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Minnesota News
Andrew Krueger

MnDOT puts name of new bike route up to public vote

Bicyclists pedal along a state trail
In this image from video, bicyclists pedal along the Central Lakes State Trail in central Minnesota in 2013. The trail is part of the newly designated U.S. Bicycle Route 20 between Moorhead and St. Cloud.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

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Minnesotans have had the chance to weigh in on names for state snowplows — twice.

Now the Minnesota Department of Transportation is giving the public the chance to pick from among five finalists for the name of a newly designated bike route across the state.

What's currently known U.S. Bicycle Route 20 stretches for 188 miles along existing trails and roads between St. Cloud and Moorhead, passing through Melrose, Alexandria, Fergus Falls and Pelican Rapids, among other communities. It includes portions of the Lake Wobegon Regional Trail and Central Lakes State Trail.

More than two-thirds of the route keeps riders on trails, and off of highways.

To give the route a name — instead of just a number — state transportation officials have picked five potential names for the route, and put them up for a public vote:

  • Glacial Lakes Bicycle Route

  • MiddleSota Bicycle Route

  • Prairie Lakes Bicycle Route

  • Rivers to Prairies Bicycle Route

  • Towns and Fields Bicycle Route

They say those suggestions came from people attending an event last year.

The online voting runs through July 12.

"MnDOT is excited to give people another way to see our beautiful state,” MnDOT Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger said in a news release. “We hope that Route 20 provides a new option for current cyclists and inspires others to see some of the great rides that Minnesota has to offer."

Minnesota has two other designated U.S. bicycle routes — Route 41, the North Star Route, stretching 315 miles between St. Paul and Grand Portage; and Route 45, the Mississippi River Trail, following the river for several hundred miles from Itasca State Park to the Iowa border.