This is Part Three in my series on the new Stillwater Bridge; the series continues with further design revisions and some odds and ends. Part One looked at the history from vague 1950s proposals to the doomed 1995 plan. Part Two covered further design proposals as well as the trials and tribulations leading up to […]
Protected bicycle lanes were installed on the Plymouth Avenue bridge while it was undergoing repairs in 2013. Since that time the bridge has seen an 81% increase in bicycle traffic; quite the increase indeed. How are we to interpret this? On the one hand it is obviously a success in that riders clearly have chosen […]
When a Final Design Isn’t This is Part Two of a series on the new Stillwater Bridge, now officially known as the St. Croix Crossing. Part One dealt with 1950s era mutterings up to the 1995 selection of a preferred alternative. But as everyone knows there was plenty of opposition. Although final design work (costing $1 Million) and […]
Given Thursday’s collapse of a bridge on interstate 35 in Texas I thought it timely to share this hilarious segment from the HBO show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, on the state of infrastructure in the United States. The segment includes an awesome mock film trailer that, unfortunately, cannot be embedded here on it’s […]
The bright orange sign has been out there for weeks — “Road Work Beginning April 1: Expect Delays” — forcing drivers and residents to bite their nails and re-think their summer plans. But city sources revealed that the bridge closure is not happening after all. The signs were placed in an attempt to be more light-hearted […]
Another big transportation event is happening this week in the Minnesota State Capitol. Sponsored and organized by Transit for Livable Communities and Move MN, Thursday, February 12 is Transportation Day of Action. The main event of the day will be a march from the National Guard Armory (600 Cedar Street) to the State Capitol. Supporters can […]
Last Wednesday (February 4) I attended a public presentation by Ramsey County engineers for a proposed redesign of the Randolph and Lexington Avenue intersection. They are proposing to spend a million and a half dollars to purchase four properties on the northeast corner of the intersection and bulldoze them to make space for a dedicated […]
Part I: The Backstory Behind the Bridge Undoubtedly the highest profile road project in Minnesota is the new bridge at Stillwater, the St. Croix Crossing. (The project was originally known officially as the Stillwater-Houlton Bridge, or colloquially just the Stillwater Bridge, before the present name). Although there is a lot of current information available, the […]
There’s quite a bit of chitter-chatter about lidding the I35W interstate through Cedar-Riverside, coming out of downtown. First, the Star-Tribune wrote about it. Then Charlie Zelle mentioned it at Policy & A Pint on January 16: Charlie Zelle’s mention of putting a lid on 35W between downtown & U of M solicits cheers from the […]
As 2014 closes, I thought I would compile a list of some notable highway projects of the year. These are simply ones that caught my fancy, and since most of us know about the local projects, are mainly outstate or nationwide. 1) The Saint Croix Crossing ($582-$646 Million, MN share $306-$362 Million) Not really outstate, but […]