Will Wlizlo appreciates good biking infrastructure. He has lived without a car for more than a decade, and biking is his primary form of transportation for commuting to work, visiting family and friends, and running errands.
Wlizlo said he logs thousands of miles annually on his bicycle.
"I depend on the Hennepin County trail network," said Wlizlo, who is the Safe Routes to Schools coordinator for the Richfield Public School District. "I want to see it thrive and grow."
This week, Wlizlo will help the Hennepin County Transportation Department collect the data it needs to improve trails and identify places where future bike lanes or trails may be needed. For three days this week, volunteers will fan out across 36 sites countywide to count the number of bicyclists, walkers and scooter users. Wlizlo will be at Glenwood Avenue and Turners Crossroad in Golden Valley on Thursday to record his observations.
"We try to get a variety of locations to find out where there is high activity to identify gaps on the system," said spokeswoman Emily Kettell.
This is the fifth year the county has conducted the manual counts. Data will be gathered from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, the busiest hours for bicyclists. Previous years show that 20% of those biking and 18% of those walking were out in the late afternoons, Kettell said.
It's not an exact representation, Kettell said. But data will be extrapolated to show what a typical day might look like and "give us at a glance how people are using roadways," she said.
The data might also show how people use roads even in places where there isn't a bike lane, she added.
