The Met Council is now considering requests from local and state government agencies in the seven-county metropolitan area to update regional bicycle barriers and regional bicycle barrier crossing areas.
Change request process
This application process is for Twin Cities Metropolitan Region agencies that have responsibility for bicycle system planning and facility development within their jurisdictions.
This update process will consider the following changes:
- Adding a new regional bicycle barrier consistent with the definitions described below.
- Adding a planned bicycle facility improvement location that crosses a regional bicycle barrier and is not currently included within a prioritized regional bicycle barrier crossing area for the specific barrier type.
Applicants are encouraged to review regional barriers and tiered barrier crossing areas within their jurisdictions on the online interactive map to determine if there are any missing barriers or prioritized barrier crossing areas.
Regional Bicycle Barrier and Barrier Crossing Area Change Request Form
Changes accepted through this process will be added to the maps adopted for use in scoring applications for the 2026 Regional Solicitation and included in the Transportation Policy Plan.
The submission period to recommend additions to Regional Bicycle Barriers and planned bicycle facility improvement locations extends through June 30. Proposed additions submitted after 5 p.m. on June 30 will not be considered through this process.
Definitions
Successful applications to add a regional bicycle barrier or a planned bicycle facility improvement location (that crosses a regional bicycle barrier and is not currently included within a prioritized regional bicycle barrier crossing area for the specific barrier type) must be consistent with the following definitions:
Regional bicycle barriers are defined as follows:
- Freeways include the interstates and U.S., state or other highways that are completely grade-separated with no crossing highway intersections
- Expressways are highways that have at least four through lanes divided by a center median with posted speeds of 45 or more miles per hour.
- Secondary and third-order streams are the streams that flow directly into the Mississippi, Minnesota, and Saint Croix Rivers and their direct tributaries.
- Railroad corridors
Planned bicycle facility improvement locations are locations that are described or mapped in an adopted local bicycle or transportation plan, an adopted sub-area or corridor study, or a funded improvement project in a capital improvement plan.
Regional bicycle barrier crossing areas are shown in the online interactive map as tiered (prioritized) circles that vary in diameter according to the preferred spacing distances based on the Imagine 2050 community designation group shown in Table A. These areas define the specific barrier segments across which planned improvements are desired.
Table A
|
|
Imagine 2050 Community Designation
|
Preferred maximum distance between Regional Bike Barrier Crossings*
|
| Urban cities |
1/2 - mile |
| Urban Edge cities |
3/4 - mile |
|
Suburban communities
Suburban Edge communities
|
1 mile |
| Rural communities |
2 miles |
*From Regional Bicycle Transportation Network Guidelines and Measures Study (2020) as adapted for Imagine 2050 community designations.
About regional bicycle barrier and barrier crossing areas
Regional Bicycle Barriers are established in the Transportation Policy Plan as the region’s most significant physical barriers to daily bicycle travel. These barriers and their designated regional bicycle barrier crossing improvement areas were developed through the Regional Bicycle Barriers Study.
The 2019 Technical Addendum Update refined the original study dataset of regional bicycle barriers and barrier crossing improvement areas. These regionally prioritized elements are used as alternative criteria in the Regional Solicitation’s selection process for distributing federal transportation funds to bicycle facility projects.