Open House Scheduled for Draft MPO Bicycle Plan

An Open House to review and make comments on the first ever Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Bicycle Plan will be Monday June 22, 2009 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Washington High School Commons Area. The MPO plan provides recommendations for bicycle facilities and methods to improve safety and the bicyclist experience throughout the metro area including rural bicycle routes and bicycle trail connections.

Cities and counties included in this plan include Brandon, Crooks, Hartford, Harrisburg, Sioux Falls, Tea, Lincoln County and Minnehaha County.

URGENCY

Sioux Falls is very fortunate to have a bike trail that surrounds the whole city. It is a trail that gets lots of use by local cyclists as well as cyclists in the surrounding communities. With a facility as large as this and with it's proximity to the river there will always be projects that will close portions of the trail for extended periods of time. This coming summer and into 2010 there will be a portion of the bike trail closed. With any closure there are going to compromises that will put cyclists on different routes. The city is trying their hardest to reroute trail users safely and easily. They have set up a few pages on their website for you to access as needed (see links to right). A big concern is how the trail will be rebuilt. When the trail is rebuilt it will not be on top of the levee. Instead it will be lower which will cause some safety issues with water runoff in the spring and winter months. This is a hazard to cyclists that use this route year round. Sam in the city planning department has been doing an awesome job of keeping people informed. Now he is asking for some help from the people that use the trial. He wants feedback from the users of the trail. Sam wants to compile list of comments to present to city hall. The bike trail is an incredible feature of Sioux Falls and this is your chance to to give some feedback. Please take a few minutes and click through the links to the right and then contact Sam with some feedback. It is a very URGENT matter. Thank you.

Bike Trail Closure Status Map Bike Trail Closure Fact Sheet Current Flood Control Project Club Fab Forum on Topic Contact Sam

On-Street Bicycle Facilities Pilot Project

As part of the implementation of the Sioux Falls Bicycle Plan, the City of Sioux Falls has initiated a pilot project to determine the effectiveness of three different types of on-street bicycle facilities. These facilities are: Shared Parking and Bicycle Lanes, Sharrow and Bicycle Lanes. Learn more here.

Bike Trail Construction

The Bike Trail will be closing from I-229 to 49^th Street (across from Sertoma Park) beginning this Monday May 7^th for the work to begin to raise the Big Sioux River levy. The contractor will focus their work from I-229 to the old railroad bridge first. Hopefully, this will allow a detour route to be set up within the next 6 weeks. However, for at least the next 5 to 6 weeks the bicycle trail will be closed in this area with no safe detour. Please pass the word on.