Touring the Root River State Trail, Part 1
A cyclist tours readers (and riders) through the Root River State Trail, a long, Midwestern interstate trail that intersects with Fountain, Lanesboro and other communities.
Category: Greater Minnesota
A Minnesota Trunk Highway to Be Relocated
Highway 67 in Western Minnesota will be permanently rerouted this fall. The road, which provides access to Upper Sioux Agency Park, suffered from a slope failure in 2019, inflicting infrastructural damage that was not cost-effective to repair.
Summer 2022 Highway News Roundup
Google Maps Silliness Minnesota has about a hundred legally named highways and bridges, written into law in Minnesota Statute § 161.14. Some of the early ones like the Viking Trail and the Sioux Trail were possibly intended to mark motoring touring routes. But overwhelmingly the highways are named in memory of local politicians, veterans or […]
Spring 2022 Highway News Roundup
The Chestnut Street Pedestrian Plaza Project to Get Underway in Stillwater As part of the ongoing effort to revitalize its waterfront and reclaim its downtown from the traffic in the wake of the St Croix Crossing opening, Stillwater is prepared to rebuild a two-block section of Chestnut Street leading up to the lift bridge. After […]
Beyond 2035: MNDOT’s Stretch Goals and Blind Spots
Taking a closer look at passenger rail routes that have mostly gone unstudied by MNDOT.
Skating the Riverbend Trail in Warroad, Minnesota
Escaping from COVID can mean a brisk walk outdoors, a visit with a vaccinated friend — or venturing to Warroad, Minnesota, to skate the 5.2-mile Riverbend Trail.
Highway News Roundup, Fall 2021
E-ZPass Electronic Toll Interoperability is Now Here As I’ve written about several times before, there was a 2012 federal mandate to have electronic toll collection be interoperable nationwide by 2016. In practical terms this would mean you’d be able to use your same toll transponder to pay tolls nationwide. That deadline came and went without […]
Take it on Down to Highway 61: A Book Review
Nathan Johnson’s Highway 61 Through Minnesota is published by Arcadia Press in their Images of America series. The series has, according to their website, a whopping 8,223 titles. Just 69 of these are from Minnesota. It’s a proven format, almost certainly a commercial success, and yet I’m sad to report it doesn’t really work for […]
Beyond 2030: Looking at Intercity Rail in Minnesota
A look at the future of Minnesota’s intercity rail beyond Duluth and Chicago
Streets.mn Virtual Happy Hour: Rethinking Duluth’s Core
Have you ever driven, ridden or walked around in Duluth and noticed how Interstate 35 cuts through the city almost impenetrably? Perhaps you have noticed the sheer scale of the freeway and overpasses and their seeming lack of relation to the context of the human-scaled surroundings? Maybe you wish there were more natural spaces, softer […]