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"We missed this one."
City planners are scratching their heads over how they didn't foresee the problems in making Bryant Avenue into a (more) bike-friendly street by slowing traffic and eliminating most parking ("Mpls. admits Bryant Avenue project a mess," April 24).
They could have looked at the disastrous results of a similar endeavor on Hennepin Avenue between Lake Street and 31st Street where a few herculean businesses hang on despite the lack of parking and a truly hideous streetscape that is not bike friendly, pedestrian friendly nor business friendly.
Still, city officials plan to proceed with a yet another similarly disastrous plan for the rest of Hennepin Avenue, stretching from Douglas Avenue on the north to Lake Street on the south.
Hennepin Avenue does need work — there is aging infrastructure to be replaced. But in light of these two failed makeovers, the current plan which constricts cars to two lanes, curtails parking in favor of bus lanes and adds buffered bike lanes should be written off as a well-intended sop to carbon reduction and scrapped.
Carbon reduction is not only a worthy goal, it's essential for the survival of the planet, and bikes are a great way to get around for some people in some weather. But electric vehicles are booming and other advances in carbon-free transportation are in the pipeline. Given the two failed makeovers we've already seen, it's obvious that we need to change the kind of cars we drive, not the roads we drive them on.
