There’s been a lot of news (and misinformation) over the past few days about Tesla Autopilot (AP). Primarily about the NHTSA opening a Preliminary Evaluation of AP performance in relation to a crash on May 7 in Florida that resulted in a man losing his life. More recently there was a crash in Pennsylvania with […]
Larger version of map (24×36 PDF) Preface Since Bill did a phone interview with me about this map and wrote about it last Monday, I figured I should explain this map in greater detail, such as my reasoning behind creating it. This article contains my motives, the process of creating the map, the limitations of […]
Analyzing a Corridor Previously we went into what the warrants for signals were and went through some examples. So now let’s look at all the signals on a corridor. I picked South Lyndale Ave (with the exception of the signal at the ramp to MN 62, which is Mn/DOT operated. I’m going to cheat and just […]
If you’ve ever wondered what the essential difference is between Minneapolis and St. Paul, I would argue it’s the degree of wackiness happening at public meetings about bike lanes (and how those bike lanes affect things like traffic and parking). Minneapolis has largely accepted them, while St. Paul is still fighting the good fight. I didn’t set out to make movies […]
Every day at The Direct Transfer we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list. At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the DC region. […]
Last week, I went to the Downtown Public Library for a meeting on the Hennepin Avenue Reconstruct, which encompasses the street from Washington Ave to 12th. As I often do when headed downtown, I walked Hennepin, weaving between slower foot traffic, waiting impatiently at poorly timed lights, and enjoying the pleasure of moving under my own […]
Part I: Gas Stations: Not So Long For This World? Part II: Gas Stations: Will They Survive The Rise Of Plug-In Hybrids? Sidebar: Econ 101: Why I’ll Never Buy A Gas Car Again. Lifecycle Changeover: Legacy ICE Giving Way To Early Majority PEVs Tesla expects to be producing 500,000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) per year […]
Unless really necessary I wouldn’t buy a new gas-only car—one with an internal combustion engine, or ICE. I’d either purchase something with a plug or wait until there was a plug-in option for what I want. This isn’t a green decision, but a financial one based on operating costs and resale value. A plug-in electric […]
Continued from an earlier post on gas stations. Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) like the Chevy Volt and Volvo XC90 may have a greater impact on the demise of gas stations than pure electric BEVs. PHEVs will play a transitional role as they are not as big of a mental leap for car buyers as […]
In my post about some redevelopment in Shoreview I mentioned the likely closing of the Hill Blacksmith shop in the coming years. Some took exception, saying that they didn’t think it very likely, especially since it was built only recently in 1883. We’ve used horses for centuries and they’ve served us well. I do think […]