Let Your Biking Needs Be Known

Transportation accounts for approximately 26% of Duluth’s greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce those emissions, we need to prioritize street design and modes of transportation that put people first like biking.

Duluth has an active bicycling community year-round, but without safe places to ride or places to park, taking part in the cycling community is difficult. We need a new transportation system that puts people first over cars.

One option is to begin an Open Streets Pilot. Open Street events, in which streets are temporarily closed to automobile traffic so that people may use that space for other activities (walking, jogging, bicycling, dancing and just about anything else), invite a community’s residents to experience their streets as enjoyable public spaces. Open Streets events in Duluth can foster increased community conviviality, support local businesses, increase participation in active transportation, and lead to implementation actions that result in improved community health and well-being.

Duluth could also invest in more buffered bike lanes to take advantage of our natural landscape and provide safe biking options. As a key connector in the city, bikeways could also be a potential ecosystem for birds, flora, and pollinators. Green buffers may integrate bioswales, bioretention curb extensions, and permeable pavement. Green buffers would not only increase safety for bikers, but also help to capture and store stormwater.

Contact your city leaders to ask them to support street design that supports biking. Add to the letter below the particular places in town that you would like to see improved biking conditions.

Also, contact local businesses you frequent to let them know you value being able to bike to their business and how bicycle parking and bike-friendly access is important to you and the climate.