Lies in City Planning
In April, Minneapois Public Works released the results of a survey showing strong community support for reopening 38th & Chicago to vehicle traffic. Just one problem: it wasn’t true.
Category: Planning
Beyond 2030: Looking at Intercity Rail in Minnesota
A look at the future of Minnesota’s intercity rail beyond Duluth and Chicago
The M.U.T.C.D. Revisited
From the FHWA website:“The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways or MUTCD defines the standards used by road managers nationwide to install and maintain traffic control devices on all public streets, highways, bikeways and private roads open to public travel”. It is “a compilation of national standards for all traffic control […]
On Hennepin: Good Ancestors Build Better Neighborhoods
For the sake of our collective wellbeing—and the just transition that those little hands are relying on us to deliver—we must allow ourselves to plan not for the past that has failed us, but instead, for a shared vision of a healed community in a thriving future.
Hennepin Avenue: The View from the Transit Station
The City of Minneapolis has proposed two options for the redesign of Hennepin Avenue. The primary difference between these choices is the presence of a two-way off-street bike path in one, but not the other. The attention on the redesign poses two simultaneous questions: Which of the two options is better, and should the entire […]
Hennepin Avenue: A Parable of Road Design in America
It’s possible you’ve heard this joke before: A motorist, a pedestrian, and a bicyclist are sitting at a table that has a dozen cookies on it. The motorist grabs 11 of the cookies and when the other two are reaching for what they each assumed was their cookie, the motorist exclaims: “Watch out! The bicyclist […]
Urban Parking, Suburban Style
I recently attended an open house put on by the City of Minneapolis to discuss two options for the upcoming reconstruction of Hennepin Ave from Douglas to Lake Street. In a sign of progress on street design in Minneapolis, both designs reduce car traffic to a single lane to promote traffic calming and to provide space […]
Rail vs Bus along the Midtown Greenway
By 2024, the B Line will be operational and provide rapid bus service along Lake Street, Marshall Avenue, and Selby Avenue between West Lake Station in Minneapolis and Downtown St. Paul. Just north of Lake Street is a former railroad trench, now partially occupied by the popular Midtown Greenway trail, that for years has been […]
Hennepin Avenue Hopes: Visions for a People-Centered Corridor
I’ve been daydreaming of Hennepin Avenue’s redo since its reconstruction was first announced a few years ago. Using streetmix (a free browser-based app), I created a cross-section of what I think Hennepin should look like, as a people-oriented community corridor and transit route designed as if science matters. The terrifying scientific consensus on the timeline […]
Hennepin Avenue Reconstruction Must Move Beyond Cars
Help design Hennepin Ave (in Uptown, Minneapolis) for the future, and help reduce climate change. Call in for the virtual open house, March 2 or 4, 2021.