transportation

Six biking and walking projects will receive more than $4 million in grants from Bike Walk Twin Cities, a federally-funded program to increase biking and walking and decrease driving in the metro area. 

One of the projects is the Minneapolis Bike Share Program, which received a $1.75 million grant, will be run by Nice Ride Minnesota, a nonprofit organization. The program will place 1000 bikes at 75 security kiosks throughout Minneapolis.

Bike Share riders will have the option of purchasing a season pass for about $50, and may check out a bike at any time and return it to a self-service kiosk of their choice. The first 30 minutes are free and additional time is available for a small fee. In addition, day passes are available. In Minneapolis, the program will run from April through November. The Bike Share Program is expected to be operational by summer 2010.

Community radio activists in Madison have put together a program about the PNC2RNC Grassroutes Caravan ride this August! The ride began in mid-August at the People's Networking Convention and wound its way through the hills of SW Wisconsin and SE Minnesota before arriving in St. Paul two days before the beginning of the Republican National Convention.

Between September 11 and September 27, at least four bicyclists were killed on Twin Cities streets. On Saturday, riders are invited to take part in a memorial ride visiting the sites of these recent crashes, leaving from Saint Paul in the morning and traveling to Uptown and Downtown Minneapolis, followed by an afternoon ride to Blaine. The stepped-up assault of car culture on cyclists is not limited to the Twin Cities; activists in the Midwest are also mourning the apparent loss of a participant in August's PNC2RNC bike ride after a car struck her bike.

Memorial Ride to Honor Fallen Bicyclists: meet 10:30am Saturday at Summit and Snelling in St. Paul
Route | Ghost Bike MPLS | TC Streets For People

On Wednesday night the caravan participated in a performance hosted by the SE Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers at the Oak Center General Store/Earthen Path Organic Farm south of Lake City, MN. On Thursday and Friday they'll be River Falls, WI, before entering St. Paul on Saturday. The ride will culminate at Indian Mounds Park in advance of a New Moon Ritual beginning at 6pm.

Previous Updates at TC-IMC | More details at pnc2rnc.org | More photos | Video of performances

Interview with rider Gabi (en español) | Clint | Thistle | Acadia re: street medics
(interviews conducted by Steve Mikesell for WORT 89.9 FM community radio in Madison WI)

8/24 (from Winona, MN)

The Grassroutes Caravan left La Crosse, WI, after a well-attended event at Bluffland Bloom and Brew in La Crosse's historic downtown. Also in La Crosse, riders worked with Habitat for Humanity, at a community garden, and painting a bus headed for the RNC. Saturday, they spent the night at Great River Bluffs State Park en route to the Really Really Free Market in Winona, MN on Sunday, to be followed by a stop in Minnesota City on Monday and an event in Oak Center near Lake City on Wednesday.

Interview with rider Gabi (en español) | Clint | (NEW) Thistle
(interviews conducted by Steve Mikesell for WORT 89.9 FM community radio in Madison WI)

More details at pnc2rnc.org | More photos | Video of performances