Bikeways for Everyone partner group the Sierra Club North Star Chapter holds an annual bike tour every year highlighting the best and worst of bike infrastructure and development in the Twin Cities metro. This year the tour focused on Minneapolis -- shown in this 2-min. video -- with special emphasis on protected bikeways.

The 21-mile tour across Minneapolis showcased both successes and opportunities. Riders experienced the new Dinkytown Greenway and Bluff Street Trail under the 35W bridge, which connect the U of M to downtown, and protected bikeways along 6th St. SE and on the Plymouth Ave. bridge over the river. They also heard about future projects, like the protected bikeways on the Franklin Ave. bridge and on Washington Ave. downtown, and the potential North Minneapolis Greenway, which would provide a safe, comfortable north-south through-way for cyclists and pedestrians alike.

People got to see where investing in bike (and transit) infrastructure is already transforming neighborhoods. Take the Cornerstone Group's development and vision for creating a bikeable, walkable, livable community surrounding the Green Line LRT station in Prospect Park. It's no accident Surly Brewing chose to locate their "destination brewery" near the LRT station and the U of M Bus-Bike Transitway, an area otherwise recognized by its crumbling silos. And look at new developments cropping up downtown as more people live and work a close walk, bike or transit ride away, such as the new Whole Foods on Hennepin Ave. and Latitude 45 development which will be along the future Washington Ave. protected bikeway.

Across Minneapolis there is much to celebrate, and lots of future potential.