August 14, 2015 Macalester-Groveland, Merriam Park, Lexington-Hamline, Como Park 16.2 Miles Cleveland Avenue, because of its proximity to my house, is the north-south street on which I ride most often. Despite that, I am still surprised by a sight or two on or near Cleveland. On Selby Avenue, three houses east of Cleveland, […]
I’ve spent a lot of time on mapping projects over the past several years, focusing in particular on rail lines through Minnesota and nearby regions. Since the state and national rail networks peaked in the 1920s, and have been shrinking ever since, a lot of that mapping has been a bit depressing. There have been […]
The Rochester Post-Bulletin reports that a critical piece of Minnesota infrastructure would be open today, if not for the legislative deadlock that prevented a comprehensive transportation funding package last session. This bridge serves County Road O, a critical east–west link in Dodge County just south of Claremont. “A bridge in Dodge County has become the […]
Working on a recent story for a community paper, I got to interview Austin Granger, holder of the Guinness world record for the largest KNEX ball machine structure in the world, which is located in the Brickmania offices in Northeast Minneapolis. During our chat, he started telling me about the most elaborate and difficult part […]
I am what transit professionals would call a choice rider. I have a well paying job and a rather new car at home. However, I choose transit and biking to commute to work, rather than driving. Because of this preference I’ve arranged my life so that transit and biking are more convenient for many of […]
Via Pedal Fort Collins, here’s a simple chart showing the basic relationship between vehicle weight and the amount of “damage” or wear that is caused to the roadway. The relationship is pretty straightforward, but thanks to the magic of gasoline, people often forget to think about the weight disparities on our roads. Thus the chart, where […]
Last week Saint Paul completed a very short, but very important bicycle and pedestrian improvement. The one-third mile off-street path connects West 7th Street to Shepard Road and the Minnesota River Trail (MRT) Bikeway. While it does not have everything I would have asked for if Saint Paul Public Works used the “What Dana Wants” […]
Like many municipalities across Minnesota, Public Works is the largest department in the City of Minneapolis. From streets and snow plowing, to recycling, drinking water and stormwater, Public Works employees design, build, operate and maintain a diverse amount of infrastructure. Public Works may often be thought of as a nuts-and-bolts department focused on maintenance and […]
Perpetuating the status quo is sadly the way things are done in Saint Paul. The inertia of what has always been carries a lot of weight here. The latest example can be found on Summit Avenue in the form of the annual repainting of the door zone lane. Below is the current Summit lane sizing: […]
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. […]