Links: Pumping behind the wheel, wheelin’ and dealin’, and more
Posted on March 11th, 2008 – 11:11 PMBy Roadguy
- Pumping while driving: Some new moms are taking multitasking to a whole new level (yes, that kind of pumping) — and there are even hands-free devices. Check out this Cribsheet post.
- Let’s make a gas-tax deal: This article from Monday’s Strib tells how a “general earmark” for a project in southwestern Minnesota found its way into the state’s transportation bill.
- Climate change and transportation: MinnPost tells us what it means for Minnesota here; the New York Times takes a more coastal view here (or, if you’re not a registered NYT user, here).
- “We’re just trying to keep a freeway from going through downtown”: Some business in Apple Valley are worried about plans for Cedar Avenue; story here.
- Massive highway crash kills three, injures 300: You can’t blame this 200-car pileup on the snow; it happened in Dubai.
- Putting a dead body in the driver’s seat: That’s what this Wisconsin guy did with his mother’s body after he flipped their car and killed her. Yeesh.
23 Responses to "Links: Pumping behind the wheel, wheelin’ and dealin’, and more"
Having been to Apple Valley quite a few times, I can sympathize with their sentiment that they don’t want a freeway going through their downtown. I laugh, though, because I would hardly call the intersection of Cedar Avenue and Hwy 42 (150th St) a “downtown”. I am sure it is zoned that way, and it probably meets the definition of downtown…
but in this reader’s opinion 8 lane wide streets, huge parking lots, no pedestrian-friendly access - this is not what I think of when I consider a “downtown”.
This seems more like buyer’s remorse - they built their downtown around that intersection, and it was no secret that the intersection was going to continue to get busier and busier as the communities in the area developed.
This is an all-around bad situation, but this isn’t the same as when freeways were cut into the fabric of cities 40-50 years ago. Even though there are a few stoplights, that road is *already* a freeway and has been for years.
I agree with Barry. I would classify that area as suburban sprawl, not a downtown. I wonder how many people walk around “downtown” Apple Valley.
I dislike these shopping areas in the suburbs where you want to go to two different stores that are a block away, but the only safe way to do it is to drive from one to the other. That’s how they’ve built the infrastructure - drive drive drive.
Great posts by barryS and Joe Schmoe. It’s not only in Apple Valley where suburban development patterns have been employed, however. We’ve got some great examples of horrible suburban design right here in Minneapolis Saint Paul. In no particular order I offer the following places designed to drive drive drive:
*Snelling and University Avenues
*Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street
*Hiawatha Avenue and Lake Street
*The quarry area in industrial Nordeast
I’m sure there are more. . .
As a former Apple Valley resident, I have to disagree. There is the “ring route” there that is very pedestrian friendly for the most part with wide sidewalks, excellent lighting, landscaping and benches throughout. It is difficult though to cross the major streets (CR 42 and Cedar). On the one side of the ring route is a new “old style” development where things are very focused on pedestrians, not vehicles. All that said, most people do tend to drive from store to store instead of walking.
On another topic, are women allowed to drive in Dubai? If not, one must wonder if the 200 car pileup would have been smaller if women drivers were involved since they tend to be more cautious (unless, of course, they were “pumping”!).
The Dubai story reminded me of one of my favorite films, Le Weekend by Jean-Luc Godard (1967). Here’s a one minute trailer on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDzPr6SkEHk
The entire situation in Dubai is very surreal. It seems like an avant-garde film from the 60’s, but it’s all too real unfortunately.
“one must wonder if the 200 car pileup would have been smaller if women drivers were involved since they tend to be more cautious”
But women drivers have more accidents per mile driven (according to Roadguy), so it could have been _worse_.
Regarding Apple Valley, the obvious solution is to put 77 into a trench, with pedestrian & auto bridges crossing the freeway at appropriate intervals. We’ll call it ‘The Big Dig - Midwestern Edition’.
Art - I don’t think I’d call each of those quadrants pedestrian friendly. Yes, there is a sidewalk - but the sidewalk is hundreds of yards away from storefronts, and you have to cross VAST parking lots to get to those storefronts.
For me, and I don’t know of any real definition so this is my opinion, pedestrian-friendly development means providing separate facilities for pedestrians and autos. Parking on the street, with a sidewalk next to a store front is what I call ped-friendly, because the interactions between the ped and autos are limited to crosswalks.
Sidewalks adjacent to parking lots several football fields in size, and separating the sidewalk from the storefront forcing the ped to cross a parking lot is not what I have in mind when I think of a ped-friendly environ.
