Map Monday: Saint Paul What Even Am I Looking At

Here’s a map on the wall at the new Treasure Island Center in downtown Saint Paul, which is the old Macy’s Building which was the old Dayton’s, which was designed by famous mall architect and quasi-pedestrian-focused architect Victor Gruen to be a windowless box. Today it has windows in it thanks to a drastic deconstructive remodel courtesy of the Saint Paul Port Authority, which owns the building now.

Anyway, inside the walls of the new/old building are a few large “arts” and graphical images bearing slogans such as “Something is Happening” and “THERE’S A NEWNESS IN SAINT PAUL”, along with this map.

But, other than showing the central portion of the city of Saint Paul, what is this even a map of?

Weird Port Authority St Paul Map

So I have stared at this map for an hour and cannot figure out what is going on here. Is it past or present or future transit lines?

No, no, and no.

Weird freeway-centered lines and blobs, a pink line up Jackson Street, random dots, some sort of jogged line on Selby Avenue, a line down Highway 52…

Please leave theories of what this map is supposed to be in the comments.

Come see it for yourself at the streets.mn Happy Hour this Thursday! The Stacked Deck Brewery is conveniently located on the other side of the building.

Bill Lindeke

About Bill Lindeke

Pronouns: he/him

Bill Lindeke has writing blogging about sidewalks and cities since 2005, ever since he read Jane Jacobs. He is a lecturer in Urban Studies at the University of Minnesota Geography Department, the Cityscape columnist at Minnpost, and has written multiple books on local urban history. He was born in Minneapolis, but has spent most of his time in St Paul. Check out Twitter @BillLindeke or on Facebook.