I have previously written about what a fantastic urban bikeway the Bruce Vento Trail is. My family and I continue to use it frequently, including my now 5 year old daughter on her own two-wheeler. However, there are some major safety issues. At intersections we would like the travel of the bicycle to remain parallel […]
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 […]
Every motorist has concerns when driving: This road is too curvy, that bicyclist came out of nowhere, that pedestrian shouldn’t cross the street there. Luckily, there’s a quick & easy solution to most of these concerns: Drive more slowly. Sure, we feel pressure to get places faster, pressure from the annoying driver behind us, social […]
Engineers have a lot of options in how they design our streets and roads, how safe they make them, who they serve well and who they serve poorly. This post will examine why road design is so important, its underlying philosophy and, finally, some specific design options and why various elements are important. A future […]
This is “Meet a Roundabout,” 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 they came to be. This is the first post in the series. On a recent beautiful Wednesday night, […]
Starting May 13, electric scooters have returned to the streets of Minneapolis. The city green-lit contracts with four network operators, Jump, Lime, Lyft, and Spin, and as of May 13, Lime and Spin are operating in the city. Jump is a brand of Uber Technologies Inc. and Spin is owned by Ford Motor Co. Lime, […]
A Minneapolis resident and daily pedestrian ponders whether the intersection of Hennepin and 1st Street downtown could be redesigned for all travel modes.
I hate cigarette smoke, and I know I’m not alone. My dad used to smoke all the time. I vividly remember him smoking while we were waiting for the bus. It was smelly and disgusting. But my dad doesn’t smoke anymore. He has been cigarette-free for close to 20 years. Others seem to have trouble […]
When you regularly walk, ride transit, bike, or use any combination of those modes, you often have stuff to carry with you, and a previous streets.mn post about packing for the walking + transit commute included robust discussion in the comments about needs and preferences for life outside a personal vehicle. Does the forecast include […]
Here’s a map of the city of Minneapolis taken from the recent report that put together a massive amount of city-wide crash data. Here’s one of the maps in the study, which shows the crash density for the key “concentration” corridors where the bulk of the city’s crashes are located: The study has a lot […]