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The new commuting The new commuting By JEAN HOPFENSPERGER, Star Tribune August 12, 2008 Peg Cavanaugh was so worried about the cars whizzing near walkers and bikers along Fairview Avenue in Roseville that she picked up the phone last week and called city hall. When she asked the city engineer to install sidewalks and widen bike lanes along the road to make it safer, she was shocked at the response: The plan was already on the drawing board. Thanks to a $1.2 million federal grant received this summer, some of the busiest roads in Roseville, Falcon Heights and Lauderdale will get safe biking and walking connections to the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus and beyond, "This [plan] is going to hook up our little neighborhood to the major streets that contain us," Cavanaugh said. "Right now it's dicey business to walk beyond the confines of our neighborhood. It's liberating. We'll be free to travel more around the cities." The improvements include widening and/or adding bike lanes and pedestrian paths along some of the busiest streets in the northern suburbs. Roseville City Engineer Deb Bloom said they include: - Fairview Avenue from County Road B2 to Larpenteur Avenue. - Larpenteur Avenue from Fairview Avenue to Fulham Street. - Gortner Avenue from Larpenteur to the inter -campus transit route, which connects to the U's Minneapolis campus. "This will provide a connection from the Rosedale shopping area to the St. Paul campus to the university transitway, which goes to the Minneapolis campus," Bloom said. ""It"s about three miles of trails." Likely users of the trails include university students and faculty who live in the northern suburbs, students and residents who commute to work at Rosedale, and anyone who wants to hop on a bike and attend a movie at the mall or nearby restaurants, Bloom said. "it will create a synergy there," Bloom said. "Those corridors today are focused on vehicles. One of the goals of the grant is to get people out of their cars." James Flaten is among the Roseville residents likely to take advantage of the safer connections. Flaten, an aerospace engineering professor, frequently bikes to the St. Paul campus and then hops a bus to the Minneapolis campus. The most direct routes are the busy roads with little or no biking lanes, he said. The least direct routes take longer, but at least are safe. Page I of 2 http://www.startribune.com/templates/Print—This—Story?sid=26426264 8/13/2008