The new I-35W Minnesota River Bridge will include a “pedestrian trail” to accommodate walkers and bikers across the Minnesota River. This is great news for folks commuting across the Minnesota River, as the nearest year-round crossing of the river is seven miles downstream at I-494. There’s a catch, though. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) […]
I was walking through the skyway near Nicollet Mall on Monday and watching the backed up traffic below. Single occupancy fossil fuel vehicles, car commuters, were “blocking the box” and preventing buses full of other commuters from getting home on time. The flow of pedestrians at every signal cycle was more than the number of […]
I have previously written about what a fantastic urban bikeway the Bruce Vento Trail is. My family and I continue to use it frequently, including my now 5 year old daughter on her own two-wheeler. However, there are some major safety issues. At intersections we would like the travel of the bicycle to remain parallel […]
Engineers have a lot of options in how they design our streets and roads, how safe they make them, who they serve well and who they serve poorly. This post will examine why road design is so important, its underlying philosophy and, finally, some specific design options and why various elements are important. A future […]
With the Park Board’s Water Works project’s phase one underway, and improvements being made all along the river, I talked with two local Park Board commissioners, Jono Cowgill and Chris Meyer, about the future of West River Parkway, the parkway system, and Minneapolis parks. Both share a vision for a parkway system that returns to […]
I walk around the Minneapolis Marcy-Holmes neighborhood often. I didn’t realize that they have a few, new neighborhood improvements planned and I became really curious. One is the new (finally) 5th St SE pedestrian and bicycle bridge plan that crosses over I-35W per this tweet and thread. Many people cross this narrow bridge every day […]
Have you ever passed a bus stop and thought, “Damn, I feel so bad for anyone who has to catch their bus at that stop“? Even if you never ride the bus I’m certain everyone has seen at least one bus stop where they have had this thought. I’m deeply familiar with Saint Louis Park […]
A late-winter snow surge has shown up the inadequacies in keeping streets clear for anybody not in an automobile.
With 39 inches of snowfall in four weeks, the 2019 winter is shattering records — along with expectations that snow be cleared equitably for all travel modes.
Municipal sidewalk clearing in Richfield helps those who use strollers or wheelchairs — as well as people who simply don’t want to risk a fall.