As the next part in my ongoing series of traffic signals and controllers, here is a look at what the rest of the nation, Canada, and the rest of the world do differently than Minnesota. Minnesota vs the Rest of the Country 1) As I’ve mentioned before, protected only turns (where left turning traffic has […]
Much has been written on Streets.MN about the Southwest LRT project (or Green Line Extension if you prefer). Contributors have been arguing the strengths and weaknesses of the approved 3A (Kenilworth) and dropped 3C (Uptown/Nicollet) routings for years. 3A allows for direct interlining with the existing LRT lines (providing operational savings for Metro Transit) and […]
As part of an ongoing series on traffic signals, here I’m taking a shot at answering some common questions that may come up. 1) What can pedestrian sensors do? Although pedestrian sensors are uncommon for all the usual reasons (cost, engineers don’t see need, old equipment, etc), there are some neat things they can do. […]
The notion that we could, as a society, choose to buy vehicles for those who need to get to school, jobs, or other opportunities requires grossly oversimplifying the goals of urban transit.
It’s mid-July, and that means one thing in Hopkins: Raspberry Festival. This year, though, officials kicked off the city’s biggest week with a little tactical urbanism. The city closed Eighth Avenue to cars Saturday and set up temporary features that gave people a taste of what the street’s future could look like. Eighth Avenue is […]
In downtown Saint Paul, there is a station on the Green Line light rail (LRT) called “Central“. This station is very useful! There’s a skyway connection, and it allows core office workers and casual activity users access to the Metro system. Parked diagonally across a city block, there was always going to be some awkwardness. […]
We talk about safety quite a bit on streets.mn. Rightfully so, it’s one of the biggest threats to public health, a leading cause of injury deaths in many age groups. It’s sometimes helpful to take a step back and look at the big picture, even if we see charts like this all the time. Below […]
This is Part Two in a series about Traffic Signal Controllers. Part One showed various types of controllers and cabinets, here we continue with a closer look at a 1980s-2000s vintage controller: the Eagle EPAC 300, a 16 phase NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) TS-1 controller. There’s not much to it on the outside: a membrane keypad […]
[This is part of streets.mn’s “transpo convo” series, which aims to be an oral history of getting around the Twin Cities, one person at a time.] Kristen is a health care employee who cares deeply about community health and fitness. She wants to set a good example for her family. She has a bicycle trailer […]
An urbanist is never truly on vacation — not when comparing land use and public transit with practices back home becomes a reflexive part of the day.