Matty - I agree with your assessment on Snelling/University and Hiawatha/Lake. Not sure about Lake/Nicollet - it is actually fairly good in my opinion.
The Quarry is just a different animal. It’s a blob off an interstate, but the housing around it does have pedestrian access from what I’ve seen - and there is fairly good pedestrian access between the storefronts, because autos do not go inbetween. It is, by no means, ideal - but it is much better than it could have been (think any shopping mall).
barryS has good intuition on his definition of a walkable place. Lake and Nicollet with it’s lack of connectivity (due to the siting of a big box store and parking lot in the center of the street) has all of the negative aspects that barryS identified.
Dan Burden, a national expert on walkable communities lists the following as a definition of walkable:
1. Intact town centers
2. Residential densities, mixed income, mixed use
3. Public Space
4. Universal Design
5. Key Streets Are Speed Controlled
6. Streets, Trails are Well Linked
7. Design is Properly Scaled
8. Town is Designed for People
9. Town is Thinking Small
10. In Walkable Communities There Are Many People Walking
11. The Town and Neighborhoods have a Vision
12. Decision Makers Are Visionary, Communicative, and Forward Thinking
Full article is here:
On the front page right now is a story of how McCollum is playing a political game by trying to pin Pawlenty as one of those evil politicians who uses earmarks.
On this post, there is a story about how state democrats successfully used such an earmark to “bribe” a republican into changing his vote.
I’m not sure which one is worse.
There are no true convictions in politicians. It’s all about whose ox is being gored and whose ox you can gore in return. As one of my friends one said, “Politics is the equivalent of sports for nerdy kids.”
Matty writes
“10. In Walkable Communities There Are Many People Walking”
Then Nicollet / Lake and Hiawatha / Lake are walkable communities. I see people walking there all the time. Less walkable is France Ave between 494 & Crosstown. I can count the pedestrians I’ve seen crossing near our building on one hand - and that includes me crossing twice.
I wouldn’t promote the worst Lake Street intersections as examples of good design, but the worst on Lake St is far better than any of the big-box areas with acres of asphalt & no walkability. The ’shops at Lyndale’ on 494 are a prime example. Certainly within walking distance of some Richfield residents, but I’d bet 99.9% of them drive there.
If you look at the link Matty provided - Dan Burden actually says that in his opinion, meeting 6 of those 12 items would classify a community as walkable… again in his opinion.
Prof. S - ugh, earmarks. Every single politician is doing it, and any politician who suddenly “sees the light” and is against them is pandering. I be talking about Mr. John McCain in that regard. No way does he make it thru 4 years of a presidential term vetoing EVERY bill with an earmark. It just won’t happen, and I’ll put any sized wager on it right now.
I would say that there are many people walking at Nicollet/Lake and Hiawatha/Lake in spite of the auto-oriented conditions. However, given that the judgment bar is currently so low, barryS and bsimon are correct that these locations are considered walkable.
These two locations will score much higher than 494 intersections and American Boulevard because there are actually sidewalks. Substandard sidewalks, but sidewalks nonetheless.
My point is that both intersections use suburban design with sidewalks added which is good, but it could be a lot better with an urban design and I think Dan would agree.
I’ve uploaded one of the slides from his recent presentation in town (with Dan’s permission) to my Picasa account to illustrate what I mean. Imagine Nicollet and Lake with an urban design and you will see that it could be much more walkable:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mlang21/BikeGadgets/photo#5176930493507227394
The southern side of Lake St at Nicollet does have a lot of those elements - it’s the sprawling parking lot in front of K-Mart on the North Side of Lake St that is the problem there. I’d love to see Nicollet reconnected and new development put in that fits the elements on the link you provided, Matty.
To bring this all the way back to where we started - if Apple Valley had used a lot of these principles when they started building out their downtown, they wouldn’t be in the situation they’re in now of having to choose whether to have a freeway to go thru their downtown.
Earmarking, it’s not just for federal politicians anymore.
This is some truly awful political theater. McCollum is attempting to extract political rents from Pawlenty in the form of support for widespread congressional pork-barreling.
For his part, Pawlenty is being two-faced by using his spokesperson to condemn earmarks while simultaneously seeking them out. He cannot argue that the projects he seeks federal earmarks for are “merit-based” while also attempting to circumvent the evaluation process.
