Everything posted on streets.mn this week linked in one convenient post:
Highly visual posts on crossing the street: Ignore the Red Hand of overregulation, You Don’t Have to Live Like a Refugee (or, how to get off the island), and Speeding Up the Green Line suggesting fixes for “unnecessarily restrictive traffic signals” to keep the train moving faster.
Highly visual posts showing us things we might otherwise miss: A Spotter’s Guide to Traffic Signals, Part 1 is a kind of bird-watcher’s guide for traffic signals (and here’s a recent guide for streetlights) while This Morning, I Wore a Sweater rides the bus and walks through lovely Rice Creek Park (with bird-watching included).
Purely visual posts: Charts of the Day this week are Protected Bike Lanes vs. Ridership, Approaching Peak Portland?, Minneapolis Bike Commuting (Vs. the Rest of the USA). Plus these video offerings: The Future of Fourth Street (video) provides a look at the Future of Fourth Street event in May (also take a look at a post about how 4th Street is the key to a walkable Saint Paul). The Bike Brothers (video) is a BBC documentary showing the bike brothers building bikes in Britain. In the “do not try this at home or work” department, Bikes and Skyways has two short videos racing the former through the latter.
Numbers: It’s Not a Bottleneck, It’s a Turkey Neck crunches the numbers to address whether there are too many lanes in the proposed redesign of the about the Hennepin-Lyndale bottleneck. Transit Budgets Expose Hidden Costs of Roads by distinguishing short term costs compared to longer term benefits in transit projects.
Particular projects: 26th/28th Street improvements are being planned; two posts consider how to make these streets better for people: I Am Induced Demand (and So Can You)! (for a policy level post) and Ideas to Make 26th and 28th Streets Work for People. for ground level reporting). Move slightly south to West 29th Street for Neighbors Put Pedestrians First on West 29th Street and a report on a first open house for West 29th Street improvements and announces a second gathering July 21.
Quick trips to Greater Minnesota: Northfield: Adding Value to Woodley Street considers both the process and possible outcomes when improving a county road which is also a local street. Or, just take a walk down Main Street – Chisago City and Lindstrom.
Bike infrastructure here and there: A Kid, Some Bottles, and an Engineer On a Bike illustrates some of the reasons Dutch cycle infrastructure is the gold standard, while Minneapolis through Portland Eyes: Great Place, but Not Yet Bike Paradise (cross-posted from bikeportland.org) does just what the title says and the comments include some back and forth with the post author.
The cool weather has been great for walking and bicycling. Enjoy the streets; think about writing about what you find there and have a great week!