Twin Cities Streets for People

In spite of City promises, a 10 mph speed limit has been signed on the Cedar Lake Trail.  This is old news - I got the picture a couple months ago and I'd guess it was added in the City's signing binge around August or September.

I'm not necessarily opposed to speed limits for bicycles but I do have some questions about this particular speed limit:

1.  How and why was 10 mph chosen?  Why not 8?  or 13?  Does it have anything to do with the number of fingers on the average human hand?

2. Since this is the only speed limit sign on the Cedar Lake Trail (that I've seen), where does this speed zone begin or end?  If the speed limit is valid for the entire length of the trail, how are cyclists supposed to know before they come across this sign?

3.  Why is it dangerous for a bicycle to go 11 mph on a facility that's seperated from all traffic except bicycles, but it's safe for a bicycle to go 25 or 30 mph in mixed traffic?

Milwaukee has introduced the first raised cycle tracks in the Midwest on a short test segment on Bay Street.  The increased separation provided by raised cycle tracks is "more attractive to a wider range of bicyclists at all levels and ages than less separated facilities" according to the Urban Bikeway Design Guide produced by NACTO (the National Association of City Transportation Officials).

The tracks are separated from the through lanes by a 3.5" tall and 31" wide curb (salaciously named a "mountable curb") - this provides a gentle slope to warn motorists that they're venturing into cyclists' territory but also easy for cyclists to cross at will.  Milwaukee's Department of Public Works expects the gently-sloping curb to pose no problems for sweeping or plowing.

What do YOU think?  Is this type of facility better or worse than a regular bike lane?  Is it desirable to introduce raised cycle tracks to the Twin Cities?  Is it possible?

The Nokohaha Blog occasionally runs a feature called “Then and Now". It takes a photograph of a building in the Twin Cities  from sometime in the past 100 years, and compares it to how it looks today. The most noticeable feature of the “Now” is how we’ve so aggressively degraded our urban environment to accommodate the automobile. Read more >

It was a photo finish for the Riverside Avenue reconstruction design... (photo by Bill Lindeke used with his permission, hopefully) Read more >

via designboom:

'Ergo Crosswalk (ergonomics)' by Jae Min Lim from Korea is one of the 240 shortlisted entries from more than 5100 participants in [the] recent designboom competition 'design for all' in collaboration with Seoul Design Fair 2010. Read more >

The Twin Cities region, according to CNT, is making it clear that living in the city is much more affordable for not only housing, but transit as well. On the flip side living outside the city core housing and transit both start to exceed 45% of gross income. Read more >

It seems that streetcars are making a comeback. This post over at the infrastructuralist shows that 45 cities have plans for extending or creating streetcar line(s). This is great news, but yet will make competition for $130 million funding even more difficult.

Again, PDX, who had the political will and capital to put in a streetcar years ago is planning to expand the service over the river to finally create the streetcar loop.

Just in case you didn't know, Minneapolis has its own plans for a streetcar network that should hopefully supplement the bus, LRT, and BRT (down the road) network we currently have. Plus here is the work done around the planned streetcar along our beloved Greenway.

I was at the downtown Minneapolis library yesterday when a large map caught my eye. It was a 1910 ariel map with all the transit lines included. As a new Minnesotan I was shocked to see that at one time you could get to Stillwater or Hopkins on mass transit (that was not a bus).

It was a great reminder that not so long ago we had the plans and capital in place to move people around our region that was not based on expressways, but rather mass transit. Here is the old map (1910) and the new map (2020). A lot has changed in 100 years, but I find looking at these two maps educational to say the least.

A great source for information about our transportation system and its effects on Minnesota and Twin Cities household finances, at the Surface Transportation Policy Project >

And an excellent summary sheet from Transit for Livable Communities on "Transportation and household spending" is attached. Read more >

Theodore Q. Larson, an 81-year old man crossing Park Avenue at 15th Street, died on Tuesday, May 28, in the second of two deadly crashes in two weeks.  Mr. Larson had a walk signal as he was crossing the street when a school bus turned left, striking him.  Read more >