Richfield is hailed for bullish bike plans

A model of the postwar, auto-centric suburb, Richfield is now emerging as a leader in the Twin Cities biking community.

The city's "Sweet Streets" program, a long-term plan for remaking transportation patterns, won praise at the Winter Cycling Congress, an international gathering of bicyclists held in Minneapolis this month.

"Folks were impressed with how progressively Richfield is approaching street design," local cycling advocate Lindsey Wallace wrote in her blog, Biking in Mpls.

"They're not just putting in some bike lanes here and there — they're building a livable city where people can get where they need to go by whatever mode they choose."

Boosting bike, bus and pedestrian travel long has been a goal of Richfield city leaders. If you don't think they're serious, just take a look at 66th Street, the city's main east-west thoroughfare. Three miles long, running from the airport to Southdale, 66th Street is often called Richfield's unofficial Main Street.

The city is tearing it up and completely rebuilding it. Why? A major reason is to add bike lanes.

When you think of how people complain about even minor road construction projects, and then realize that Richfield is launching a three-year rebuild of its most visible and popular artery — well, that's some real commitment.

"Richfield is sort of becoming an epicenter of biking," Gepner said, noting that the city was the first suburb in Minnesota to be named a bike-friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists.

He can't explain exactly how biking got such a boost in Richfield, but suspects it might have something to do with the fact that two of the metro area's most prominent bike shops — Penn Cycle and Erik's — got their start there.

Richfield's bike master plan begins with a common-sense proposition: Figure out where people most want to go, mainly schools, public facilities and business areas, and make sure they can get there on a bike.

The city then identified bike trails, on-street bike lanes and recreational routes that would allow people to reach those places.

Bike lanes already have been installed along Portland and Bloomington avenues, as well as the 75th/76th street corridor. The bike lanes along Lyndale Avenue under the Crosstown Commons, completed in 2008, comprised the first on-street bike connection between Minneapolis and a first-ring suburb.

"Richfield has one of the best suburban bike plans in the country," said Nick Mason, chairman of the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee. "They've got what it takes. They've got the political will to do that; they've got good people in their public works."