I gave this presentation to the Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association (LHNA) Annual Meeting in May 2014. Several people requested that it be made available to the general public, so I have created this brief overview for Streets.MN in anticipation of a Hennepin-Lyndale Reconstruction Project Open House Monday August 4th, 2014 at 6:30 PM at the Walker Art Center. Special […]
This is part 2 of the spotter’s guide to traffic signals. In the previous part I covered early Eagle Signal products. This second part continues with their later products and “everybody else”. Once again, I’ve noted “enthusiast / collector slang” by parenthesis to avoid confusion with official designations for products. Later Eagle models In 1987 […]
Ever look at a traffic signal and wonder how old it is or who make them? What follows is a two part “spotter’s guide” to the traffic signals of Minnesota. There is a certain slang used by people that are used by enthusiasts and collectors of traffic signals. I’ve included it here since it’s useful […]
As the Green Line opened on June 14th, most of us were just excited to finally have a new service plying the busy Central Corridor area, but many were keeping an eye on their clocks and watches, checking its speed against the schedules that had been posted a couple of weeks earlier. On opening weekend, […]
The Minnesota Department of Public Transportation has released a draft of its new five-year Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) at http://www.dot.state.mn.us/safetyplan/pdf/2014_SHSP_060914.pdf I encourage people to read the plan and comment on it. The public only has until July 8 to make comments. Comments should be sent to [email protected] Below are my own comments. They’re super wonky […]
Cross-posted from The Transportationist. The traffic signal at Oak St. SE and Fulton St. SE in Minneapolis is mis-timed/mis-phased/mis-indicated. It has been so for several years. Northbound Pedestrians on the west side are given a red indicator (Don’t Walk) even though Southbound traffic has a green light and green left turn arrow. Clearly Northbound Pedestrians […]
The above chart comes from this 2006 study by Portland State University about redesigning a traffic signal to accommodate (and even prioritize) bicycles by offering them a unique “bicycle scramble signal.” The before picture shows most bicyclists “breaking the law” (the part of the chart in light purple). The after picture shows the reverse. Here’s […]
With the recent news about Green Line training and test trains taking long amounts of time to travel end-to-end from Saint Paul Union Depot to Target Field in Minneapolis, I thought it would be useful to take a look at how long it takes to travel a similar distance on existing buses (according to the […]
On February 12th of this year a woman was killed in Minneapolis while walking in a crosswalk. She had the right of way. She was hit by a truck taking a right turn on red, which trucks are generally legally allowed to do (although not while a person is in a crosswalk): “The driver of […]
One highly trafficked intersection in Minneapolis was layered with interstate lanes in 1971. Although the freeway was buried below, ramps and merging lanes complicate the streets above. This historically influential neighborhood was transformed into a transitory space for the automotive world. Minneapolis can regain this missing district with one driving modification: ‘turn, instead of […]