Many of us traveled for the holidays, and many of the Streets community shared their experiences of traveling by Amtrak. It is very true that when moving on flat ground in a straight line, trains on steel wheels and rails are the most efficient form of transportation. Rolling on steel rails reduces rolling resistance and […]
“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 […]
As you may be aware, trees mitigate carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. As such, tree planting has gained popularity as a form of carbon offset, with some cities and states providing incentives to plant trees as an offset activity. This 2015 study of the Twin Cities suggests that trees can help, but that they […]
A friend recently attempted a bit of tactical urbanism to make the North Cedar Lake Trail crossing at W 36th St in Saint Louis Park safer. The popular Cedar Lake Trail is closed and detoured to this section of the North Cedar Lake Trail, trail use has increased quite obviously here. He tweeted about it […]
Via peerless local cartographer Scott Shaffer’s Twitter feed, here are some maps showing the median age of Minnesotans by county. Here’s the fascinating 2010 map: And here’s the map showing how median ages have changed from 1980 to 2010. As you can see, there are distinct patterns when it comes to the metro area […]
It’s not Monday, but in honor of July 4th, we bring you Google‘s look at uniquely searched BBQ sauces, by state: As you can see, Minnesota’s unique search trend is Korean BBQ. Wisconsin and our Dakotan neighbors want homemade sauce. And Iowa? Sugar free. (All righty then, although part of the point of barbecue sauce […]
Here’s a map from Saint Paul’s draft Climate Action Plan, which is out right now for comment. It shows a composite of vulnerability to poor air quality, extreme heat, and flooding, as well as some other social factors that vary by neighborhood. Here’s the overall big picture for the city: The plan has the […]
If all goes according to plan, Saint Paul’s first ever Pedestrian Plan is set to for passage this month. It’s a large document that tries to look at how the city can improve infrastructure and the environment for people walking around. (See also the podcast about this plan.) The plan has a few interesting maps, […]
There’s a new study about park and rides and highway express buses that came out of the University of Minnesota’s CTS (Center for Transportation Studies) a few months ago. I just got a chance to look through it, and there are some cool / depressing maps that I wanted to share. The study is about […]
Via Slate, here’s an interesting map that shows automobile ownership per capita across the Twin Cities’ metro. It’s from a recent Trulia dataset that does this for the whole country, and lets you easily glimpse the car ownership rates across the country. Here’s the TC: Two basic patterns emerge: the low-car areas correspond with both […]