The number of bikers counted at selected locations in St. Paul and Minneapolis increased 13 percent, according to this year’s Bike Walk Twin Cities Pedestrian and Bicycle Count Report.
The report, issued this week from tallies made in September, showed pedestrian numbers were down 6 percent over last year’s record numbers.
Volunteers make the annual counts at 43 locations around the Twin Cities.
The bike trips recorded this year were the highest since the counts began in 2007; pedestrian numbers were the second-highest, down slightly from last year’s record. Over the seven years of counting, bicycling increased 78 percent and walking was up 16 percent, the report said.
Not surprisingly, the greatest increases in pedestrian traffic were found where new destinations have been built, such as the new Twins Stadium and other recent developments in downtown Minneapolis.
And in places with new bike lanes or other improvements, bicycling numbers show higher increases, the report said.