To: Mahtomedi City Council, Scott Neilson, Bruce Thielen, Jay Kennedy, Jay Karlovich

To: Mahtomedi City Council, Scott Neilson, Bruce Thielen, Jay Kennedy, Jay Karlovich

From: Steve Wolgamot

Re: Advisory Bike Lanes/ Safe Routes to School

Date: May 2, 2016

The professional design consultants who prepared the Safe Routes to School Study for ISD 832, Alta Design Group and Community Design Associates, (jointly sponsored by MNDOT), recommended consideration of “advisory lanes” on Warner Avenue near O.H. Anderson school. At that location, children routinely have to walk on the street, there being no sidewalk. There are no shoulders, the road width is narrow and many children are at risk every day. I have reviewed available literature on advisory lanes and I’m writing to suggest studying their use on Hall/Birchwood which has similar issues. Hall/Birchwood was not studied by the Safe Routes program since it is not close to O.H. Anderson. I anticipate presenting this same information to the Birchwood City Council, which has already begun a discussion of needed improvements on Hall Avenue east of Jay Street.

ADVISORY LANES CONCEPT. Advisory lanes are defined by dashed lines painted about 5’ from each side of a narrow road. The centerline is eliminated. Cars travel in the center, which is not quite wide enough for two cars to pass. When cars meet, they are permitted to cross the dashed lines to pass each other, but must yield to pedestrians or cyclists in the advisory lanes. The concept is extensively used in the Netherlands and is in use in Minneapolis and other cities.

INSTALLATION. Advisory bike/pedestrian lanes require only paint, signs and education. Given the largely resident use of the roads at both locations, education is a workable task. No changes to pavement or intersections are required. Due to low cost, no required additional right of way and no rebuilding of structural parts of the roads, this is an ideal circumstance for inter-city cooperation. If the concept appears workable, private donations could be sought for some of the cost.

ATTRIBUTES OF ADVISORY LANES. Perhaps the most significant positive aspect of eliminating a center line and establishing the advisory lanes is a reduction in vehicle speeds – not just at a single point, but along the entire route. This is well documented by research. By defining areas in which pedestrians and cyclists have the right of way, outside where a vehicle should be traveling except when meeting another, they provide for safety of those not in cars.

INCONVENIENCE. Three kinds of traffic exist on Hall/Birchwood – residential traffic; lake circulating traffic; and shortcut traffic seeking to save time going through, rather than around Birchwood on major streets. Per GoogleMaps analysis, the time to pass through Birchwood at the speed limit is essentially no different than the time to go around on 244/120. Therefore, it is likely that the excessive speed displayed on this road comes primarily from that third group, the short cutters. All traffic would be minimally inconvenienced by the need to slow and pass each other, primarily only when pedestrians or bikes are present (precisely when we want them to slow down). Advisory lanes would encourage through traffic to use the roads designed for high-volume, that is, 120 and 244, and would thus improve the situation on the small roads in Birchwood.

TRAFFIC VOLUME: A design study by Denver and other sources suggest that the traffic volume on both these streets is in the precise range for which advisory lanes are most appropriate.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: A list of additional information, sources and observations is attached. I have observed the operation of the Minneapolis location, which was smooth and untroubled.

My request is a simple one. I would like to see serious consideration of this possibility now, and not as some component of a future plan involving the next ten years. Children, including two of my grandchildren, are at risk today. I believe that this technique, designed especially for narrow roadways where greater width is unavailable is uniquely suited to these locations.

Thank you for your consideration.

Steven Wolgamot, Mahtomedi

Attached: Additional Authorities and Information

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND AUTHORITIES

1. Exhibit 1. Minneapolis diagram of advisory lane installation. Also online at

Note that this diagram shows parking on both sides of the street, a complicating factor not present at Hall/Birchwood.

