Commuting - TWIN CITIES: i need a good bike route...

i need a route from the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of S. Minneapolis (roughly Chicago and 37th) to the New Main Metro State Campus on Mounds Blvd. in Daytons Bluff in St. Paul. On-line directions-givers (mapquest, etc.) are always trying to put you on the freeway, presuming you're in a car, but i need a good, safe bike route.

Have you tried using Rand McNally (http://www.randmcnally.com/)'s option to find the "shortest" route (instead of the "fastest")?

yeah, it gets me most of the way there, and then tries to put me on the freeway, right in the middle of st. paul's uncharted waters.

seems like i take marshall to lexington, then left to concordia, right turn, then i don't know what.

Unfortunately (for you, I mean ;) ) I'm not real familiar with that part of downtown St Paul. But, it looks like you could just take Marshall all the way down to, with a brief jaunt on John Ireland Blvd, Kellog. Go south on Kellog to 7th. Take 7th east and you're there.

Looks good on the screen, anyway...

Are you cool with riding through downtown St Paul? If so, keep going on Marshall all the way to Kellog. Looks like there's a slight jog in there to get around St Paul Tech College, but keep going east until you hit downtown. You'll be up on the hill by the cathedral & have to get down to downtown, Kellog is a main road that'll eventually intersect 7th street. Thats the giant mess in front of the Excel center. But you'll want to get yourself on 7th Street. It'll take you all the way through downtown over to Metro State.

If you're open to a longer route (when the weather improves), cruise down to the bike trails along shepherd road. You can bypass a lot of downtown St Paul & traffic this way, plus mostly stay off streets. You also might consider using Summit Ave instead of Marshall, since Summit has the bike lanes. Actually, Summit might be easier altogether. At the east end of Summit, watch for Ramsey St. Basically Summit starts to curve North & Ramsey takes you down a big-ass hill to downtown. 7th Street is 2 blocks past the bottom of the hill. Might want to find a different hill for the route home though.

I think trystero would know a good route...paging trystero....

type your zip into yahoo maps. Then start with the route you are thinking and look for better ways. Then drive the route to quickly check the safety. Then test ride it on the weekend. Takes a little trial and error but it works well. I did this because i wasn't happy with the "obvious" route I initially had. Now I'm going a way that i never would have thought of and its much safer/enjoyable.
Good luck!

Okay, I've been that end of St. Paul, and there are a few ways, I did the Kellog through downtown. You pass the Pioneer Press office, and head up the bridge, it's an up hill ride. It gets you to Mounds Blvd. I shot some sity scapes from Mounds Park. There is the back way that uses University to the Capital, then down to Regions hospital, then through this brewery, there is also the Hands Helping Hands over by 7th St, then there is a way across 35 E, via a footbridge. The neighborhood's a little iffy, but then so's Powderhorn.
Good luck.

Just do it, with a paper map to start with. Stop part way, at a coffee house to plot the end of the ride. That's how I did it all the time, when I was first learning the cities, as a student at Macalester. When I did get lost once, and asked a fellow rider for dirrections, I met a woman who invited me to move in for a few months, and taught me to bake bread. If you're like me, you can't loose!

i'm a little iffy myself, so that's okay. thanks for the tips.