streets.mn and Nice Ride MN Launch Crowdsourcing Bikeshare Project remains at the top of the site for a second week. If you missed it last week, click over to read about our joint project with Nice Ride Minnesota to crowdsource analysis and recommendations for the evolution of the Twin Cities bikeshare system. Nice Ride is looking for ideas, advice and recommendations for station locations, system operations and overall system development from the thoughtful readers and writers of streets.mn. to help plan bikeshare system growth for 2016 to 2020.  Come to the kickoff event on Wednesday, September 16, 2015 to find out more.

New technology

Electric and Autonomous Cars Are Not A Panacea observes Drive Electric Week 2015 by lining up some of the pros and cons of electric and autonomous vehicles to find solutions to some issues, new problems created, and some issues remaining untouched like making space for people walking and on bikes (and why those modes are important). Commenters seize on the issue of how fast new technology will be broadly adopted as well as some observations about how people might react to being passengers in their own vehicles.

Will Self-Driving Cars Solve Congestion? paints a picture of the future where self-driving cars won’t solve congestion, but might even increase commuting by car with longer commutes, shifting rides from transit to self-driving cars, more vehicles on the road and other results of reducing the soul-corroding aspects of commuting.

Old technology and a thought experiment

Sunset Unlimited: Restoring Passenger Rail on the Gulf Coast marks the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by taking us on a trip on Amtrak’s Sunset Limited line to ask why passenger rail service has not been restored east of New Orleans to Orlanda after the storm. The post provides fine-grained detail, but Mike Hicks also asks bigger questions about how Amtrak could make passenger rail work – on this line and other parts of the country (and Mike has written much more about passenger rail; click here for more posts).

Historic Como Park Ped Bridge Restored chronicles the Como Park streetcar line and the bridge built over its tracks; after many years of disrepair, it is now restored and waiting for a good walk in the park.

What if the University of Minnesota had 100,000 Students? asks David Levinson.  In addition to considering impacts on physical development, transit use, and pedagogical considerations, growing the university is viewed in the much larger picture of Minnesota in-migration. Commenters seize upon the idea of the university as a tool for bringing people to Minnesota in the context of recent news about refugees and where to locate them and building a younger, better educated workforce.

Audiovisual department

Visual: Light Rail Crop Art uses our State Fair traditional medium to showcase Metro Transit light rail. Next year I’m thinking someone should create a streets.mn crop art piece with our logo over a montage of streets.mn favorite topics.

Audio: After a little break in the podcast series, Bill Lindeke is back with two this week. Podcast #87: Linda Feltes on Workplace Wellness talks to Linda Feltes, workplace wellness coordinator for the state of Minnesota Office of Management and Budget. Podcast #88: James Warden on the Future of Hopkins records a conversation with James Warden, streets.mn writer and candidate for the Hopkins City Council.

Charts: Three Charts of the Week this week with Parking Pricing and Behavior Change, Income vs Public Transit Access, Cyclist Annual Mortality Rates by Age Group, 1975 – 2013.

Comics: The story continues with Roadkill Bill: Part 5 of Vincent Van Gogh in America.

State Fair? Done. Labor Day? Over. School? Started. Defeat of Jesse James Days (I live in Northfield; we know the State Fair is just a warmup for DJJD)? Almost over. Great fall color is anticipated and it’s time to write something streets.mn. Have a great week and join us at the Nice Ride and streets.mn crowdsource Happy Hour!