I mean let's face it, inserting ads in the middle of articles in the dead tree edition, horrible horrible editing, and sid hartman... still with the sid hartman! The inmates really do seem to be running the asylum over at 425 Portland.

Today's gem of an article is titled "Is 1-mile bike path worth $9.2 million?" The article itself has some good pros & cons, but the title... oh wow - the title is as misleading as it comes.

First - It is NOT some standalone 1-mile bike path. It is a 1-mile extension to a miles long bike corridor that was the first bike freeway in the nation, the Cedar Lake Trail. If this last mile had been built along with the rest of the corridor 14 years ago, we wouldn't be having this conversation; except for the fact that we'd spending 9 million dollars to keep the trail in place while still having to accomodate Target Field and the first commuter rail line to Minneapolis, Northstar. It's as if someone were to ask "is 1 mile of Interstate 94 worth it" but not telling you that it's mile 237 - that'd be the mile approximately between Hwy 280 & Transfer Rd.

Second - It is a majorly important 1-mile extension. Not only is it the final mile for ALL the western suburb bike paths to Downtown (Luce Line, Cedar Lake Trail, North & South LRT Trails), but it will provide the link to the miles & miles of trails that exist on both sides of the Mississippi River. This makes it the last mile of trail for people biking from Orono/Minnetrista/Plymouth, Shorewood/Excelsior/Greenwood/Deephaven, AND Chanhassen/Eden Prairie/Minnetonka to Downtown and the Mississippi River and to many other connecting points. This isn't a mile of trail out in the middle of nowhere. It's a mile of trail, in the heart of the city, that will likely be one of the most (if not THE most) well-traveled mile of bike path in the Twin Cities.

Posing the question as a matter of worth (an inherently subjective term), and misleading the reader with a faux description of a "1-mile bike path" just fanned the flames of the anti-everything brigade who don't want to see any money spent anytime anywhere for anything, unless it directly benefits them. I doubt that many of the commenters made it to the end of what was actually a fairly well-written article instead choosing only to air their ill-informed opinions based on a ridiculous headline.

This mile of bike path is a tremendously essential link in the overall network of on and off road bike facilities in the Twin Cities.

• Is it going to be expensive? Yes. If there are ways to trim the budget and maintain safety and security, I'm all for it and my hope is we'll see 10-15% of the cost shaved down. But the very nature of it being located downtown is going to make it a lot more expensive than 1 mile of additional trail in Victoria or Chanhassen. That it is more expensive to build than trails in other areas does not diminish its worth.
  
• Is it necessary? Yes. Promoting bike facilities and other options to automobiles will continue to put the Twin Cities ahead of the curve as we look at ever-increasing prices for petroleum and ways to encourage people out of their cars and into more sustainable options.
  
• Is it pork? Not really. As stimulus, it will put some people to work for a time - it's not long-term work obviously, but I'm pretty sure if you talked to anyone working on it, they would tell you they're glad to be have a job and income to pay their bills and keep a roof over their head. Just like the tens of thousands of other projects that are being funded by stimulus, this one too will be monies paid to local workers who will use it to shop in local establishments. In my mind, pork is money spent where there is no need... and just because you are a taxpayer that chooses not to ride a bike, that doesn't mean there isn't a need for those taxpayers who do ride bikes.
  

The money is not going into some billionaire's vault, it's not lavish or outrageous, or as Ron Werner was quoted in the article, a "bridge to nowhere". It is quite the opposite... it is a bridge that will continue to make it easier to get around these beautiful cities on two wheels, under our own power, and out enjoying nature... well, except for that darned garbage burner. : )

Update - oh, I forgot about one of my major gripes in the article too. The article cites two comparable projects that cost about the same money:

• "in the past, two miles of highway lane on Interstate 94 in St Paul"
• "5.7 miles of bike trail on government land for the Midtown Greenway"

Argh! When were those two miles of I-94 built in St Paul? The 1960s or 197s0s? At the latest, I believe those two lanes would have been built in 1987 according to this MNDOT site. How many miles of highway lane will that get us today? And keep in mind... that's just ONE lane. Of at least FOUR that have to be built for it to be Interstate standard. And as far as the Midtown Greenway, it was already owned and had been bought long ago - how much would those 5.7 miles of bike trail cost if purchase negotiations had to occur for the land?