Every day at The Overhead Wire we collect news about cities and send the links ...
Please save the date for July 13th! We’re having our annual summer picnic at Boom Island Park, on a former Mississippi River island in the shadow of Downtown Minneapolis. Come and meet the streets.mn community writers, readers, and board members IRL. We’ll have a frisbee. What: a fun summer picnic When: Saturday July 13th, 11:30am […]
The Linden Hills neighborhood’s residential and retail development has been influenced by everything from the early-20th-century trolley to the latest fashions. And all of that was evident to one degree or another as I walked the west-central portion of the neighborhood. The map shows the route’s main loop in blue, starting and ending at the intersection […]
Today I’m bringing you a conversation with Liz De La Torre, who is running for City Council in Saint Paul’s Ward 1. I sat down with Liz a while back at the Heritage Tea House on University Avenue to talk about her campaign, her background working as a advocate for victims of domestic violence, and […]
Recently, I wrote about the future of mobility and my belief that the future is electric. Last week, I took a test drive of that future, making the pilgrimage to Eden Prairie to try out the latest version of the Tesla Model 3. Before we begin, I was not compensated by Tesla, Toyota, or anybody, […]
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. […]
On June 19, 1954 the streetcar system in the Twin Cities shut down permanently. I consider it one of the biggest mistakes our region has ever made as we’re now spending billions and taking decades to rebuild a similar system albeit with arterial bus rapid transit (ABRT), BRT, and light rail. There are several causes […]
Apologies in advance for all the terrible metaphors in this post. They are like going for a walk to the park but having a jalapeño cheddar Corn Nut stuck in your shoe. Anyway. The point is that Downtown Saint Paul has been a black hole for bicycling for so long that it’s hard to imagine […]
On Monday, June 10, Nice Ride sent an email to members with two statements addressing its recent setbacks with dockless hubs and electric bikes. In compensation for the missed expectations, Nice Ride extended yearly memberships by 45 days. In the first statement, Nice Ride implied that the rollout of its dockless hubs was delayed because […]
If all goes according to plan, Saint Paul’s first ever Pedestrian Plan is set to for passage this month. It’s a large document that tries to look at how the city can improve infrastructure and the environment for people walking around. (See also the podcast about this plan.) The plan has a few interesting maps, […]
On Saturday, June 8, Metro Transit debuted its latest Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line. The C Line operates from downtown Minneapolis to Brooklyn Center Transit Center and, in between, serves Olson Memorial Highway, Penn Avenue, Osseo Road and Brooklyn Boulevard. The C Line parallels Metro Transit’s Route 19, which saw its frequency and operating hours […]
After a couple of lazy weeks, last week’s haul has some meaty posts about highways, transit, and places to visit in Saint Paul. Rapid buses, an in-depth look Alex Schiefferdecker gives us a three-part series (which follows up his post from last year) about rapid bus transit starting with an overview of plans, politics, and […]
If you take away anything from the first two of this series of articles, it should be that we need to know more. Only Metro Transit has the data and staff hours needed to do a thorough review of the options for aBRT expansion. But such a review is clearly needed. While my basic analysis […]
Someone (apologies for I forget who) Tweeted out this report from the Met Council called simply “We Still Need More Housing” the other day. It’s got some great charts in it. Here are three of them. Keep in mind that this is all metro-wide data. For example, check out this chart, comparing MSP to other […]
As Metro Transit moves forward with its arterial bus rapid transit (aBRT) program, there’s an important opportunity to reassess the plans that will guide future investments. Those plans, which were developed almost a decade ago, are not comprehensive or inspiring. Some rethinking is needed. Last year, I wrote about the limitations of those earlier plans. […]
While scrolling and then mentioned through Facebook the other day I found a sponsored post that piqued my interest titled “Make YOUR Voice heard, Minneapolis!” regarding safe and affordable housing in Minneapolis. The initial concept sounds great, but their whole campaign and turfing is selectively worded so obviously behind their own thinly-veiled manipulation attempts for […]
Previously I covered the history of Minnesota’s trunk highway system. At it’s inception in 1920 the system contained what still is the core of the system. But the new governor, Floyd. B. Olson, championed a massive increase in size and scope of the state government, including a proposal to vastly increase the mileage of the […]
This past weekend, dignitaries and Metro Transit staff helped cut the ribbon on the C Line, the Twin Cities’ newest rapid transit service. The C Line is the second project in a planned set of five “Arterial Bus Rapid Transit” (aBRT) routes, the most exciting thing that is happening (and not happening fast enough) for […]
Here’s an alphabetical list of Saint Paul sights. Enjoy! Asian Main Street, between Marion Street and Lexington Avenue Art Moderne Storefront on early 20th century building, 2556 West University Ave, STP Assumption Catholic Church, 1874 downtown STP Bandana Square, five former railroad buildings, STP Best city Councilperson: Jane Prince, 7th Ward, STP Bungalow Court, […]
Here’s a fun chart / map combo from Strong Towns, using the excellent land value per acre maps that consultant Urban3 puts out. It shows the value-per-acre for areas around Lake Minnetonka and the South Minneapolis “chain of lakes” area. Before we get to the chart, check out these maps: Here are the two charts, […]
This is “Meet a Roundabout,” a new series of posts about roundabouts in the Twin Cities area that are improving traffic efficiency and safety. Posts include pictures and video of the roundabout and a history of how they came to be. This is the first post in the series. On a recent beautiful Wednesday night, […]
