Project Details
Description
The Flandrau Street Bicycle Boulevard Plan is complete. Thanks to community members who helped shape the recommendations of the plan. You can read the final plan here:
Flandrau Street Bicycle Boulevard Plan (2023)
Next steps
Now that the Plan is complete, staff must search for funding for construction of the recommendations in the Plan. This can take months or years, depending on availability of funds.
What is a bicycle boulevard?
Bicycle boulevards (also called neighborhood greenways or neighborways) are streets with low motorized traffic volumes and speeds, designed and designated to give people traveling by bike, foot, or other mobility assist devices such as scooters or wheelchairs travel priority. Bicycle Boulevards use pavement markings and traffic calming tools to create a safe and convenient route for people, especially at crossings of busy cross streets.
Location
The Plan covers the entire stretch of Flandrau Street from Larpenteur Ave to Wilson Ave. The bicycle boulevard is planned on Old Hudson Rd via Kennard St for one block.
Timeline
- Community engagement and planning process | Fall 2022 to February 2023
- Planning project completion and vision plan draft | Summer 2023
- Staff pursue funding for construction/implementation of recommendations in Plan | 2023 to future
Image Gallery
What is a Bike Boulevard?
Bike boulevards are found around St Paul today along low volume streets like Jefferson Avenue, Charles Avenue and Margaret Street. These corridors feature traffic calming measures to slow motor vehicles which drive along them and to discourage motor vehicle through traffic, crossing enhancements at major streets to allow for safer and more comfortable crossing for pedestrians and bicyclists and wayfinding to help non-motorized navigation. These corridors feature elements like:
- Mini traffic circles at minor intersections which force motor vehicles to slow down to maneuver around them.
- Sidewalk extensions or “bumpouts” at intersections which narrow the roadway to allow safer pedestrian crossings, improve sightlines for all users and slow motor vehicles.
- Signage reconfiguration at some two-way stop intersections to ensure smoother bicycle operations along bike boulevards.
- Traffic diverters at certain intersections which allow for pedestrians and bicyclists to move through but not motor vehicles to discourage motor vehicle through traffic.
- Improved crossings at major street intersections to ensure safe and convenient crossing for users of bike boulevards.
- Improved navigation signage to help boulevard users connect with other bicycle facilities and to navigate to key recreation destinations along or near the route.
Bicycle boulevards have become a popular tool to enhance bicycling networks in cities across the country, some of the facilities elsewhere feature additional treatments like:
- Speed humps/bumps force motor vehicles to slow down to maneuver over them. These can also be designed at intersections to allow for safer and more accessible pedestrian crossings by raising the surface of the entire intersection or crossing points.
- Chicanes are a series of raised or otherwise delineated curb extensions or parking bays on alternating sides of a street which when installed from an s-shaped street pattern. These provide visual cues and force motor vehicles to maneuver around them which in turn causes motor vehicles to slow down.
- Center median islands can be installed to facilitate pedestrian crossings of a street while also presenting visual cues to motor vehicles to slow down.
- Pinch points force motor vehicles to slow down in order to yield to other users of the street as the clear space is narrowed at a specific point.
