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Author Archive | Monte Castleman

Sidewalk by Death Road

Building a Better Bloomington for Bicycles

By on October 15, 2018 in Bicycling, bollard, Infrastructure

A recent post reviewing Bloomington’s Four Lane Death Roads covered the benefits to bicyclists and pedestrians. To follow up, I’m expanding the topic to Bloomington’s bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in general. First up is a photo tour of some of the worst of Bloomington’s existing infrastructure. A Photo Tour of The Worst of Bloomington’s Bike / […]

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Bloomington’s Four-Lane Death Roads Revisited

By on September 18, 2018 in Infrastructure, Streets, Suburbia

One of my first articles for streets.mn was on Bloomington’s Four Lane Death Roads, (four lane undivided roads) written in response to Bill Lindeke’s introductory article on Four-Lane Death Roads.  Four years later it’s time to revisit the subject with updates and additional background material. The Problem With Death Roads: Conflict Points Imagine a typical trip […]

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A History of Minnesota’s Highways, Part 6

By on August 9, 2018 in Freeways, History, Infrastructure

This is Part Six of an ongoing series of the history of Minnesota’s trunk highway system. Part One covered the early days of government and privately built roads. Part Two covered the events leading up to the establishment of the trunk highway system in 1920. Part Three covered the coming of the U.S. numbered highways and the 1920s improvement projects.  Part Four covered […]

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A History of Minnesota’s Highways Part Five

By on June 27, 2018 in Freeways, History, Infrastructure

This is Part Five of an ongoing series of the history of Minnesota’s trunk highway system. Part One covered the early days of government and privately built roads. Part Two covered the events leading up to the establishment of the trunk highway system in 1920. Part Three covered the coming of the U.S. numbered highways and the 1920s improvement projects. And […]

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A History of Minnesota’s Highways: Part Four

By on June 1, 2018 in Freeways, History, Infrastructure

This is Part Four of an ongoing series of the history of Minnesota’s trunk highway system. Part One covered the early days of government and privately built roads. Part Two covered the events leading up to the establishment of the trunk highway system in 1920. Part Three covered the coming of the U.S. numbered highways […]

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A History of Minnesota’s Highways: Part Three

By on April 13, 2018 in Development, Infrastructure, Maps, Transportation

The Construction Programs of the 1920s Previously, Part 1 of this series discussed some early roads in Minnesota’s pioneer era and the privately maintained auto trails in the early motoring era. Part 2 discussed the generation-long ramp-up of state involvement in highway construction, culminating with the inauguration of a system both owned and maintained by […]

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A History of Minnesota’s Highways Part Two

By on March 9, 2018 in History, Maps, Roads

Previously this series covered federal and private involvement in Minnesota’s highways from the pioneer days into the 1920s. Now it’s time to cover the involvement of the state. As early as 1890 there was state involvement in highways, with the state contributing funds towards the Old Cedar and Bloomington Ferry Bridges. A 1898 constitutional amendment allowed […]

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A History of Minnesota’s Highways Part One

By on February 9, 2018 in History, Roads, Transportation

This is the first part of a new series on the history of Minnesota’s highway system. This is not intended to be exhaustive or strictly chronological. Rather the idea is to present certain milestones and points where source material is available and that I think readers will find informative or interesting. There’s also a few […]

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Hospitals Race to the Cornfields

By on January 10, 2018 in Health, Neighborhoods

Previously on this site there was a post on the phenomenon on schools relocating from urban neighborhoods to areas with more space on the fringes of town. Schools have their issues, like parking spaces in the case of high schools for students arriving by car, and space for athletic fields, but the fundamental model of […]

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The Great Bicycle Helmet Controversy

By on December 12, 2017 in Bicycling, Safety

A month ago we took a look at the history of bicycle helmets and data on their usage at various locations in Minnesota. But should a bicycle helmet by mandatory, or even worn in the first place? Everyone points to the original study saying they reduce head injuries by 85% or tells anecdotes about how […]

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