Interstate highways are for motor vehicles, not for bicyclists. Yet on consecutive mornings last week the State Patrol had to shoo person-powered two-wheelers off the freeway.
On Monday, a 14-year-old girl was riding in rush-hour traffic on the shoulder of eastbound Interstate-94 in the area of Cretin Avenue in St. Paul. She told the trooper who caught up to her just after 8 a.m. that she was following the route that Google Maps told her to take to get home. The trooper escorted her off the freeway, and she used city streets to complete her trip, said Lt. Tiffani Nielson of the State Patrol.
On Tuesday, a man was spotted riding a bicycle on the freeway in the east metro around 5:35 a.m. He took the ramp from southbound I-694 to eastbound I-94 and rode into Woodbury before a trooper caught up to him. The man, believed to be somewhere in his 20s, got a stern lecture, then hopped the freeway fence and rode off.
It's against the law to ride a bike on the freeway. It's also atypical, Nielson said. But it does happen when bicyclists get lost, confused or there is some other kind of misunderstanding.
"We do have bicyclists take shortcuts or inadvertently get lost," she said.
Freeways are not designed for bicycles, what with vehicles whizzing by at 60 miles per hour, or faster. There also are few places to safely cross the road, which is another reason they are prohibited.
In most cases, cyclists caught on the freeways are given warnings to stay off them. But the trooper can ticket an offender for failing to obey regulatory signs. The fine can run from $125 to $145, depending on the county.
Nice Ride going for daily record
If you've ever wanted to try out one of those shiny green Nice Ride Minnesota bicycles, use Saturday to cross that off the bucket list.
