Next week is Labor Day weekend, the traditional end of summer (and the end of the State Fair, too).  Have a good post about how to get back to school?  We’d love to hear it along with any last summer stories.

Transit, micro and macro

A few weeks ago, we posted an announcement about an event to ride to Wayzata on Route 645 to be able take the route’s midnight bus back to Minneapolis before the service was terminated.  That trip took place and the  The Midnight Trip From Wayzata Is Gone. But What About The Riders?  Henry Pan organized the trip and reports back on the ride and the people who relied on this route, how well Metro Transit tried to build ridership, and whether the route positioned for success.

Extend the Red Line North before South says Eric Ecklund.  The Red Line currently runs from the Mall of America to Apple Valley and an extension south to Lakeville is being considered.  Instead, Metro Transit should consider going north, “The main purpose of a northern extension is to bring better transit to Richfield and South Minneapolis where the development and population are more likely to use it than auto-centric and lower density developments in Lakeville.”

Conrad Zbikowski is Reimagining Nicollet Mall for Micro-Mobility  For example, “If we keep the current improvements to Nicollet Mall, one easy solution to create bike and scooter lanes — and softly discourage crossing those lanes — would be to add planters to the current 24-foot-wide bus lanes. Other tree planters on Nicollet are 9 feet square. One can imagine trees in wood and concrete planters dividing the bike and scooter traffic. The planters would also softly discourage pedestrians from crossing except at crosswalks at each end and mid-block.”

The saga continues

In Brit Anbach’s series about their process for planning and building an ADU, we hear a bit about two ADUs on this Spring’s Home Tour in Brit Builds An ADU: Home Tour 2019 Follow-Up.

New Bollard Day for 26th Street! by Jesse Lorenz (cross posted from Our Streets Minneapolis) saying, “Up until a week ago, there were only thirteen plastic bollards designating the bike lane on 26th Street between Blaisdell and Lyndale as protected. On the eight block stretch of 26th Street between Lyndale and Hennepin, there was just a single bollard. Most of the missing bollards were accidentally taken out by last winter’s snowplowing, and had been missing since February.” The bollards are back, but the post also makes a call for bike lane protection which is more durable.

 

Monte Castleman continues to enlighten us about the highways of Minnesota with The Tower Lights of the Freeways saying, “While traveling along the freeways you may have noticed that some lights are mounted on huge towers rather than short poles. The idea of lighting a large area with high-mounted lights dates from the dawn of the electrical era, with carbon arc lights.”  The post moves the first tower lights through their development to the present day. As always, lots of pictures and details.

Regular features

Listen: In Podcast #125 – Stopping the Federal Reserve Parking Ramp with Nancy Gardner and Tom Mallon, Bill Lindeke has a conversation with the downtown Minneapolis residents who lead the successful effort to prevent the Federal Reserve Parking Ramp.  Commenters consider transit options for getting to and from the area and observe that the Minneapolis 2040 Plan helped more people understand the importance of zoning and land use.

Links! Links!  Two servings of links from Jeff Wood and The Overhead Wire with National Links: Rising Prices Threaten MicroMobility and National Links: Widening the Sidewalks for Density