Here’s an insane looking chart from streets.mn alumnus David Levinson’s Transportationist blog, showing a “Typical Signal Schedule and Traffic Flow Diagram, North-South across Market Street, San Francisco (1929) [with a] “green wave” set to 10.5 MPH.” Peep your eyes on this! The complex trade-offs that go into something as seemingly simple as how to program […]
Summit Avenue has a long and storied history as a bike route which predates the automobile. Bringing back its protected bike lanes should be viewed as historic preservation.
Here’s a blast from the past that is technically a chart: I saw this on Twitter the other day, but I don’t remember where. So apologies to whoever posted it. As you might recall, the 1956 Interstate Highway Act was actually titled the “National Interstate and Defense Highways Act.” According to Wikipedia: The addition of […]
This is Part Four of an ongoing series of the history of Minnesota’s trunk highway system. Part One covered the early days of government and privately built roads. Part Two covered the events leading up to the establishment of the trunk highway system in 1920. Part Three covered the coming of the U.S. numbered highways […]
Since 2012, Saint Paul residents have been hosting free Jane’s Walks—‘walking conversations’ that get people out exploring their neighborhoods and talking about what matters to them. Jane’s Walks are inspired by the ideas and legacy of urbanist Jane Jacobs, who fought against freeways cutting through neighborhoods and for walkable communities where people know and watch […]
June 12, 2016 Midway, Frogtown (Rondo), North End, Como Park 17.5 Miles There is a lot (an undeveloped property, not a large number of things) on the southeast corner of Lexington Parkway and Central Avenue. This rectangle of grass puzzles me for several reasons. First, it’s on a very busy part of Lexington, just […]
June 5, 2016 Highland Park, Macalester-Groveland, Summit-University/Rondo, North End, Como 19 miles This ride featured significant stops in five neighborhoods. First, Highland Park where I spotted what strikes me as a house with a mullet because it’s all business in the front and a party in the back. Macalester-Groveland Grand Avenue plus the first Sunday […]
The East Harriet neighborhood is named for its position relative to Lake Harriet, and Lake Harriet is of course named for Harriet, but who is Harriet? I’m grateful to the Frontier Army Museum for making available the image of an oil painting, believed to be by John Wesley Jarvis circa 1815, from which I extracted this detail. Certainly […]
The Minnesota State Capitol area is “terrible urbanism,” due to industrial expansion, racism, freeways, institutional biases and, of course, politics.
Super Bowl cleanup is almost done and now we move on to the Winter Olympics where Minnesota is well-represented. Ski fast, Jessie Diggins! Your Summarizer apologizes for interrupting this post and being such a passionate cross-country skier and fan, but also points out how events like the recent City of Lakes Loppet bring people together […]