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<br />CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />1.1 BACKGROUND <br /> <br />The Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan area consists of the Cities of Fargo, \Vest Fargo and Cass County in <br />North Dakota and the Cities of Moorhead, Dilworth and Clay County in Minnesota as illustrated in Map <br />1.1. The current demographic statistics of the metropolitan area is as shown in Table 1.1. <br /> <br /> <br />102,874 <br />50,442 <br /> <br />Source: Metro COG <br /> <br />Various statistics have shown that: <br /> <br />,,tf,; About 11.52% of the households in the study area are below or near poverty level and about <br />8.3% of this group v..'alk or bike to work. <br /> <br />:.It About 6.88% of the households have no cars and about 11.9% of the households with 1110re <br />than one person per household have one car which implies that an adequate biking and <br />walking network could benefit the community_ <br /> <br />.Jk-J among the working population of the metropolitan area about 49% of the people live \'.:ithin 6 <br />miles of their place of work which takes a maximum of 30 to bike al an average speed of <br />12mph (Source; US Census Bnreau). <br /> <br />An analysis of the existing characteristics of this metropolitan area shows that it has great potential for <br />developing a consummate walking and biking network. Some of the significant characteristics of the study <br />area are: <br /> <br />,t A strong university base: This metropolitan area has four prominent institutions North Dakota <br />State University in Fargo, Minnesota State University, Moorhead, Concordia College and <br />Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Moorhead. Many students and faculty <br />members use non motorized means of transportation for their daily commute which presents <br />the possibilities of promoting walking and biking as a popular means of commute. <br /> <br />,t There are two river corridors in the FM metropolitan area; the Red River in the East and the <br />Shcyennc River in the west. These river corridors provide a potential for development of <br />recreational bike and pedestrian trails. <br /> <br />,t The flat topography of the region also supports an environment conducive for bicycling and <br />walking especially for amateur and child bikers. <br /> <br />, ',. . -, ,-" ' <br />FM METROPOLITAN BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN PLAN 2005 <br />Fargo~Moorhead Me~~opo!ita11 S;:ouncil of,<:;()yernments.. <br />-2 - <br />