1. Priority. An informal written survey at the recent Rite of Spring invited citizens to prioritize alist of 28 potential area improvements (plus 11 more proposed by participants), many relating to safety. The more than 32 people who participated rated safety improvements on this route as their highest priority. Results may have been affected by the recent pedestrian hit and run accident on Hall Avenue. Survey will be ongoing. Results from Steven Wolgamot.
2. Geography at Hall/Birchwood. Between Jay Street and 244, roughly 600’ is in Birchwood and 1,500 feet in Mahtomedi. Especially in the Mahtomedi section, there is no room for a sidewalk or path due to wetlands. Lane width is 11-1/2’ with total pavement width of about 26’. Pedestrian and bike traffic going between Birchwood and Mahtomedi, or around the lake, can be very substantial, especially on weekends.
3. Speed: Speed limit in Birchwood is 25mph; 30 mph in Mahtomedi. Several studies have demonstrated a significant drop in speed, up to 7 miles per hour, simply from eliminating center striping. Any drop in speed is significant when it is realized that five of six pedestrians die when hit by a vehicle going 40 mph, while the vast majority survive a 20 mph crash. The British study

highlights the following benefits for centerline removal: a. Reduced crash incidence; b. Speed reduction over entire route; c. More width for cycle lanes; d. Less striping cost; e. Creates an environment more accommodating to non-motorized traffic. Advisory lanes create no added plowing expense.

1. The Denver design plan for non-motorized travel on roads can be found at
2. Public Inconvenience. See Exhibit 2, Google Map routes showing no real time saving from cutting through Birchwood.Google Maps shows 3 minutes from 244/Birchwood to 120/Hall via either those roads of 244/120.
3. Appropriate Traffic Volume: Advisory lanes are extensively used in northern Europe on narrow roadways. A draft design specification prepared for Denver lists six recommended methods for accommodating both cyclists/pedestrians and automobiles. Traffic on Hall/Birchwood falls squarely into the recommended range. Similarly, BikeWalkTwinCities.org notes that advisory lanes are recommended for traffic volumes between 1,000 and 6,000 AADT.
4. Traffic volume on Hall/Birchwood was counted on April 27, 2016 by Steven Wolgamot, between 4:55 PM and 5:55 PM showed 63 cars westbound and 61 cars eastbound. Assuming a peak hour ratio of 10% and allowing for east/west variation, this suggests an AADT of about 2,400.
5. INTER-CITY COOPERATION. Too often, things in our area simply don’t get done because, so it is claimed, the cities just can’t cooperate. The changes to accomplish this are inexpensive, the costs easily allocated to individual cities, and the needs common to the cities involved. Both cities share responsibility to children and pedestrians. In this case, cooperation ought not be an issue.
6. UNKNOWN/RESISTANCE TO CHANGE. These were, of course, exactly the arguments made with regard to roundabouts, which have saved lives, reduced injury and cut back on pollution. Fortunately, we have a sample installation here in Minneapolis to view.
7. OTHER METHODS. Other methods of accommodating cyclists and pedestrians with automobiles have been tried, and in some cases, found wanting. For example, Baltimore experimented with “sharrows”, bicycle and arrow pictographs asking that drivers share the road. These should not be confused with advisory lanes, an entirely different concept.
8. APPLICATIONS. The Elliott Park advisory lane application in Minneapolis was part of a larger bicycle grant. Simon Blenski, the Minneapolis Planner responsible for the installation, reports that it is operating as planned. AADT’s in the six blocks covered by the installation range from 1,500 to 4,000. An application in Hanover, New Hampshire, more closely resembles the situation on Hall Birchwood. Intersections could be confusing for advisory lanes. Fortunately, there are none in the stretch of Hall/Birchwood that would be appropriate for this treatment.
9. EXPERIMENTAL. Such applications are viewed as “experimental” by the federal highway people, but are common in northern Europe, both in towns and the country. Mr. Blenski has offered to provide information on the application process.

Article on Advisory/Suggestion Lanes regarding Hanover, New Hampshire

1. Photo of Minneapolis application
2. Individuals who have supplied information:

Simon Blenski, Planner, City of Minneapolis,

Hilary Reeves, Transit for Liveable Communities MN,

Emily Ransom, , relating to other, less successful techniques