MnDOT has the plan to tell Minnesotans: Take a walk, and another, and another

Minnesota transportation officials have plotted out a detailed road map that they hope will encourage people across the state to choose walking from place to place more often than driving.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Statewide Pedestrian System Plan, two years in the making at a cost of roughly $600,000, provides policy and investment guidance to government decisionmakers for what can be done over the next 20 years to improve where people walk across and along state roads and highways.

"This plan provides an important framework and will help ensure we are meeting the needs and interests of people today and into the future," Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher said in a statement accompanying last week's release of the 136-page report that included citizen input from across the state.

"Creating safe places for people to walk is essential to improving equity and mobility, addressing climate change, and ultimately providing a better quality of life for everyone," she said.

Among the goals that officials kept in mind as they pulled together the photo- and chart-laden report: promote walking as essential and not just an option; make walking safer and more enjoyable; and create more space for pedestrians.

"Our state's quality of life depends on creating safe places for people to walk," read Kelliher's opening comments in the report. "Minnesotans walk to work, to visit the doctor and to the grocery store. Others may walk for everyday exercise or spend quality time with family and friends."

MnDOT received feedback from 2,700 people statewide that was taken into account ahead of the report's release. The agency said it found that three-fourths of respondents "completely support" improvements for walking.

At the top on the public's list of walking-friendly priorities is maintenance. "The consensus among members of the general public is that sidewalks and paths aren't maintained as well as roads in the winter," the report read.

Also winning strong support from Minnesotans, according to MnDOT: improve pedestrian crossings; add more trees, benches and other amenities; separate people walking from bicyclists; widen paths and sidewalks; and create more space between where people walk and vehicle traffic.

On the safety front, the respondents told MnDOT that signal-controlled intersections should allow more time for pedestrians to cross and create more space where people wait to cross with what are called "curb extensions" or "pedestrian refuge islands."

The survey also found that fewer than a third of respondents said they walk "at least a few times a week." MnDOT's report said the agency wants to see that frequency double to 60%. Other gauges the agency has cited as signs of progress include increasing the number of students who walk to school and encouraging more walking trips of a mile or less.

Should the recommendations in total become reality over the 20-year period, the cost would range from $221 million to $648 million, said Jake Rueter, a pedestrian and bicycle planner for MnDOT. Securing rights of way and other uncertain factors are behind the wide cost range, he said.

However, Rueter said, the agency believes the cost to society for traffic-related pedestrian incidents over those same 20 years is projected to be roughly $4 billion without implementing the measures proposed in the plan.

The report's release comes as the number of pedestrian fatalities on Minnesota roads and highways so far this year is heading in a troubling direction.

Through Thursday, 17 pedestrians have been killed in traffic incidents in Minnesota, according to the state Department of Public Safety. That compares with 14 at the same time last year. Full-year fatality totals have remained fairly steady of late, ranging from 42 to 50 over the past four years.

"This plan helps MnDOT identify opportunities and implement the right strategies on projects to make walking safer and more convenient for all Minnesotans," said Tori Nill, director of the Office of Transit and Active Transportation. "While the plan doesn't tell us exactly what to do in every situation, it does provide the tools we need to make those decisions and make sure pedestrian safety is included on every highway project."

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482