My usual commute takes me from southwest Minneapolis north on Bryant Avenue.  I cross Lyndale on the pedestrian/bicycle bridge, go past the Methodist and Episcopal churches to Loring Park and then east on 15^th into downtown.  There are several things I was conscious of Thursday morning on my way in to work; here they are in no particular order.

1.  For those of you who don’t live on the southside, we’ve got a ton of road construction going on all over south Minneapolis that is making biking less enjoyable. 

• First there is the 35W construction that has, at various times, removed the bridges over the freeway at 54^th Street, 50^th Street, and 46^th Street.  Now I can understand how we’re supposed to sacrifice so that folks from points south of Burnsville will be able to get through town faster.  I suppose it’s my patriotic duty to encourage such further use of gas and oil.  But all the construction means the east/west traffic is funneled onto two bridges, the pair of one-ways at 35^th and 36^th Streets, and 42^nd Street.  The problem has been that the approaches to these two overpasses are also clogged with cars.  42^nd Street in particular has seen an enormous increase in usage – that bridge was a favorite of bikers as it doesn’t have a freeway ramp on it so there wasn’t as much traffic as the others.
• Then there is the shutdown of Lyndale Avenue from 50^th north to somewhere.  Although the official detour is France Avenue (yeah, right), my route on Bryant Avenue is being used as the route of choice by many more drivers.  Normally I don’t mind cars as long as they behave, but these drivers must be intent on making up for lost time.  Speeds along Bryant seem to have increased with the bridge reconstruction going on, but especially since the shutdown on Lyndale.
• Overall, too, there seems to be more traffic on the residential streets as drivers use them as alternate routes. 

2.  I am one biker who stops and waits at traffic lights.  Motorists, even people that I know, will generalize about us two-wheelers with words like “well, bikers always run lights” or “bikers never obey the traffic rules.”  My waiting is to provide a concrete example for those in cars that there are bikers who do stop and wait for lights.  It was really interesting this morning as I waited for a light to change: there were five of us who waited at this particular light.  It’s a long one, too, which usually convinces bikers to ignore it after a few seconds.  Is there a movement afoot (or should I say ‘awheel’)?  I’m not holding my breath, but it would be nice to not have the “bikers always” thrown at me.

3.  There is a dangerous pothole in the right-hand, northbound lane at the intersection of 1^st Avenue South and Grant Street.  Minneapolis has a phone number to call to report these hazards.  The phone number is 311 or 612-673-3000 or I can go to http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/ and click on the drop-down menu: “Report Issues and Complaints” (it’s on the right).  There I’ll find a ‘pothole’ category to make the report.  Either way, I just need to do it - that pothole just appears out of nowhere as you come around the corner.  One of these mornings I’m going to forget it’s there.

4.  After all the rain we’ve had, it was a glorious morning for a ride.