Today reconstruction of the Old Cedar Bridge is well underway. Previously we looked at the history of the bridge and how we got to the final decision that the bridge will be restored. This article continues with the actual restoration and construction process. The Nuts and Bolts of Restoration When restoring an old structure. There’s […]
Today, I want to continue to look at some of the substantial bicycle and pedestrian improvements planned in the Bloomington area. The first part took a look at the plans to complete a major missing link in our paved trail network through the river bottoms. These second and third parts are look at a separate […]
A proud resident defends his city against accusations that an aging housing stock, declining schools and few young adults render it bland.
Recently there’s been a lot of controversy about filling in a link in our protected bicycle trail network, the portion of the Minnesota Valley State Trail through the Minnesota River Bottoms in Bloomington. The idea to add a paved trail to the existing dirt mountain bike trail is nothing new, the concept of a trail from […]
This is one idea of what the state trunk highway system could look like in the future, perhaps 30 years out. I’ve pointedly avoided calling it a “fantasy” map, since it’s based mostly on official planning documents, not me drawing lines wherever I think a new freeway would be cool. I’ve also excluded the “I-894 […]
Street lights are disappearing in Bloomington. Last summer I noticed red spray-paint on a bunch of the poles on Lyndale Ave. Then they started to disappear. One day I drove out during my lunch hour, and crews were literally cutting them down with a Sawzall. An email to the city revealed that many of the […]
Previously I wrote about the past and present of my neighborhood, the Oxboro neighborhood of Bloomington. There’s been a few modest improvements for bicycles and pedestrians, including the addition of countdown pedestrian signals and this new sidewalk to the VEAP social services building with a rectangular rapid flashing beacon, and new marked crosswalk to cross […]
I’ve lived in the Oxboro area of Bloomington my entire life, 3/4 of a mile from the major commercial area at 98th St. and Lyndale Ave. Although most of my shopping is done at big box stores in other areas, this is where I go to the bank, get lunch at the drive-thru, drop off mail at the […]
I’ve always loved road trips. On my old, long defunct North Star Highways site (still the name of my Flickr account), I would do what I call phototours, road trips focusing on “roadgeeking.” Flickr is a good place for photos, but not for narrative, and I thought this would be an appropriate place to for […]
On Oct 1, 2012 the federal Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) legislation came into effect, which among other things mandated that all Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) facilities on federally funded highway be interoperable by Oct 1, 2016. That would mean that someone from Maine could use their toll transponder in California. […]