The heart of downtown Minneapolis is challenging to get to and through on bike. Marquette and 2nd Ave South can provide the answer that will attract many more people to bike into downtown.

The current situation

Most people (average of about 1,300 people biking a day) use Nicollet Mall as their north-south bike route in heart of downtown. But the Mall leaves much to be desired for biking.

We hear two very common complaints: 1) it's slow with slow-moving buses and poorly timed stoplights and 2) the buses make an uncomfortable place to ride, especially in rush hour. (We certainly also hear from some people who love riding Nicollet Mall.)

Nicollet Mall will be reconstructed in 2015-16 and while some effort is being made to make it a little easier to pass buses, it will be basically the same as today for biking (until streetcar tracks are added in the future).

This morning Minneapolis residents from every ward of the city delivered more than 3,000 signed postcards in support of building a network of 30 new miles of protected bikeways in the city by 2020.