In my previous post I discussed rail-trails, which are abandoned railroad right-of-ways repurposed as trails. The Twin Cities has many of these, but the region also has several so-called rail-with-trail corridors. Rail-with-trails are trails alongside active rail lines. They provide a safe path for people, deterring trespassing on railroad property while still allowing train movements, […]
For several decades, railroads have abandoned many miles of track in the United States due to several factors including redundant routes, bankruptcies, mergers and significant government investment in roads that made shipping freight by rail less competitive than by truck. While some railroad right-of-ways have disappeared from redevelopment, others have been converted to trails that […]
Many suburbs have retrofitted bicycle infrastructure, usually so that vulnerable users won’t slow automotive throughput. Along the way, many of these projects have spawned tunnels, which are always fun.
For a thorough description of the trail, please see Ken Avidor’s great article here. I was visiting just for a few hours on my drive home from Washington D.C. My brief ride around, however, left a very strong impression. The first thing I noticed was that Indianapolis has a lot of wide one-way streets. This […]
My wife, Roberta, and I have been reading about the Indianapolis Cultural Trail since it was completed in 2013. Last week, we rode Amtrak down to the capital of The Hoosier State to see for ourselves what all the excitement was about. After two days riding and walking the trail, we are happy to report […]
In some ways, Christianity and other faiths created the concept of tourism. They created sacred sites and encouraged their followers to make pilgrimage trips to visit them. This created the need for food, lodging, souvenirs, and various other goods and services that form the backbone of modern tourism. My wife recently got a small grant […]
With snow, ice and freezing temperatures bringing the 2014 street repair season to an early close, I decided it was time to see what progress has been made to address the sorry state of Saint Paul’s streets and bridges, and what is planned for 2015. Fairview I-94 Underpass — Photo by […]
Minnesota Republicans captured control of the Minnesota House of Representatives in part by fueling urban versus rural resentment: “Those metro-centric DFLers give everything to Minneapolis and St. Paul.” The truth is, turnout trends associated with non-presidential year elections were a much bigger reason why the DFL lost control of the Minnesota House. But this “core cities […]