2 Wheels on 28th Street: Generating Project Buy-In Through On-Street Pilot Event
Client: City of St. Louis Park Public Works Department
Date Range: 2016
Summary: The City of St. Louis Park’ Public Works department retained The Musicant Group to plan and execute a community engagement and bike lane demonstration event along 28th Street to test concepts, generate community feedback and build support for the creation of a protected bike lane along the 2-mile stretch of road along 28th Street, St. Louis Park MN. Starting off with this pilot generated significant momentum that led to the adoption of the plan to create the protected bike lane and its eventual construction in the following year.
Project Goals & Strategy
Our goal was to help the City of St. Louis Park Public Works Department build support for the creation of a protected bike line along the 2-mile stretch of road along 28th Street, St. Louis Park MN.
Our strategy involved starting off with a pilot, conducting community engagement to generate feedback and buy-in from those using the space, and centered the experiences people wanted to have in our event planning and communications.
What we did
Conducted door to door engagement with residents along the route
Developed promotional communications, including: posters, signage, branded event-day t-shirts, street stencils, and social media posts
Planned and executed day-of event and demonstrated project, which included: creating three different types of bikeways implemented over 2 miles, coordinating food vendors, managing volunteers, recruiting and orchestrating activities along the route.
Outcomes & Benefits
Hundreds attended the event, with most being people who indicated they supported the project but had not attended prior community meetings about the bike lane project
Skeptics of the project also became less concerned and/or opposed to it once they experienced what the bike lane would be like in real time
The event generated significant momentum that led to the adoption of the plan to create the protected bike lane and its eventual construction in the following year.