The Case for an Ayd Mill Bike and Pedestrian Trail
Perhaps the most debated piece of roadway in Minnesota history, St. Paul’s Ayd Mill Road needs to be accessible for more than just cars.
Category: Freeways
A History of Traffic Management Technology
Earlier I wrote about the history of our Interstate Highway System (Part One and Part Two) and how they were partly a 1930s response to growing urban congestion, as big of a threat to the freedom of mobility as mud and ruts were only a few decades before. However the dream of ending congestion didn’t […]
Minnesota River Bridge: an E for Effort
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) […]
Meet a Roundabout: U.S. 61 in Forest Lake
“Meet a Roundabout” is a new series of posts about roundabouts in the Twin Cities area that are improving traffic efficiency and safety. Posts include pictures and video of the roundabout and a history of how it came to be. This is the third post in the series. On Saturday, I drove my father to […]
The Tower Lights of the Freeways
The Moonlight Towers While traveling along the freeways you may have noticed that some lights are mounted on huge towers rather than short poles. The idea of lighting a large area with high-mounted lights dates from the dawn of the electrical era, with carbon arc lights. Here’s one from San Jose. And here is one […]
Meet a Roundabout: I-494 and U.S. 169
Last Monday, I drove my father to a doctor’s appointment in Edina. We don’t usually travel these ways, but his regular general practitioner was on vacation. At the intersection of Interstate 494 and U.S. 169 are six linked roundabouts surrounding the freeway interchange. The two-lane roundabouts — with dedicated lanes for going either right or […]
A History of Highway 100 Part Two: The Parks of Lilac Way
Previously I covered an overview of Highway 100, Lilac Way, including an overview of the roadside parks, Here’s a detailed look at all the parks, from north to south. Lions Park Located in the northeast corner of what is now Bottineau Blvd, this wasn’t part of the original Lilac Way landscaping. It was very […]
A History of Highway 100 Part One: Overview
Previously I covered the history of Minnesota’s trunk highway system. At it’s inception in 1920 the system contained what still is the core of the system. But the new governor, Floyd. B. Olson, championed a massive increase in size and scope of the state government, including a proposal to vastly increase the mileage of the […]
National Links: Expensive Projects and Parking Spaces
Every day at The Overhead Wire 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. […]
A History of Minnesota’s Interstates, Part Two
This is the second part of the history of Interstate Highways in Minnesota. Part One covered the early plans and conceptions of the interstate system, from the 1930s to the Interstate Highway Act of 1956. This concludes with the realization of the system. First, here’s some maps showing the completion of the interstates by decade. […]