When Bill Lindeke reminded me that streets.mn turns 10 round about now, I was sort of surprised – it feels both younger and older than 10 simultaneously. In 1867, 154 years ago, the Minneapolis Tribune was founded; it remains with us today. Ten years ago streets.mn launched, so has been around for about 6.5% of the life of the […]
Since I have moved to Sydney, which is to say, very recently, Sydney has seen the emergence of stationless bike sharing. I saw this in China in May, and now it is here. Technology deploys very quickly these days. I signed up for the first entrant, Reddy Go quickly, and gave them a deposit, but didn’t get […]
We don’t do enough street reviews on streets.mn. I aim to help rectify that gap. The neighborhood of Prospect Park in Minneapolis has recently experienced the trauma of a road resurfacing. Franklin Avenue SE, which forms the East-West spine through the neighborhood (map), usually connecting old Minneapolis west of the River with St. Paul east has […]
On Sunday June 12, I took the A-Line from Snelling and University to 46th Street Station, switched buses, took the A-Line to Rosedale, switched buses, and took the A-Line to Snelling and University Avenue again, making a full circuit on 3 buses. Smelling that new bus smell, it smells like victory. The waiting at the […]
This is a report on some work my colleagues and I have done evaluating accessibility on the soon-to-open Metro Transit A-Line BRT running from Rosedale to the Blue Line in Minneapolis. The line improves speeds on the local bus line through various improvements, most notably all-door boarding. Most notably, it increases frequency and reduces the number of stops. […]
Endosymbiosis in biology refers to the idea that organelles of eukaryotic cells (like mitochondria and chloroplasts) were originally free-living micro-organisms that combined symbiotically (to mutual benefit). In Chapter 7: Good Roads of The Transportation Experience: Second Edition, we identify an example of what we might call techno-endosymbiosis, when we write: Charles Kettering developed the electric starter, which […]
Important Dates Institute dates & times: July 11-22, 2016 (9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, Monday through Friday) Application deadline: April 1, 2016 Applicants informed of admission: April 29, 2016 About the Institute Are you interested in learning about science, engineering, and transportation in an interactive, hands-on environment? Do you want to explore careers and education opportunities related […]
This blog is about streets and yet we rarely talk about pavements, the road surface itself. The most common materials are bituminous asphalt and concrete, with asphalt more common on low volume local roads and concrete on higher volume freeways. The general reputation is that concrete is stronger and longer lasting but more expensive and […]
Neighborhoods change. Technologies change. Economies change. While today a Distribution Center is advantageous in the West Midway Industrial Area, because the sunk costs are sunk and all the buildings are built and relocating is expensive, that might not always be true. Eventually these structures will be obsolete for the demands of the day, or a […]
The following organization may be of interest to streets.mn readers: On January 16th, over 50 people came to the Self-Driving Vehicles for Minnesotans with Disabilities kick-off event and explored how we might make self-driving vehicles accessible, reliable and affordable to many Minnesotans with disabilities. Representative Jason Isaacson (in person), and Senator Matt Schmit (by pre-recorded video) declared their support […]