For those of us that are dedicated urbanists, it is something of an article of ...
For those of us that are dedicated urbanists, it is something of an article of faith that density is good. Is it good? How do you measure ‘good’, anyways? One way to measure ‘good’ is to see if people want it. Are people moving to cities? Are denser areas growing as fast as less dense […]
Here’s an insane looking chart from streets.mn alumnus David Levinson’s Transportationist blog, showing a “Typical Signal Schedule and Traffic Flow Diagram, North-South across Market Street, San Francisco (1929) [with a] “green wave” set to 10.5 MPH.” Peep your eyes on this! The complex trade-offs that go into something as seemingly simple as how to program […]
The recent death of cyclist Alan Grahn on Saint Paul’s Summit Avenue has rightfully fueled a movement to improve Summit’s bike infrastructure with protected bike lanes and improved intersection design. As the city’s main east/west cycling corridor, Summit is heavily used year round by both commuters and recreational cyclists but lacks the protections of the […]
The Fulton neighborhood’s northeast corner is in Lake Harriet. Rather than wait for the lake to freeze, I started on the shoreline path at 47th Street West. The dark blue lines in the following route map show the main loop I took back to that spot, aside from one detour I took around a temporarily […]
Here’s a blast from the past that is technically a chart: I saw this on Twitter the other day, but I don’t remember where. So apologies to whoever posted it. As you might recall, the 1956 Interstate Highway Act was actually titled the “National Interstate and Defense Highways Act.” According to Wikipedia: The addition of […]
This is the second in a series of posts addressing the arguments against Minneapolis’s Draft Comprehensive Plan; the first is here. It Doesn’t Achieve “Affordability” I’m not an economist, or an affordable housing expert. So I want to start with a link to this post by Atrios, who is (or, at least, has been) an […]
Start at the beginning, with My First Bikepacking Trip! Part 1 of 3 (which also has the map of our route), and then read the middle, My First Bikepacking Trip! Part 2 of 3, before this one. We woke up at sunrise with trumpeter swans and many nice songbirds greeting the morning. We needed to be on the […]
The recent death of Alan Grahn on Summit Avenue at Snelling has provoked widespread calls for improvements to the Summit Avenue Bikeway. His is not the first death, the first crash or even the first crash of that type at that intersection. A gentleman named David Wuest was similarly hit by a motorist turning northbound […]
If you don’t know about downtown Saint Paul’s Pedro Park controversy — or even how to correctly pronounce the name “Pedro” (hint: you probably don’t) — here’s a quick summary from the recent Pioneer Press article, “Six residents quit St. Paul’s Pedro Park design committee in protest”: On Saturday, residents of several downtown St. Paul […]
Every day at The Overhead Wire we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list. At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the DC region. […]
Minneapolis is a city of neighborhoods, 72 to be exact. They are the places we live, learn, and play. While we all live in a neighborhood, most of us don’t live in a complete neighborhood. Instead, for too many of us, neighborhoods are the places we leave nearly every day. Nine out of ten trips […]
Via Kottke, here’s a cool and very old (!) map of the Mississippi River, which of course begins in Minnesota. It dates to 1866, before the railroad era, when the river was still the main route of transportation in the upper Midwest. Here’s the whole thing with the Twin Cities marked: And here’s a close-up: […]
I know a woman who lives on Hague Avenue in St. Paul, within two blocks of the frenetic intersection of Selby and Snelling. She parks her car in the driveway that runs alongside her house, by the “Drive Like Your Kids Live Here” sign in the front yard. I asked her recently if she minded […]
This week, We Read Carmageddon Articles & Comments So You Don’t Have To and continue to provide this valuable public service – this time for media coverage of the 35W construction project. Julie Kosbab says, “Perhaps you have heard it is road construction season in Minnesota? Exits from I-35W northbound into downtown Minneapolis are closing for important bridge […]
A local Saint Paul group calling itself Neighbors for Responsible Development recently appealed a decision of the Saint Paul Planning Commission to approve a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for building height for construction being proposed for 246 Snelling Ave S. by TJL Development, LLC. This group has repeatedly claimed that their voice is not being […]
The first time I rode an electric-assist bicycle (ebike) was around 15 years ago. My workplace, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, actually had ebikes as part of their vehicle fleet. Our work site is a mile away from downtown Saint Paul and a little over a mile away from the Capitol, and many people have […]
I confess, “from Farmers to France” is more alliterative than strictly accurate. I started immediately adjacent to the Fulton Farmers Market, but I devoted a few minutes to the environs before going into the market itself. And I returned there at the end of the walk, after France Avenue. The Fulton neighborhood in southwest Minneapolis extends […]
Two years ago Route 494 began service between Shakopee and Maple Grove as part of a partnership between Southwest Transit, Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, Plymouth Metrolink, and Maple Grove Transit. There were station stops at Marschall Road Transit Station in Shakopee, Southwest Station in Eden Prairie, United Healthcare and Optum campuses in Minnetonka, Hopkins Crossroad […]
Recently I realized my complaints about three new urban improvements boiled down to the same thing: Careful thought and design work seemed to stop at the edge of the project. Something just outside the lines had screwed it up. My first and longest-standing complaint like this concerned the lack of a bus shelter on University […]
When controversy happens… when tempers flare… we read the comments, so you don’t have to. Perhaps you have heard it is road construction season in Minnesota? Exits from I-35W northbound into downtown Minneapolis are closing for important bridge work. Local media has been hyperventilating about the project for days. We are getting regular Star-Tribune coverage of […]
