Category Archives: Transportation

A very short history of bike planning in Northfield

I have been spending a lot of time as the unofficial historian of bike, pedestrian and street planning over on Facebook, so I decided to put together a quick history of how we got here. This is the bullet point … Continue reading

Posted in Land use, Transportation | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Ole Avenue questions persist

Ole Avenue is St. Olaf’s planned residence hall/townhome project: This is an exciting project, mostly. New residence halls and townhomes will bring students back on campus, St. Olaf Avenue will be reinforced as the tree-lined entrance to the campus from … Continue reading

Posted in Climate, Policy problems, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Urbanists tweet about the roundabout

Last week, the Strib ran an article about Northfield’s planned roundabout with tunnels for people biking and walking: Twitter responds As a result, one local urbanist (streets.mn founder, active with Strong Towns, Planning Commissioner, and good guy) tweets: In turn, … Continue reading

Posted in Transportation | Tagged , | 1 Comment

UPDATE! Northfield does get the message right

Look! Northfield has updated its sidewalk stencils for directing bicycle traffic off the sidewalks: A few years ago, I complained about the City of Northfield’s misleadingly negative image on downtown sidewalks: Really, let’s have more bikes downtown (and skateboards – … Continue reading

Posted in Transportation | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Golden Opportunity paved over at Greenvale Park

The new Greenvale Park Elementary School will improve the inside-the-building issues from no doors to more security to better tech and has been planned with detailed input from teachers and parents. Far less attention was paid to outside the school, … Continue reading

Posted in Land use, Transportation | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

2018’s Greatest Hits (and misses)

Because it’s New Year’s Eve, it must be time to review 2018, right? What I Read in 2018 Although my favorite novel of the year was Michael Ondaatje’s Warlight, I’m having a huge amount of fun with The Art of … Continue reading

Posted in Land use, Taxes, Transportation | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Sidewalks as safe transportation infrastructure

After tripping in the same hole in the sidewalk on Division Street not once but three times in recent weeks, I was relieved to see City workers repairing curbs and repairing trip hazards. Like these:   My current inconvenience and … Continue reading

Posted in Policy problems, Transportation | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Division Street reconstruction: “Are you sure that road is for 2-way traffic?”

“Are you sure that road is for 2-way traffic?” asked KYMN News about the new and improved Division Street. Social media commenters asked whether it was wide enough for school buses, how two trucks could pass, and where are the bike … Continue reading

Posted in Transportation | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Fun Urbanism – Spring edition

As Minnesotans know, the end of winter brings green leaves and potholes. Fixing potholes and repairing sidewalks are important Spring tasks, but in the meantime perhaps we might simply enjoy them with The Pothole Gardener.  

Posted in Fun, Transportation | Tagged | Leave a comment