Now that I’ve summarized the week’s news on streets.mn, I’m going outside:
In the news – Gil Penalosa and rethinking walking/cycling: Gil Penalosa finished up a Placemaking Residency in the Twin Cities recently and his work with Ciclovia and 8-80 Cities sparked a couple of posts this week: Preach it, Ciclovia and Signal Priorities Should Signal Priorities.
Background and education: Streets.mn writers tend to presume a high level of transportation literacy on the part of readers; to help everyone else get up to speed Bus Rapid Transit – An Introduction offers just that.
Citizen engagement department: Both Wedge Club™ v. City Council in a Battle for Legitimacy and No Participation Means No Power for Neighborhood Groups argue neighborhood associations don’t represent all the neighbors, but the former puts the emphasis on the Council electoral process while the latter wants to watch on-line.
Particular projects: The I-35E Freeway Apocalypse slams MnDOT’s I-35E/Cayuga project as unnecessary road widening at the expense of cyclists and pedestrians (and not much publicity about the project for advocates); many comments discuss highway funding, merits of the project, and car/bike rhetoric. Recommendations for Minneapolis’ 36th Street Bikeway continues streets.mn’s tradition of thoughtful technical advice and discussion. SWLRT posts continue this week with Anatomy of a Proposed Urban Railway: Van White Station.
Photos and videos: Powerful Minnesota Prairie Roots photo essay The Changing Prairie View plus Nicollet Island Railroad Bridge and The End of the Line. Bike/Walk to Work Day (2011) and 2012 Bike Walk to Work Day videos document earlier iterations of Bike to Work Day which happened again last week.
Charts this week: Charts from MnDOT’s Annual Transportation Performance Report 2012 finish up this week with Bicyclists (apparently bicycling season for MnDOT is only April-October), Incident Clearance and Fuel Use in Minnesota. But the charts continue: Energy Density v. Area Required and How fast is our LRT compared to other cities? Call this one ChartPlus: Travel Times on Existing Central Corridor Routes with charts plus commentary.
Upcoming event: Discussion of the Commons by Jay Walljasper. May 22, 2014, 6 pm at the Rondo Library, St. Paul, MN with (obviously) Jay Walljasper, editor of On the Commons.
Have a great week!