Twin Cities Bike Routes Now on Google Maps. Sweet.

 From Live Green Twin Cities:
It's finally here! Google Maps unveils its new bike-route maps for the Twin Cities, helping bikers and wannabe bikers find the safest and fastest route to their destination. Already we've found a new route to work--and it's 10 minutes shorter. Yes, biking int the Twin Cities just got 100 times easier. Hooray!

The Twin Cities are one of about 150 cities using Google Maps to find bike trails, bike paths, and bike-friendly routes for transit. While mapped-out bike routes have existed before at sites like BikeMyRoute.com, having the routes available via a massive search engine like Google means Twin Citians now have a much easier way of finding and using the numerous bike routes throughout the area.

To use, simply go to Google Maps, type in your origin and destination, and choose "bicycling" from the drop down menu. A color-coded map will appear, giving you different options for your route. The new Google Maps also include color-coded lines indicating the type of street. For example, a dark-green line indicates the street is a designated bike path with no motorized vehicles; a light-green line indicates regular streets with bike lanes; and a dotted line indicates low-traffic streets. To get to these maps, click on the "More" option in Google Maps, then click on "Bicycling" to reveal street indicators. And if you're still unsure about your route, clicking on the camera (view) option to the right of the directions allows you to see each street before starting on your destination.

So far, in testing it out this morning, I've discovered new and shorter routes--and some of them with less traffic. Learn more about the options on Google Blog, and start mapping your new routes today. Happy biking!