Eden Prairie, MN Mobility & Curb Rules: Bike Lane Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- What counts as a bicycle way
- Paved public sidewalks, trails, paths (not streets)
- Barred users
- Motor vehicles, horses, other animals
- Allowed exception
- Crossing the bicycle way only
- Maintaining authority
- Director of Parks and Recreation
- Penalty
- Misdemeanor or petty misdemeanor, Section 7.99
Summary
City Code Section 7.20 designates every paved public sidewalk, trail, and path in the City of Eden Prairie, other than streets and highways, as a bicycle way. Motor vehicles, horses, and other animals are barred from riding on the improved surface except to cross it, and pedestrians keep full access to the same paths.
All public sidewalks, trails and paths, or parts thereof within the City having an improved surface of concrete, blacktop, bituminous or similar material but excluding therefrom all streets, roads, and highways are hereby designated bicycle ways pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, 1990, Section 160.263. ... It is unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle or ride a horse or other animal on or over the improved surface of a bicycle way within the City except when crossing the same and except members, employees, or agents of the City while acting as a peace officer or maintaining a bicycle way. Nothing herein shall limit the use of bicycle ways for pedestrian access or travel.
Full Breakdown
Section 7.20, carried over from the 1982 City Code, defines a bicycle way as any public sidewalk, trail, or path within the City of Eden Prairie that has an improved surface of concrete, blacktop, bituminous, or similar material, excluding streets, roads, and highways. Subdivision 2 designates those surfaces as bicycle ways under Minnesota Statutes, 1990, Section 160.263, the state law authorizing municipalities to set aside bikeways. The Director of Parks and Recreation is responsible under Subdivision 3 for marking and maintaining every bicycle way with appropriate signs.
Subdivision 4 makes it unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle, or ride a horse or other animal, on or over the improved surface of a bicycle way within the City, except when crossing it. The prohibition does not reach City employees, members, or agents acting as peace officers or maintaining the bicycle way. The section also protects pedestrian use: nothing in it limits pedestrians from walking or traveling on a bicycle way, so cyclists share the surface with foot traffic rather than having it exclusively.
Because Chapter 7's definitions section incorporates Minnesota Statutes Chapters 169 and 171 by reference for anything the local chapter does not separately define, a bicyclist's on-road conduct, signaling, lane position, and rules of the road remain governed by those state traffic statutes rather than by Section 7.20, which addresses only where motorized and animal traffic may not go.
Violations & Fines
Driving a motor vehicle or riding a horse or other animal onto a bicycle way's improved surface, except to cross it, violates Section 7.20, Subdivision 4. Under Section 7.99, a violation that specifically carries misdemeanor status is punished as a misdemeanor; a third or subsequent violation of any Chapter 7 provision within twelve months is also punished as a misdemeanor. Other violations are petty misdemeanors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I ride a horse on an Eden Prairie bike trail?
Are pedestrians allowed on Eden Prairie's bicycle ways?
What street rules apply to cyclists in Eden Prairie?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Eden Prairie
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Bike Lane Rules in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Hennepin County handle bike lane rules.