Category: Signals

I-35W Mississippi River Bridge

Summer 2021 Highway News Roundup

As the 2021 construction season moves into high gear, I thought I’d try something different and write about a few things that have gone on around the state the past year, interesting enough to present here but probably not deserving of their own full article. The St. Francis Highway 47 Safety Project by St. Francis […]

A highway with a traffic light for left turns.

Highway 280: Put It Back the Way It Was

Highway 280 was transformed into a freeway in the wake of the I-35W bridge collapse in 2007. Now MnDOT is making it bigger and faster, even though the reason for the upgrade has long since disappeared.

Pedestrian feet in a busy crosswalk

Near Side Signals: Thinking Outside the Pedestrian Box

How often do you think about stoplights? Not just to acknowledge that the light is green or red or how many times the “Don’t Walk” hand on the pedestrian crosswalk counter has flashed so you know how long you have to cross, but the design and placement of that signal. (The red hand flashes 17 […]

Hennepin Crossing Mpls

Prioritize People on East Hennepin, Not Cars

When people are asked how a busy street could be made safer, two suggestions always come up. For better or worse these are: put in a stoplight, or put in stop signs. For example, local business representatives recently called for a stoplight on every block of Lyndale Ave S after Ted Ferrara was killed by […]

Roundabout Wsp

Meet a Roundabout: Wentworth Ave

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, […]

Hennepin Roundabout

What if Hennepin Ave Had a Roundabout?

I was waiting for the number 6 bus at Hennepin Ave and S 1st St, near where I live, and I was watching the vehicle traffic. I noticed that the semaphore intersection was not very efficient at handling left turn vehicles. There was a part of the cycle when left turns in both directions on […]

Minnesota State Capitol Before

A Charming Third, or Tilting At Windmills

Welcome to Winter! In addition to the cold and snow, we are in the early parts of the the 2019-2020 Minnesota Legislative Session. Among the many hundreds of bills that have been introduced so far, bicycle-related legislation has been introduced in the House (HF 462) and the Senate (SF 1014). This proposed legislation, which seems […]

A Dangerous Crossing in Coon Rapids

One Month Later: A RRFB Crossing Failed

Just over a month after I wrote a post criticizing county traffic engineers for a half-baked attempt at protecting pedestrians and cyclists crossing busy streets, I unfortunately was proven right by a crossing in Anoka County. On November 20 two girls crossing Highway 47 at Pederson Drive in St. Francis were struck at the crosswalk […]