Welcome to the first Sunday Summary of the New Year!  Streets.mn writers are still in a holiday lull, so traffic is light and you can speed to your destination.

Looking back

Most-Read streets.mn Posts of 2014 (Expanded Edition) looks at the numbers and the most read post last year was In Defense of the Dinkytown ‘Riots’ written in the wake of the Gopher hockey team’s loss in the NCAA championship and the demonstration which took place in Dinkytown. The Top Ten list is an eclectic mix (just like streets.mn) with geeky transportation (Green Line, bike commuting), current events (Dinkytown Riots, Death Roads, 2320 Colfax, police tasering), urban development patterns (Second-ring suburbs, park-and-ride economics) and graphic design (City Logos, Future Transit Map) always a thoughtful connection between what’s happening in the news or on the ground to larger policy questions. 

Remembering summer

Now that the windchill is well below zero, take a warm Independence Day bike ride Visit to Rondo and other points in St. Paul (other photo essays by bike are here) with interesting places and people along the way.

Quick looks

Minnesota Needs Better Public Safety Advertisements includes clips of British Arrow Award winning PSAs on drinking and driving from Australia and New Zealand and compares them to less effective Minnesota messages.  The first Chart of the Year is  Chart of the Day: Interstate Highway volumes vs. Interstate Loading and the first Monday Map is Map Monday: Minnesota Population Cartogram.

Getting from here to there

Minnesota’s Hidden Intercity Bus Network moves beyond Metro Transit to uncover private bus services outside the Twin Cities which link places like Rochester, St. Cloud and Northfield to the airport which could become a real network with some coordination and targeted investment.

Stay warm and have a great week!