The Old ShakopeeRoad/98th Street Corridor is one of the east-west thoroughfares of Bloomington. It’s also an outdated roadway. Several segments are a four-lane death road, the sidewalks are narrow and buckling, and traffic typically goes 5 to 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. The route has several high-traffic destinations, including the Mall of […]
In my recent streets.mn article, “Want Equitable Cities? We’ll Need More Women in Transportation Planning,” I argued that women’s under-representation in transportation planning and policy making leads to the creation of urban spaces that fail to meet the needs of girls and women. I ended the article with a bold question: What would cities look […]
By popular demand, we moved the recent streets.mn Happy Hour (a good time was had by all) over to Lyndale Avenue earlier this month to team up with the group of courageous and dedicated folks who are trying to make it safe to cross Lyndale Avenue South on foot. They held what they called the […]
Pickup trucks have not always been this size. A pictorial history of current truck models.
I wanted to take a moment to pause and look back at 2019, which was a brutal year for people walking in Saint Paul. Last year, five people were killed by automobile violence, making it an especially tragic year. For every name here, there were many more people hit and injured by people driving cars […]
I wish I could sing or play an instrument, because I’d like to make a recording of the alternate lyrics I made up for the classic Dionne Warwick song “Don’t Make Me Over,” written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. I may have been inspired by the version of “Old Town Road” about Saint Paul’s […]
I was on 6th Street, carefully navigating three lanes of traffic and construction. I signaled my turn as I eased into the left lane, aware of drivers moving urgently around me. Suddenly I bounced, failed to reestablish grip, and tumbled. I rolled off my bike and onto concrete. Something hit my knee bad enough to […]
I tend to navigate by landmarks and familiar routes more than street names, especially when I’m riding a bike. After all, my focus is usually on the conditions that directly affect my safety, health and wellbeing more than street signs. Namely, the people in cars with whom I’m sharing the road. So it took me […]
Yet another person riding a bicycle was killed in the Twin Cities yesterday. This person was killed by a vehicle driver at N 12th St and Linden Ave in Downtown Minneapolis. A box truck driver, who was towing construction equipment, made a right turn and collided with the bicyclist. It’s not the first time […]
Cars and trucks parked in bike lanes seems like one of those enforcement challenges that isn’t going to get resolved anytime soon. Even if you bothered to call it in, the offending Uber or UPS or pizza delivery driver would be long gone by the time police arrived. It seems that keeping bike lanes clear […]