Tag Archives | walking

Three Ways to Improve Walkability Without Touching the Street

By on January 29, 2013 in Walking

Most US cities, Minneapolis and St Paul included, are in dire need of traffic calming and complete streets.  Critical streets are dangerously overbuilt: corners have been widened, lanes widened, streets widened. Over the last half century, Herculean governmental and financial efforts have been thrown at reshaping our cities for driving at the expense of those [...]

Read full story • Comments { 43 }

Pedestrians prohibited north of the light rail station

By on January 25, 2013 in Infrastructure, Streets, Walking

Most metro area cities content themselves with ignoring pedestrians. A couple of cities have taken the unusual step of at least paying lip service to the idea that bipedal transportation should be safe, convenient, and comfortable. Bloomington, on the other hand, is trying to make a name for itself by actively discouraging pedestrians from using [...]

Read full story • Comments { 11 }

4-to-3 Road Diets: The #1 Thing Cities Can Do Right Away to Improve Quality of Life

By on January 15, 2013 in Infrastructure, Transportation

I have been re-reading Clay McShane‘s Down the Asphalt Path, an absolutely fascinating history of early 20th century urban engineering and street design debates. The history of asphalt may not sound interesting to you, but the book is absolutely filled with facts that amaze and astound, particularly if you pay any attention to contemporary transportation [...]

Read full story • Comments { 39 }

2012 Best Pedestrian Shopping Street: Hennepin Avenue

By on December 17, 2012 in Best of

Welcome to the first annual Street.mn Best of The City Awards. Over the last week, we have over 100 people take our quick vote / survey about the best and worst of planning and urban design in Minnesota, and the results are in! Over the next two weeks, we’ll be sharing with you a delightful [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Crosswalk Creeps: An educational filmstrip

By on December 14, 2012 in Streets, Walking

This is Edward G. Robinson; I’ve been torn from my eternal slumber to warn you about a dangerous new wave of degeratism sweeping across this country.  But first, some rules: No talking during the filmstrip. No sleeping during the filmstrip. If you have to go to the bathroom, be sure to get some ice for [...]

Read full story • Comments { 9 }

Will Rybak follow through on his plan for “Washington Boulevard”?

By on December 4, 2012 in Plans

Five years ago, RT Rybak made my day. Somehow I ended up at an event he was hosting at the Riverview Theater. I think I had glanced at an announcement in the newspaper, some sort of meeting about architecture and city planning for Minneapolis. Being an underemployed urban peripatetic, I had nothing better to do. [...]

Read full story • Comments { 12 }

Do Sidewalks Make You Vote Democratic?

By on November 6, 2012 in Uncategorized

A few months ago, I read the following tweet by über-famous polling guru, Nate Silver: @fivethirtyeight Heuristic: if a place has sidewalks, it votes Democratic. Otherwise, it votes Republican. It’s something I’ve heard before. Bill Bishop’s fascinating book about political and neighborhood also points to the deep connection between urban form and political affiliation. Central cities [...]

Read full story • Comments { 7 }

The Limits to Educational Campaigns

By on October 23, 2012 in Transportation, Walking

  The list of recent pedestrian fatalities is long: take the accident in Ramsey where an elderly couple was killed by a car, or the death of Cleo Thiberge St Paul. Partly in response to the wave of recent accidents, MN-Dot has launched a new pedestrian safety campaign. You’ve probably seen some of the cute billboards [...]

Read full story • Comments { 12 }

Vibrancy Is For People

By on July 18, 2012 in Streets

Thomas Frank has been making the rounds. Not only has he assumed Lapham’s editor’s chair at Harper’s and re-ignited The Baffler, he lately published a characteristic diatribe that wickedly skewers how the term “vibrancy” is used by non-profit funders, civic boosters, and artists as a façade for economic stability. Don’t get me wrong, I love [...]

Read full story • Comments { 7 }

Timing is everything – rated G

By on June 15, 2012 in Infrastructure, Walking

Bowdlerization helps focus this post on traffic signal programming, also posted on my blog in a more digressive version.  It was inspired by a column by CM Tuthill in the latest issue of Lowry Hill East’s neighborhood newspaper The Wedge, which has some great news about changes to signal timing at a couple key Uptown [...]

Read full story • Comments { 7 }