Reuben Collins

I haven't been here in a while. Are people still tweeting about transportation and cities and sruff? Also, here's a picture of my family eating pie.

Rice Street looking north from Wheelock Parkway

Rice Street looking south from Wheelock Parkway. New signals and pedestrian medians visible.

Looking west across Rice Street at Wheelock.

Looking south on Rice Street from Wheelock where the trail will go.

Steady progress on Rice Street phase 1. The first photo really shows how much narrower the new roadway will be.

Of course!

I guess it's another example of how making small and simple daily decisions is the reliable path to achieving broader goals.

A sub-goal is that one of the rides has to be at least 50 miles. I keep feeling like I need to go on long rides to meet this goal, but really just 5 miles a day would get me there no problem.

So here it is August 23, and I'm sitting at 264 miles completed, or 44% of my goal. I'm not feeilg super confident, but I did get to fulfill a lifelong dream to make a giant wall thermometer to track progress on a goal.

I set this goal back in March when I thought I had plenty of time to work on it. Then I broke my ankle in April before with just a few miles completed. That kept me off the bike for April, May, and into June. Then summer busyness set in.

I set a goal to ride a bicycle 600 miles this calendar year. I know plenty of people ride a heck of a lot more than that, and I have too in years past. But this is honestly a stretch goal for me this year and is several times what I've ridden the past few years.

I've wondered if this work triggered the need for a site plan review.

I don't know about east of the border.

The fourth photo in the last tweet shows the connection to Johnson Pkwy. The geometry is... definitely not what the construction plans showed. I'll have to follow up with construction staff at the Met Council.

The project also constructed a shared use path along the south side of Wilson between Etna and Johnson. The street was narrowed significantly to make room for the trail. It's an important connection to the Johnson Pkwy Trail and the Grand Round.

The trail terminates at the Hwy 61 and Burns intersection. The Indian Mounds Trail is kitty corner across the intersection, and the Upper Afton bike lanes start about half a block to the east, but reaching either of them is tough. This intersection is a challenge for anyone not driving.

But this new trail allowing people walking and biking to cross I-94 is very welcome. There were visible desire paths and it's a much shorter distance for people accessing the Gold Line station.

I observed cars making the turn, and they were still moving pretty quickly. I think we'll receive a lot of feedback about this trail crossing.

The project also constructed a shared use path *through the interchange* between Hwy 61 and I-94. The alignment includes an at-grade crossing of the NB 61 to EB 94 ramp, which was realigned to be a sharper turn for drivers to slow them down.

Moving west, the project constructed a shared use path from the intersection of Old Hudson and Birmingham to the intersection of Etna and Wilson. Just a short connection through a formerly empty lot that will facilitate access to the Gold Line station.

The project constructed a shared use path along the north side of Old Hudson between McKnight Rd and Ruth St. It's nothing fancy, but there previously wasn't even a sidewalk here, so a pretty substantial improvement overall.

There's a decent ped refuge island just west of McKnight to help people cross Old Hudson Road.

There is a new bike/ped bridge over McKnight on Saint Pauls eastern boundary line. I didn't walk up it to get pictures from the top. Below it, it's a bit of a spaghetti junction of shared use paths going in diffferent directions.

Monday I went out to look at the status of bike facilities implemented my the Met Council along the Gold Line. It was a grey and muddy day, but wantes to share some pics anyway. Here's a thread. All-in-all, some decent facilities added to the Saint Paul bike network.

A bike trail runs through a forest with remnants of snow along the edge and lots of fog hanging in the air.

A large fallen tree with jagged broken edges that look almost like sharp teeth leads away from the photographer through a foggy forest.

A bike trail runs through a forest with remnants of snow along the edge and lots of fog hanging in the air.

A bike trail runs through a forest with lots of fog hanging in the air that is lit up by nearby lights.

Scenes from a eerily foggy winter's eve bike ride in Minnesota.

Bonus if there are sticks and/or rocks in the parking lot.

Could be true.

Saint Paul does have an ordinance, but seems open to interpretation. library.municode.com/mn/st._paul/...

Good to know.

Of course the real fundamental issue here is that the truck is longer than the parking stall. The driver has to choose to overhang over the sidewalk, or overhang into the parking lot drive aisle. I'd guess they are worried their truck will be hit by another driver if they overhang the drive aisle.

The City does have zoning codes that prevent this situation in new construction or redevelopment, but those only apply if the property owner changes something about their property that triggers code compliance.

The City could install a city-owned railing within the right-of-way along the edge of the sidewalk, but that means the City would be responsible for maintaining it, and for obvious reasons, it's likely to be hit by cars frequently!

The City can't force the property owner to install any fences or railings, or reconfigure their property to eliminate this issue.