I had my data inspection appointment at Bloomington Civic Plaza this morning. During the appointment, Commander Vic Poyer of the Bloomington PD stopped in to talk to me.

He started off asking me about the data inspection (not illegal, but not entirely appropriate):



I said that it was not a "beef", but that I was troubled by my stop and was looking to see if there was a trend. I then asked him if he had received my complaint email, as I had never received a response. He indicated that he had, and began to share his thoughts on vehicular cycling:



I then got into explaining the specifics of where I was stopped -- for riding in the through lane rather than the auxiliary lane. Commander Poyer gave the impression that he had not discussed the incident with the officer who stopped me, but he did offer possible other reasons for the stop. At first he asked if I had lights, which I did. Then he offered me the other apparently-likely reason:



So good news! Maybe Bloomington PD doesn't have a problem with riding lawfully in a travel lane. They may just blatantly profile you.

The quotes from the officer above make me very, very sad.

Anything to avoid saying, "You know, you're right and it was probably a mistake. We're not perfect and these are the types of things we use to continue to improve. Sorry for the inconvenience and frustration."

I know I'm late to the party, but eesh - this is lame.

And, I use to commute through that intersection almost daily. However, after a few months of this route - I became too impatient to wait for all of the traffic on Lyndale near 494 (depending how far east/west you're going - there are much faster 494 crossings).

Anyway, routing aside - I've never gotten trouble there. I DID however get trouble from a car on southbound Lyndale between 84th and 86th. I turned from the cub foods onto lyndale and was all the way over to the right (not typically how I ride on busy streets, I just wasn't thinking). Traffic density was sparse. A car DID come by at about 30mph. He did not get over into the left lane. And, his driver's side mirror hit me.

In short, it's my belief that the accident was caused by me being too far over to the right.

Where do you commute to/from?

Yikes! If you ever get pulled over for this, be sure to share that.



I live in Richfield and work downtown, but I usually work out at the Life Time Fitness and 98th St and Bloomington Freeway. That gym is, regardless of how you slice it, a stressful place to get to. You have to ride through the interchange on 98th St, then get over to the left turn lane, right by the southbound 35W exit. That particular left turn light never detects me on bike, so I have to negotiate with the 3 lanes + turn lane coming from 98th and W Old Shakopee. You could do a dutch left, but even then, you're waiting to do that next to aggressive traffic leaving the freeway. The ONLY way around this is to go down Logan Ave to 102nd and then back up on W Bloomington Fwy frontage road. But even then, you have to ride to Logan from Penn or James, turning left either on or off 98th.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. But good vehicular cycling experience -- as long as the cops don't catch you

Where do you bike to/from?

Is he saying that the Bloomington Police Depart,ent doesn't ticket automobile drivers for running red lights? WHat about the number of DWI's issued in Bloomington or the number of car accidents or speeding tickets? They don't give these tickets or could the qoute be

+1

Yea, I was prepared to bullet back a good alternative route, but yea - coming from the direction in which you are ... there isn't any good alternative that isn't trading one bad for another (as well as tacking on more mileage). I would do the same exact thing you do! That right there is one of my least favorite parts of Bloomington.

I live in South Minneapolis near the VA Medical Center and work in Shakopee near Canterbury Park. So, we probably cross paths! Lately, I've been cutting through edina much more than I have been bloomington. Other certain stretches of East Bush Lake, it's a pretty nice route.

That is a hike! I would think Old Shakopee would be a helpful (if not overly bike friendly) diagonal.

Are there any really quality designated bikeways in Bloomington? I am wildly underwhelmed by the 86th St "bikeway" -- the lane is so narrow that, next to old school sewer grates, there's about 6" of actual rideable asphalt. I think I actually liked it better before, with four relatively narrow travel lanes -- quite easy to just take the whole curb lane. Basically an assertive bicyclist has gone from an 11' lane to a 4-5' lane.

I had a sinking feeling when they almost immediately chipsealed the new bike lane on 86th and didn't clean up for months afterwards. That went from one of my favorite parts of my ride to one of the worst practically overnight. I never had so many close calls in years of riding that road as I did in the first couple of weeks after the change.

See the "why bike lanes so often suck" thread in the infrastructure forum...

Problem is, I don't know of anything that's better. Old Shakopee is just a bit more traffic than I'm comfortable with, and the crappy pavement doesn't help.

Hah. I know at least two others in this forum that make the same hike, but from Further away! (Specq being one) It's not so bad in the summer/fall. Once winter rolls around, the commute just takes me about 20 minutes longer (and the changing of clothes just takes twice as long!).

Anyway, Old Shakopee isn't too bad (as it's definitely the fastest route). However, if you consider getting spat on, yelled at, cut off, and just hated on in about everyway possible - then yes, Old Shakopee is Overly Bike Friendly



And, actually - yea, I've found a couple happy medium alternatives:

12th Ave to 84th St via Smith Park to 86th St via Bryant Park
This route is great in the summer. If the light is too long at 12th And American Blvd, I usually just head west on American, then cut south on chicago, then cut through smith park.

12th Ave to 84th st to Nicollet to 86th St
Similar to the above route, except more compatible with winter. The only times that this route is dumb is on icy days like early last week (days like those - Old Shakopee IS SUPER BIKE FRIENDLY). When it is too icy, I usually just take 86th st (as sucky as it is).

Anyway, all of the above still utilize 86th St, but they minimize it. Speaking of which, I did run into a number of anxious drivers just west of nicollet and 86th today. ARGH.



Specq - I haven't seen you in a few months nor have I seen tracks on the bloomington ferry (the ones I have seen are QBP workers, I'm pretty sure). Have you been cutting through burnsville/savage? Also, thanks for showing me a few of your route alternatives earlier this year. Now that hyland park is off limits, I've been using the nesbitt to 110th to oregon ave detour a bunch!

I had my second data inspection today, where I was able to see a little bit more detail about the citations of pedestrians and cyclists between 2010 and 2012. The cycling citations were pretty uninteresting... most were cited for "traffic laws apply", which is enormously vague, but they seem to be for failure to obey a traffic signal or traffic control device.

The pedestrian citations were more interesting, however. Many were for 169.21, subd 3(c):



But only one citation was apparently legitimate, though not entirely fair (the SPUI at Hwy 5/494 and Lyndale, where there is no way to cross east-west, and no adjacent crosswalks for 2.5 blocks). The others, however, were at locations where it would be impossible to commit this infraction: the 9700 block of Nicollet and the intersection of Aldrich Ave and W 82nd St.

There were also a number of citations for failure to obey a traffic signal -- which was probably entirely true, but they were mostly at horrifically confusing, intimidating intersections, like 24th Ave S and E American.

Oh? And the highlight of the whole pile of papers? "Failure to use right half of crosswalk." Pedestrians are in fact required to use the right half of the crosswalk when practicable, but it reeks of being pulled over for an air freshener.

I'll post the documents when I get home if ya'll want to take a look yourselves.