In 2020, Tesla is expected to release the Model Y, a battery-electric hatchback “SUV” that will compete with the recently announced Ford Mustang Mach-E and other crossover-type electric fastbacks. Putting aside all the arguments why electric cars will not save the planet in general, let’s explore whether these new family wagons are even better than […]
Walking All the Streets of Lyndale, Day 2
On a beautiful fall day, I walked all of the Lyndale neighborhood that I had missed on my prior walk. Actually, not quite all. Construction activity closed much of Stevens Avenue even for pedestrians, so those blocks appear in neither route. One indirect consequence is that this second route isn’t a closed loop; it starts under […]
2019: My Year of Biking
I started 2019 with what seemed a relatively simple goal: to ride my bike every day in January. I succeeded with that, and then kept going. I rode through February, March, and April, before finally deciding to keep it up as long as I could. I kept a log of my adventures on Twitter, and […]
Don’t Run Us Over
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 […]
Help Wanted: Volunteer Editors for streets.mn
streets.mn has openings for volunteer editors. Responsibilities include: Proofreading text and correcting spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors Reviewing factual correctness of information, such as dates and statistics Checking text for style, readability, and adherence to editorial policies AssistingContributors in formatting articles, particularly images Communicating with Contributors surrounding changes made or suggested, or issues with editorial […]
How Minneapolis Can Become A Transit City In One Decade
In the past month, the excellent transit blogger Alon Levy has written two posts that have particular relevance for places like the Twin Cities. This isn’t always the case, since Levy is more commonly focused on America’s older and larger transit systems (especially New York). His perspective is shaped by having lived in a number […]
#eBikeThoughts: Rage Against the Machine
Electric bikes have a chance to succeed where traditional bicycles have failed. By adding the assistance of a small motor, eBikes are starting to chip away at some of the excuses why drivers won’t switch to cycling as a primary or even supplementary means of transportation. Although adoption is relatively new in the United States, […]
Car Subsidy as a Cost-Recovery Measure for St. Paul: Time to CARPe Diem
The Climate Action and Resilience Plan (CARP) recently passed by the St. Paul City Council is an excellent, and necessary, first step to move St. Paul toward a sustainable future. You can read the plan here. Making the plan’s vision a reality will require developing many specifics that the plan does not flesh out. It’s […]
National Links: Transport Planners and Econ 101
Every day at The Overhead Wire we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list. At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the D.C. region. […]
Transpo Convo: Seeking the Best Holiday Light Displays
[This is part of streets.mn’s “transpo convo” series, which aims to to be an oral history of getting around the Twin Cities, one person at a time.] One Friday night, my family and I had the luck of catching the Holiday bus. As we rode, we noticed other holiday lights and decorations along the route. […]
Festivus 2019: Detours For The Rest of Us
It is time once again to honor Festivus with decor and activities befitting the day, as we do each year. The Festivus Pole We shall start the observance with a pole. While we have done this before and so you may think us lazy, we are going with a bollard once again for our pole, […]
Free Idea: Plow Bicycle Boulevards
It’s winter. Biking is people-centered and cultivates delight. Therefore we need more posts about winter biking. The two posts linked in that last sentence were about winter biking gear. That’s a great and useful topic, but I want to talk about something else: space. To me, the biggest challenge to winter biking isn’t temperature or, […]
Walking All the Streets of Lyndale, Day 1
The Lyndale neighborhood is named for the Lyndale School, which in turn was named for Lyndale Avenue. The original school was immediately east of the avenue, where Painter Park now is. The avenue was in turn named for William S. King’s Lyndale Farm, but that was to the west of the avenue. The neighborhood runs east from Lyndale Avenue […]
Filling in Some Gaps
While reading Brandon Lust’s recent post about the new Plymouth Road trail in Minnetonka, I noticed several small gaps that I wished to fill. With his (and StreetsMN’s) gracious approval, I’m doing so in a post instead of via comments on the original post. Thank you both, and thank you reader for bearing with me! […]
National Links: A Modest Increase in Density
Every day at The Overhead Wire we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list. At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the D.C. region. […]
“Rethinking I-94,” Galaxy Brain-Style
For a few years now, MnDOT, the state’s transportation agency, has been promoting its “Rethinking I-94” plan, making a big deal out of hand-wringing and soul searching about the future of the state’s busiest and most urban freeway. I’ve gone to a few meetings about it, and — in a rare television appearance — I […]
Why Do We Let the Police Define Safety?
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 […]
National Links: Ford Site TIF, Parking Lots as Golden Opportunities
Every day at The Overhead Wire we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list. At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the D.C. region. […]
Saint Paul by Bike: A Short Jaunt to Ford
August 30, 2019 3.9 Miles Highland Park The State Fair, or more accurately, a park and ride lot for the State Fair, gave me the chance to check out a usually off-limits part of the old Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant (TCAP) and grounds. The 22-acre area is between Mississippi River Boulevard and the Mississippi […]
Multi-Modalism Is a Privilege That Too Few of Us Embrace
I traveled to Europe for the first time in October, basing in Amsterdam because I wanted to experience a city built for multi-modal transportation. How heartening to see the possibilities: adults of all ages cycling to work, ready rail service to nearby towns, having officers stop traffic so pedestrian throngs could cross the street. A […]