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‘One Killed Here’: Early 20th-Century Minneapolis Traffic Safety Campaigns

By on August 13, 2018 in Cars, Education, History, Media, Public Policy, Streets, Traffic, Walking

The advent of automobiles and accompanying pedestrian casualties shook up Minneapolis. Over the first half of the 20th century, the city saw a series of public awareness campaigns led by municipal government and local newspapers, with slogans that evolved from “Safety Over Sorrow” and “One Killed Here” to “Traffic Victims” and “Safest Big City … […]

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Freeway Interchange Concept

A History of Minnesota’s Highways, Part 6

By on August 9, 2018 in Freeways, History, Infrastructure

This is Part Six of an ongoing series of the history of Minnesota’s trunk highway system. Part One covered the early days of government and privately built roads. Part Two covered the events leading up to the establishment of the trunk highway system in 1920. Part Three covered the coming of the U.S. numbered highways and the 1920s improvement projects.  Part Four covered […]

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‘I Am King of the Streets Because I Am Only a Pedestrian’

By on August 8, 2018 in History, Streets, Walking

  “I am king of the streets because I am only a pedestrian.” That was the philosophy of a self-described lowly municipal employee during his 15 minutes of fame in an article on an inside page of the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune in 1916. Horace E. Johnson sauntered city streets as he wished, the newspaper reported, and […]

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Map Monday: Cycle Tracks from Minneapolis, 1896

By on August 6, 2018 in History, Maps

Via the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society comes this map of the principal cycle runs out of Minneapolis in 1896. It is taken from the Minneapolis Times. It is available for purchase as a reprint from MNHS, but beware its current accuracy or safety.

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The Story of Rice Park

By on August 3, 2018 in History, Parks

Through provident circumstances, Rice Park has been able to maintain the whole of its land and its remarkable features while its surrounding buildings have maintained their handsome architectural solidity, preserving strong edges to the park. In this aspect, these stalwart edges meet architectural historian Christopher Alexander’s statement, in his book A Pattern Language, that “The […]

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The Story of Saint Paul’s Selby Avenue Tunnel

By on July 31, 2018 in History, Streetcars

As Saint Paul’s population grew in the late 19th Century, people began moving out of the city’s core and into residential areas adjacent to downtown. The Selby Avenue streetcar line was built in 1888 to provide people with transportation from their homes on top of the hill to the offices, factories, and shops downtown, and to […]

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Podcast #116: Saint Paul 1978 with George Latimer, David Lanagren, and Jerry Mathiason

By on July 20, 2018 in History, Podcast

Welcome to the streets.mn podcast, Episode 116: Saint Paul 1978 with George Latimer, Jerry Mathiason, and David Lanagren. Today I have a fun conversation for you that I taped back in May. The chat took place between former Saint Paul mayor George Latimer, photographer Jerry Mathiason, and Macalester Geography professor David Lanagren that took place […]

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A History of Minnesota’s Highways Part Five

By on June 27, 2018 in Freeways, History, Infrastructure

This is Part Five of an ongoing series of the history of Minnesota’s trunk highway system. Part One covered the early days of government and privately built roads. Part Two covered the events leading up to the establishment of the trunk highway system in 1920. Part Three covered the coming of the U.S. numbered highways and the 1920s improvement projects. And […]

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Chart of the Day: 1929 Signal Schedule and Traffic Flow Diagram

By on June 22, 2018 in Chart, History

Here’s an insane looking chart from streets.mn alumnus David Levinson’s Transportationist blog, showing a “Typical Signal Schedule and Traffic Flow Diagram, North-South across Market Street, San Francisco (1929) [with a] “green wave” set to 10.5 MPH.” Peep your eyes on this! The complex trade-offs that go into something as seemingly simple as how to program […]

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Restoring Summit Avenue’s Historic Bike Lanes

By on June 22, 2018 in Bicycling, History

The recent death of cyclist Alan Grahn on Saint Paul’s Summit Avenue has rightfully fueled a movement to improve Summit’s bike infrastructure with protected bike lanes and improved intersection design. As the city’s main east/west cycling corridor, Summit is heavily used year round by both commuters and recreational cyclists but lacks the protections of the […]

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