St. Paul bike plan on track, despite worries about parking impacts

St. Paul's proposed bike plan appears to be an easy pedal away from adoption, save for one significant speed bump: on-street downtown parking.

On Friday, nearly all of about 30 citizens testifying before the city's Planning Commission said they supported the long-range plan, which aims to boost the number of bike commuters and recreational riders along with doubling the miles of bikeways in St. Paul — whether trails, bike lanes or shared street routes.

"With this bike plan, St. Paul not only has a chance to make up lost ground but to leapfrog our sister city," said Drew Johnson, a Highland Park resident who rides his bike to work most of the year.

The plan enjoys the backing of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and the Building Owners and Management Association, as well as several district councils. Mayor Chris Coleman has budgeted $8 million of his $42.5 million "8-80 Vitality Fund" to rebuild Jackson Street as the first leg of a downtown bike loop.

But as the plan rolls toward a Planning Commission vote and possible approval by the City Council in February, it's that downtown loop — a 1.7-mile off-street bike path that would circle the business district and link up with regional trails — that is raising some eyebrows.

That's because up to 150 on-street parking spaces could be taken to make room for the bike path, including 40 to 50 spots along Jackson alone.

For downtown residents and business owners worried that the Saints' new ballpark in Lowertown will make it harder to find nearby parking, the bike plan is prompting fresh concerns about their ability to draw customers and visitors.

The council's executive committee later tweaked the resolution to say that action on the bike plan should await the results of the city's ongoing downtown parking study, expected next spring.

"Almost everyone sees the value in having safe bicycle transportation," said Paul Bengtson, executive director of the CapitolRiver Council. "It's just really the cost of implementing that, and the whole question of how long it will take for bicycle traffic to make up for what people perceive the loss will be of vehicular traffic."

St. Paul has worked toward a citywide bike plan since 2011, finally releasing its draft proposal last winter.

The plan, which would add 214 miles of bikeways in the next few decades to the 144 miles the city has, includes two specific projects: the downtown bike loop and completion of the Grand Round, a 27-mile route for continuous biking around the city on bike lanes or off-street trails.

The estimated cost of the downtown loop has been set at $18 million. The draft plan had the loop running along Kellogg Boulevard and 10th and St. Peter streets as well as Jackson, but the latest proposal leaves open the possibility of shifting the loop to 4th, 11th or Wabasha streets. The city plans to spend $450,000 in 2015 to try out different configurations.

On the other hand, Tony Bol of the Wabasha Partners, a group of businesses located on the street, said that they want to see the bike loop go down Wabasha.

And Jim Ivey, a Lowertown resident and business owner, said he supported the plan. Biking could make downtown vibrant and lively, he said.

"We've had parking for decades. That didn't solve the problem. Maybe we have to try something else," he said at Monday's meeting.