Bike Lanes!

The bike lanes have been freshly painted on University Avenue where they exist, between Columbia Road and 42nd Avenue North.  Additionally, I was greeted with this wonderful sight on Tuesday on my way to a meeting at the CVB via 42nd Street North:
42nd Avenue bike lane 2013-07-30 13.08.03
Looking south on 42nd Avenue N.

The new striped bike lane starts at Gateway Drive (Route 2) and lasts until 6th Avenue N (on the east side) and aaaaaaalllmost University Avenue on the west side (this is a story for another day).  Slowly but surely, bicycles are gaining a little city-approved space on the roads in Grand Forks.

Livable Alleys

Here’s an idea fresh off the Streetsblog network from Vancouver, a place that I suppose gets more rain than snow, but still must have to deal with such weather occasionally.  It goes back to the idea of pocket parks, or creating what you can in the small spaces that get overlooked and trashed.

“Vancouver’s “country lanes” replace asphalt alleys with honeycomb cells filled with grass and two concrete strips, plus cobblestone drives, to reduce permeable pavement and create a pleasing aesthetic in its alleyways. Image: Spacing.ca” – Text and image pulled straight from Streetsblog.

Better alleys are just what Henry C1 is looking for in this Engage the Forks recommendation:

The alley is always in bad condition with bad pot holes because of such high use. Please close it off permanently before someone gets hurt by a driver or at least pave it due to high traffic.

In other news, had a brief chat with Jason Schaefer the other day about improving the downtown and near-downtown area by planning for more efficient land use where it counts: parking lots.  More on this later.

Systematics and Taxonomy Definitions

Winston (1999, p. 9) describes taxonomy as a “subdivision of systematics (the study of biological diversity] consisting of […] identi cation (referring a specimen to a previously classi ed and named group), classi fication (ordering organisms into groups based on perceived similarities or diff erences), and  nomenclature (naming groups of organisms according to rules developed for the process).”
 
Winston, J. E. (1999). Describing Species. Columbia Unversity Press.

Rain Garden at South Washington and 17th Ave South

Cool beans, hopefully this will be only a small part of an overall project to make South Washington look less blighted (source).

Grand Forks, ND –The City of Grand Forks and the North Dakota Department of Transportation are partnering on a storm water and right of way improvement project on the SW corner of South Washington Street and 17th Avenue South. 

The project will remove an old section of frontage road pavement and jersey barrier’s. In their place, a storm water Best Management Practices (BMP) filtration device (a.k.a rain garden) will be constructed in conjunction with landscaping. 

In addition, a kiosk will be constructed where the benefits of rain gardens will be described along with information on designing and building rain gardens.

Suggest Changes to the GGF Bikeway System – Online

If you have suggestions or ideas on how to improve the bikeway (trails, paths, lanes, routes, etc.) system in Grand Forks/East Grand Forks, you can make these suggestions online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ggfbikeway.  I have copied the form below so you can see the questions, but you need to go to the link to fill out the real one.

It appears that you can only fill in the form once on the same computer, but maybe clearing your cookies will allow you to make additional suggestions.  I believe you can also contact Kim Greendahl (Greenway Specialist for the city of Grand Forks) with your thoughts.

Kennedy Bridge Information Meetings

Entering Minnesota on the Kennedy Bridge
Meeting on Kennedy Bridge set for July 17
From the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization: Plans are now set for the first round of Kennedy Bridge public information meetings. The meetings will be from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 17, at two locations:
   
     Grand Forks City Hall (Council Chambers)
     255 N 4th Street, Grand Forks, ND
     East Grand Forks Campbell Library (Tech Room)
     422 4th Street NW, East Grand Forks, MN
This is a change from prior information, which proposed July 16.  The format will be open house style with display boards and project staff to answer questions. There will also be two short presentations during the evening: one at 5:30 and again at 6:30 p.m. —  
Earl T. Haugen, Executive Director, GF-EGF MPO, 701.746.2660

via Jan Orvik

North End Bike Multi-Use Path Closed

So much for riding your bicycle to the fair:

Bicycle Trail Closure Notice: The bicycle trail behind Gateway Drive will be closed from North Columbia Road to South Washington Street June 24 – 30. This closure is to accommodate events being held at the Grand Forks County Fair.

Bicycle and pedestrian traffic will be rerouted to the sidewalks on either side of Gateway Drive.

 Furthermore, why are we routing bicycle traffic onto the sidewalks?