More bike lanes in the suburbs? This group is gaining ground.

If you live in the suburbs, trying to find safe streets for bicycling and walking can make you feel like Don Quixote, alone in a sea of opposition. But in the west metro suburbs, there’s a new hope dawning. For the past year, a cadre of advocates called the West Metro Active Transportation Alliance (WMATA – not to be confused with the other WMATA), has been holding monthly meetings to build common cause around better sidewalks and bike lanes. More importantly, they’re starting to talk to city councils and public works engineers in places like St. Louis Park, Edina, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Hopkins – Minneapolis suburbs that form the heart of Twin Cities regional politics. The hope is that, given time, they’ll find momentum that leads to change on the ground, like interconnected bike routes that could make a car-free life safe and dignified for thousands of suburban residents. The group was started by Sylvie Hyman, a teacher who lives in St. Louis Park and bikes to work a