The congressional Democrats are right to argue that the Republicans were profligate earmarkers during their 12-year run, but at the same time they have done nothing to curtail this practice, despite much hot air during the 2006 elections. Any claims from McCollum or Ellison about “accountability” ring hollow.
BarryS, you’re probably right that McCain wouldn’t veto every bill containing earmarks, but that does not need to be the standard. Any movement in the opposite direction that Congress is currently heading would represent an improvement.
The problem is that people still don’t want to get out of their cars and walk a few feet. The Burnsville development Heart Of The City is a prime example. A recent article pointed out the lack of parking because a planned parking ramp has yet to be constructed, and the business owner’s assertions that they’re losing business because people don’t want to have to walk more than a few feet from their parking spots. They want less sidewalks and landscaping, and more parking.
I always wonder why able-bodied fit people drive and drive all over a parking lot looking for the closest spot…
I always park near the end of the lot so I can get OUT!!!
Is it even safe to go walking on Lake Street, or would I get mugged for my tennis shoes and ipod? I was talking to an employee at the Bloomington Cub Foods about their “pay by touch” system, and he said it gets used a lot more at their Lake Street store because people there are afraid to carry cash or credit cards.
Monte,
I don’t think you need to worry too much. I regularly walk Lake Street and its environs between I-35 and Hiawatha without incident. My partner in life does as well and she would be considered an “easier” target for mugging than me.
Eyewitness news, et al. would have you believe that a walk down Lake Street is a dangerous proposition, due to criminals and criminal activity. They would be wrong. The biggest danger to pedestrians on Lake Street are the too numerous automobiles.
I agree with Matty about Lake Street.
Just the other day I walked a mile from the light rail stop on Lake Street with a suitcase on wheels in tow. The most dangerous thing I encountered was trying to navigate the ice/water puddles at every corner without geting my suitcase wet.
Re: Apple valley, it’s funny that the official quoted refered to the Cedar/42 intersection as “downtown”, when the city is in the middle of building a Burnsville Heart of the City type development a couple blocks east of Cedar along Galaxy Ave., trying to make their own “downtown”. From what I can see it’s a disaster, with a couple of ill-advised one-way streets and a roundabout. There is a large new hotel there that looks abandoned because the lower level retail hasn’t filled in, and every time I go by there it (the hotel) looks empty. It was just a weird place to build such a large hotel, not being located near any major streets, nor any major retail or commercial businesses for that matter.
As for Cedar Ave. itself, something needs to be done, there is no question. I have to take issue with a couple things barryS said. First of all, there are no “8-lane” roads in A.V. Cedar Ave. has 3 lanes each way through part of town, but that’s it. There are no other roads with more than 4 total lanes. 42 & 46 SHOULD be 6 lanes, but alas they’re not. barryS must have been counting turn lanes as lanes.
Also, there are more than a “few” stoplights in A.V. Whether it be on Cedar, County 42 or cty. 46, there are lights at nearly EVERY intersection. In fact, I’ve e-mailed the City sarcastically asking them to change the name of the city to Stoplight Valley. That seems to be their solution to traffic: put up a stoplight. Never mind the gridlock that ensues.
As for what to do for the future, this is just typical MN lack of any foresight whatsoever. What did they think would happen when they built a 6-lane freeway that morphed into a stoplight-riddled surface street? There should have been land set aside for future freeway expansion or some sort of moratorium on what could be built and how and where.
To be heading south on Cedar at 70 mph and suddenly see signs saying 45mph, and then cresting the hill to see a sea of stoplights and brake lights ahead is a sight that never ceases to have me scratching my head. What were they thinking? They weren’t.
the next time I’m in AV, I’m going to have to check out this Heart of the City thing. It’s on Galaxy Ave, you say?
And I could have sworn that Cedar was 8 lane once you hit the stoplights, but you’re right, I was probably including the turn lanes.
barryS:I’m almost positive it’s Galaxy. It’s not called Heart of the City, but what they’re trying to accomplish is similar: making a “downtown” where none existed.
Do you know where the new restaurant Enjoy! is? That’s part of it. It’s also near Culver’s.
Note that the impositions of suburban development on the city (Lake and Hiawatha, Lake and Nicollet, University and Snelling, and I could add much of the “renovation” of West Broadway, have all occurred in low-income areas. When affluent areas “renovate,” they do so in ways that make the area more pleasant and walkable instead of uglier and more auto-dependent. I’m thinking of Linden Hills, 50th and France, places like that. There’s an underlying attitude that it’s okay to build a trashy environment for poor people.
