April Fools Day and the rest of last week
Streets.mn writers like to have fun and took full advantage of April Fools Day last week. Good parody slaps us in the face with important ideas and these were particularly pointy posts (the other foolish posts can be found in the archive): MNDOT Redirects Stillwater Bridge Funds to Pedestrian, Transit Projects with some interesting trips-per-day numbers; Minnezona – Or a Solution to Our Climate Crisis billed as a climate solution, but the interesting bit was about infill development; and Minneapolis Announces Adoption of Bloomington Pedestrian Plan is almost too true to be foolish (also picked up by streetsblog).
Look and listen:
- Look: Charts of the Day excerpt information from MnDOT’s Annual Transportation Performance Report 2012 with Bridges in Fair or Poor Condition, Bus Only Shoulders (current and planned), MnPASS Network, Snow Clearance.
- Look at Art: Friday Photo, Landscape with Automobile reviews Walker Art Center’s Edward Hopper exhibit (with images of highways and other infrastructure), and last week’s Sunday Sketch – My Ten Favorite Indoor Places to Sketch in the Twin Cities.
- Listen: Last Week in MPLS Episode 9 and Podcast #61 – Hennepin County Commissioner Transportation Forum (don’t forget the Voter Guide 2014 for more information about 3rd District candidates)
- Look & listen: Two videos on transportation economics: Who has to stop driving? is about high and low value car trips and who should drive right now, while Why won’t more roads and transit cure congestion? explains who might drive (with more roads). Continuing the transportation/ land use marketing and rhetoric theme, we’ve got In the Suburbs – 1957 and Magic Highway USA – 1958 (as in Disney’s Magic Kingdom) this week.
- Look & listen LIVE: The “Transportationist” on T2P2 (That’s The Theater of Public Policy at Bryant Lake Bowl) combining public policy and improv comedy featuring David Levinson on Monday – tomorrow.
Series:
- Bicycling Bonanza in Berlin (Germany) follows earlier posts EU Bicycling Information Collection Initiative from Seville (Spain) and Ferrara (Italy).
- Soil and Water in the Life of a Street Tree (Part 1 on accounting for the urban forest is here) explains the challenges of healthy street trees.
- Institutionalizing Complete Streets is part two in the series summarizing the Complete Streets from Policy to Project Report with case studies (including Hennepin County) of cities which have tried to build Complete Streets into their decision-making and project development processes
Specific projects and issues:
- Hennepin-Lyndale: Bottleneck Fix: Turn (Don’t Merge) shows how the Hennepin-Lyndale intersection could be transformed by having cars turn onto the interstate rather than merge via fast, space-consuming on/off ramps (this was the comment winner of the week – lots of local knowledge and additional design thoughts); Hennepin-Lyndale Reconstruction Project recommends a few simple changes to the repaving project to improve bicycle/pedestrian safety.
- Lake & Hiawatha: Support TOD at Lake and Hiawatha analyses the proposed redevelopment of the Midtown Farmers Market area.
- Bicycling: A Wintry Bike Social, Bicycling Bonanza in Berlin (Germany), and How-To: 30daysofbiking (yes, go ahead and start now for 24 days of biking) provides encouragement and inspiration to Ride your bike every day in April, however far you want, no matter the weather
- Transit: Let’s Be Pro-transit goes beyond recent SWLRT debate to ask what could be accomplished if pro-transit advocates worked together for better transit in the busiest corridors (and, one wonders, what could happen with a Disney-style video about the magic of transit?)
Keep biking, start walking, step away from your computer and get outside this week…