Active transportation (Walking and Biking) Process

Environmental process | Environmental review | Active Transportation (Walking and Biking)

Introduction

The goal of this guidance is to provide improved safety for all road users and ensures MnDOT’s compliance with federal guidance, state legislation, and departmental policy regarding Active transportation in the roadway environment. The MnDOT Statewide Bicycle System Plan (2016) summarizes the guidance for bicyclists, and the MnDOT Statewide Pedestrian System Plan (2021) summarizes the guidance for pedestrians. Pre-scoping engagement activities should include a discussion of pedestrian and bicyclist activity and needs with local stakeholders. Just like all other modes, begin planning for pedestrian and bicycle facilities in the scoping phase and fully integrate it throughout the transportation project development process to result in safe, comfortable, and convenient facilities.

Bicycle and pedestrian facilities on transportation projects

It is important to analyze bicycle and pedestrian needs from the beginning of the project development process. MnDOT is responsible for developing and executing designs that provide safety and mobility for people walking and bicycling along and across the trunk highway system.

Many communities have already engaged in some level of planning for walking and bicycling, and the trunk highway system is an important part of these local networks. MnDOT maintains two online interactive maps that provide information about existing active transportation plans: Visualizing Safe Routes to School in Minnesota, and the Minnesota Active Transportation Plan Map.

Providing safe, comfortable, and convenient pedestrian and bicycle facilities is a MnDOT priority. Consider designs that improve pedestrian safety and access to key destinations, and bicycle improvements that serve the “interested-but-concerned” category of bicyclists unless pedestrian and/or bicycle access are legally prohibited in the project area.

Pre-scoping engagement work is critical to understanding the needs of people walking and bicycling in the project area. Communicate with local jurisdictions to align the MnDOT project with existing and planned facilities and identify the most effective types of pedestrian and bicycle treatments. The Office of Transit and Active Transportation's (OTAT's) Active Transportation Unit is available to assist.

Existing pedestrian or bicycle facilities may not meet the desired design characteristics set out in OTAT's planning and technical assistance guidance, and as such it is important to evaluate alternatives. For identified needs, include improvement(s) in the project to the extent feasible. Reference the MnDOT Bicycle Facility Design Manual (2020) and MnDOT Road Design Manual Chapter 11 when considering design parameters for bicycle facilities.

Minnesota Walks establishes a framework for safe, comfortable, and convenient walking for all. MnDOT and the Minnesota Department of Health co-led Minnesota Walks, which guides planning, decision making, and collaboration for agencies, organizations, policy makers, and public and private entities across the state.

Priority destinations identified in Minnesota Walks are grocery stores, bus/transit access, home, parks, and schools. Minnesota Walks also identified that some people have a harder time walking than others. Priority populations include small rural communities, youth, Native Americans, people of color, low-income urban people, older adults, and people with disabilities. Minnesota Walks provides strategies and actions to improve the walkability of communities in the following areas:

Roadway and street design
Land use and the build environment
Fostering creativity and partnerships
Listening and planning
Minnesota winter and year-round upkeep
Building a culture of walking

Minnesota Walks services as a foundation for creating a MnDOT-specific pedestrian modal plan. MnDOT’s Statewide Pedestrian System Plan was completed in 2021 and offers guidance on scoping, design, and investment prioritization for pedestrian facilities along and across the trunk highway system.
To maximize the cost effectiveness of bicycle transportation investment, the following goals were established in the Minnesota Statewide Bicycle System Plan (August 2016) and align with the State Highway Investment Plan and Statewide Multimodal Plan:

Safety and comfort: Build and maintain safe and comfortable bicycling facilities for people of all ages and abilities
Local bicycle network connections: Support regional and local bicycling needs
State bicycle routes: Develop a connected network of state bicycle routes in partnership with national, state, regional, and local partners
Ridership: Increase the number of bicycle trips people who already bicycle make and add those who currently do not

The plan also indicates that investments in bicycling should primarily support local and regional bicycle networks. When making improvements to the state trunk highway system, MnDOT will target approximately 70 percent of resources toward projects that support local and regional bicycle networks. Potential projects are prioritized as follows:

Improvements and facilities along or across state trunk highways in a MnDOT District Bicycle Plan, local or regional plans (e.g., Safe Routes to School; metropolitan planning organization (MPO), county, or city bicycle/trail plan
Municipal comprehensive plan) or identified through local coordination
Improvements along or across trunk highways to close gaps in existing or planned DNR-managed state trails
Investments within population centers greater than 5,000
Investments that create separation between bicyclists and motor vehicle traffic

MnDOT has a pedestrian and bicyclist counting program that includes permanent and temporary count equipment, along with a database of past counts that can be used to inform current conditions.

It is the project manager’s responsibility to contact the following stakeholders during the scoping phase of the proposed project regarding pedestrian and bicycle facilities:

MnDOT (OTAT), Active Transportation Unit
MnDOT Office of Traffic Engineering (OTE)
Affected local units of government
Other affected state agencies

Preliminary layout review

For all projects with Level 1 layouts, OTAT’s Active Transportation Unit reviews in conjunction with the Geometric Design Support Unit (GDSU) and typically submits comments as an attachment. Project managers can also request this office to review Level 2 or Level 3 layouts, as needed.

Include documentation of any critical pedestrian/bicycle design decisions with the submittal to GDSU to help facilitate the review. Layouts should clearly show the width of the pedestrian, bicycle, or shared facility (and what type of facility it is). Include widths for any landscaped buffers or street furnishing spaces as feasible. Shoulders that are to be used for vehicle parking should be clearly labeled as such. If known at the time of the submittal, show locations of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ramps and/or marked crosswalks.

Considerations for environmental document preparation

OTAT’s Active Transportation Unit reviews and responds to all Early Notification Memos (ENMs) as part of the environmental review process. Submitting an ENM well in advance of a Level 1 layout can help project managers identify pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure requirements and speed up the project development process.

OTAT does not have a formal role in MnDOT’s preparation of other National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents, but are available to answer questions if needed. General guidance for documents such as Environmental Impact Statements, Environmental Assessments, and Categorical Exclusions are as follows:

Conduct an early assessment of potential positive and negative pedestrian and bicycle impacts and assess the need for further special study. Unlike other NEPA categories, walking and biking environments can be positively impacted by the development of a transportation project
For existing pedestrian or bicycle facilities (either formal or informal), discuss the current and anticipated use of the facilities, potential impacts of each of the alternatives being explored, and proposed measures, if any, to avoid or reduce adverse impacts to the facility(ies) and its users
Evaluate land uses in the project area that might attract pedestrian and bicycle traffic if appropriate facilities were provided. Consider land uses within 0.5 mile for walking and within 3 miles for biking
Consider how Active transportation might travel along the project corridor as well as across it
Where you are proposing new facilities as a part of the project, include sufficient information to explain the basis for providing the facilities (e.g., proposed bicycle facility is a link in the local plan or sidewalks will improve access to transit)
If the preferred alternative would eliminate or significantly reduce the quality of an existing walking and/or bicycling route along or across the roadway, the proposed project needs to provide a reasonable alternative route or demonstrate that such a route exists (23 USC §109 (n))

For all Class I, II, and III actions, ensure that all mitigation commitments are incorporated into the plans, specifications, and estimate (PS&E) package during final design.

You may use the following statement in the environmental documents for projects that only affect the mainline of controlled access facilities but do not affect any of this crossings or pedestrian or bicycle movements (this statement is not applicable to roadways being converted to controlled access facilities):

The proposed roadway work is limited to the mainline of an existing controlled access highway and will not affect pedestrian and bicycle movements because they are already restricted from this portion of the facility.