenues in Minneapolis to reduce space from cars and increase it for bikes.
The proposal would shift the paired one-way streets from three lanes to two lanes for drivers for about two-thirds of the length of each street between Washington Avenue and E. 46th St. The exceptions would be near Lake Street and in downtown.
The county also proposes a reduction of the speed limit from 35 to 30 miles per hour. Turn lanes would be aded at key intersections.
Where would that extra space go? The county is proposing to add a buffer zone for bikes where the road is two lanes wide. It's not clear from the county's design whether that zone would separate the bike lane from parked cars or from traffic lanes or both.
There are other changes planned for bikers. The county is proposing a partial shift of the location of bike lanes. For inbound Park, the through bike lane would switch from the left side to the right side of the street for the entire segment, except for an area of less than two blocks where there would be lanes on both sides so that bikers could better access the Midtown Greenway. For outbound Portland, the bike lane would remain on the left side until the 3500 block, where it would switch to the right side after a one-block stretch of lanes on both sides.
The county is proposing the changes now because it plans to remove and resurface the upper layer of paving on the two streets 15 years after last doing so. It delayed that project to consider the lane changes.
The public meeting to view the county's plans is scheduled for Thursday from 6:30-9 p.m. at The Center for Changing Lives, 2400 Park Av.
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