Carlton County Active Transportation Action Plan

Below are my comments for the active transportation planning in Carlton County. All schools for at least a radius of 2 miles should have wide paved bike/walking trails or shoulders (4-6 feet) on all main roads leading to the schools so that children and young adults may ride/walk to school. All major county collector roads as shown on the MN DOT generated map, Functional Classification Map of Carlton County, should have paved wide (at least 4-6 feet) bike/walking shoulders (County Roads 4, 1, 210, 5, 3, 45, 6, 2 etc.), roads that connect the small towns (Carlton, Wrenshall, Esko, Scanlon, Mattowa) with Cloquet, and roads to public beaches where bicycles and pedestrians are likely to access. This planning should coordinate with the Carlton County Comprehensive Planning that is currently being completed and vice versa. Parking areas could be built where there currently is no safe parking at hiking/biking/walking trails accessing Jay Cooke State Park and other recreation areas, State and County forests and management areas, etc. This would provide a safe place for folks to park and unload their bikes and gear instead of parking on the shoulder of roads. An examples would be the Superior Hiking Trail crossing State Highway 23 located north of Carlton County Road 18 and the hiking trail accessing Jay Cooke State Park located off State Highway 23. Thank you.