New lanes, five months too late

Harry Hull stood feet away from the intersection where his daughter was killed five months ago.

He spoke Tuesday to a crowd of the 20 or so gathered at the intersection of 15th Avenue and Fourth Street Southeast, choking up as he recalled his daughter’s death in April and discussed the new bike lanes meant to improve safety near the University of Minnesota campus.

“It’s tempting to look back and say we wish these improvements had been made six months ago and then she would still be with us,” he said. “But I want to praise the mayor and city council for installing these improvements to increase the visibility of bicyclists on this very, very busy corner.”

One of those new, neon green lanes extends through the intersection where 25-year-old Audrey Hull was struck by a semi truck April 21.

 Designed to highlight areas where accidents between drivers and bicyclists are common, the enhanced lanes are the city of Minneapolis’ newest measure to ensure bicyclist safety on the busiest bikeway in the state.

The two block stretch of 15th Avenue between Fourth Street and University Avenue Southeast that leads to the gateway of campus receives roughly 3,500 bike trips a day, according to the city.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak  said Tuesday that while it’s a wonderful thing that there are so many bicyclists along that stretch, much more work is needed to keep bikers safe.

“We’ve come very far in creating more opportunities for bikers, but we have to do much more to protect them,” Rybak said.

While there have been many improvements to bike infrastructure around campus, construction projects have created a congested and dangerous environment for all commuters, University police Chief Greg Hestness said.

“With the closing of Washington Avenue, we’ve really concentrated all that vehicular, pedestrian and bicycle traffic into even fewer streets,” Hestness said. “Honestly it’s pretty dangerous right now, so it’s not something to really ignore.”

A University student was struck by a car while biking Saturday morning at the intersection of 15th and University Avenues. The student was taken to the hospital with a possible broken hand, and the driver was cited by University police for failing to yield.

Jim Swagger, a sub cyclist for Jimmy Johns, said while he believes the enhanced bike lanes will help improve bicyclist’s safety, bikers will still need to be aware of vehicles.

“We had a guy last week get hit by a car. There are a lot of really bad drivers in this area,” Swagger said. “It definitely helps to have a bike lane.”

The city of Minneapolis recently designed a master plan for future improvements on bicycle infrastructure in the city and also created a bicycle coordinator position to help manage the changes.

“We hope, as a result of this installation and future installations elsewhere in the city, that there will be fewer accidents, fewer injuries and fewer deaths,” Hull said before leaving the podium, “so that other families are spared the pain that we carry in our hearts forever.”