St. Paul officials have repeatedly laid out a vision for bikeable, walkable city streets in a series of plans that even include a commitment to building “8-80” cities navigable by anyone age 8 to 80.

There’s also the St. Paul Bicycle Plan calling for street improvements to make urban cycling accessible to most families.

But the city’s commitment to this vision was questioned this month after the city council voted to eliminate two planned traffic circles from Idaho Avenue, an east-west link to Lake Phalen on St. Paul’s East Side.

Since then, at least four council members have taken to Facebook to explain their votes on the page of the St. Paul Bicycle Coalition. By Friday afternoon the bicycling organization amassed nearly 100 comments, many of them outraged, as well as some spirited debate.

The city’s bike plan has called for better bike links on the East Side since 2015, and it’s been the city’s goal to add planned bike amenities at the same time as street reconstructions, like the one starting on Idaho next month.

“This is so disappointing,” said Paul Sawyer, a former city council candidate, in post to the page. “It’s kind of hard for the East Side to catch up on infrastructure investments when East Side council members vote against putting infrastructure on the East Side.”

By a vote of 4-2, the council on Wednesday removed the traffic circles from the future Idaho Avenue bicycle boulevard. Council President Russ Stark and Amy Brendmoen were outnumbered by Council Member Dan Bostrom, Jane Prince, Dai Thao and Chris Tolbert. Rebecca Noecker was absent.

The two traffic circles are part of a series of pedestrian-friendly and bike-friendly improvements stretching four blocks from East Shore Drive to English Street, the first stage of a shared bikeway that may someday reach to Furness Parkway.

The two traffic circles, each 20 feet in diameter, would sit in the middle of Idaho Avenue’s intersections with Chamber Street and Duluth Street, forcing cars to slow to a speed of 10 mph to 15 mph.

Emergency vehicles and buses would be allowed to turn left at the circles, but all other vehicles would be required to go around the circles to the right to make a left-hand turn.

For now, the bike boulevard project is intended to connect Lake Phalen to the Bruce Vento Regional Trail, which crosses Idaho Avenue just east of English Street.

“It would be a nice connection to create in that corner of town,” said Joe Ellickson, a spokesman for St. Paul Public Works. “We’re still implementing the bike boulevard. We’ll still have wayfinding, we’ll still have pavement markings. We just won’t have traffic circles.”

NO ROOM?

During an assessment hearing April 5, some area residents called the two traffic circles inconvenient and unnecessary. A week later, at the insistence of Bostrom, who represents the neighborhood, the circles got the ax.

Bostrom pointed out that Idaho Avenue is 32 feet wide, and adding the circles could pinch maneuvering space for buses and emergency vehicles. Prince reiterated that point on the bicycle coalition’s Facebook page the next day.

“If you put a 20-foot traffic circle on a 32-foot street, you’ve got 12 feet left,” said Bostrom, who proposed the amendment to remove the two circles. “There is very, very little room to do this.”

City officials have noted that the widths are comparable to that of Griggs Street, Charles Avenue and other residential streets that have traffic circles. Buses and emergency vehicles are allowed to make normal left turns.

“Both the street widths and the traffic circles are similar,” Ellickson said.

Bostrom also noted that traffic volumes on Idaho Avenue are too low to justify the circles. Ellickson acknowledged they’re low enough that “it’s not one we routinely count.”

Stark, who lives on the Charles Avenue bicycle boulevard, said the traffic circle on his street appears to work for cyclists, family vehicles, school buses and emergency responders alike.

City staff members said St. Paul maintains 25 traffic circles, mostly on residential streets, and residents and drivers tend to adjust to them fairly quickly.

Unlike stop signs or traffic lights, the traffic circles allow cyclists to travel the street without coming to a full halt.

“I’ve always been uncomfortable at the 11th hour to change a recommendation from what our city engineers have proposed to what neighbors who are uncomfortable with change would like,” said Brendmoen.

FUNDING CONCERN

Thao, a mayoral candidate, said Wednesday he would support Bostrom’s amendment, but not because of any inherent dislike of traffic circles. He said the street’s low traffic counts didn’t necessitate traffic calming.

In a post to the St. Paul Bicycle Coalition Facebook page the next day, Thao noted that in addition to listening to the concerns of neighbors, “my vote had to do with funding,” he wrote. “We have a very limited budget in St. Paul. … With limited city dollars available, paired with what seems like inevitable cuts from our state funding in the near future … (I) would prioritize building traffic circles in places with higher congestion.”

Dan Haak, a division manager with St. Paul Public Works, said each traffic circle on Idaho Avenue would have cost the city approximately $12,000. East of Lake Phalen, the city plans full street reconstruction along 12 blocks in and around Idaho Avenue from May to October, a $4.5 million project.

“The cost of the traffic circles is insignificant to the rest of the cost of the project,” Haak said. “There are numerous residential streets being done as part of the project area.”

This isn’t the first time a bike boulevard has been scaled back. Community opposition led to significant changes to the Jefferson Avenue bike boulevard several years ago. Critics have noted that the city has yet to complete 11 traffic circles that were planned for Charles Avenue, an east-west route parallel to University Avenue and Metro Transit’s Green Line.

Other than a traffic circle at Albert Street, as well as a pedestrian median with an opening for bikes on Snelling Avenue, most of the Charles Avenue circles were marked “to be constructed at a later date pending budget” when plans were approved in 2014.