With the addition of the new bike lanes on Portland and Park avenues in south Minneapolis, the city has effectively clogged arguably the busiest local thoroughfare heading into and out of downtown.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the concept of "going green." It is imperative to put time and money toward research for renewable energy, recycling and reducing our collective carbon footprint.

However, I'm not so sure that the addition of this bike lane is all that effective in reducing pollution. According to "The Atlantic Cities" website, about 3 percent of Minneapolis residents ride their bikes to work. While this number is very high compared to other major cities, it's far too low to warrant such a project.

These bike lanes reduce the morning and afternoon "rush" to a crawl on a thoroughfare that was badly congested even prior to the lane reduction. It even affects the environmentally-conscious public transportation riders as they slowly creep along on their hybrid buses.

I'm all for cleaning up the environment, but the city should be a little more selective when it comes to making decisions that will negatively affect the vast majority of its residents.

MICHAEL ANDERSON, MINNEAPOLIS