Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
twincitizen
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby twincitizen » May 5th, 2015, 2:13 pm

True, that.

My personal perspective was obviously slanted by walking from Whittier to Cub...clearly I never had any reason to go further west than Dupont. If I did need to go further, I'd have been on a bike as it was pushing the walking distance threshold. :)

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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby David Greene » May 5th, 2015, 10:30 pm

The curb cuts are probably a lost cause at this point, given private property, etc.
Why is that an issue? The cuts would be on public ROW adjacent to the roadway, no?

twincitizen
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby twincitizen » May 6th, 2015, 6:13 am

Oh yeah...duh. I could see there being resistance within public works to establishing a legal crosswalk there. But with a pedestrian advisory committee, pedestrian coordinator, etc. we should be able to overcome that. I don't think it's really too much to ask that the "No Parking" restriction already in place on the bridges be extended 1-2 car lengths north for access and clear sightlines. One "No Parking" sign and one crosswalk symbol sign in each direction ought to do it. The crosswalk itself wouldn't even have to be striped.

There has to be a reason the city didn't require ped ramps at the end of the promenade, no? Is it really just oversight? Like it had to have come up at some point...

MNdible
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby MNdible » May 6th, 2015, 10:16 am

It's possible that the curb slopes to drains wouldn't accommodate them without a more extensive reconstruction.

Anondson
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby Anondson » June 19th, 2015, 9:05 am

Coulda put this humorous editorial in any number of threads. "Six signs you're a bike jerk"

http://www.startribune.com/6-signs-you- ... 308280861/

One take away: Mixing cycling and walkers goes horrible when people start using it in numbers, while a trail is practically undiscovered and lightly used it is unremarkable and early-adopter cycling speedsters are hardly noticed.

I'm filing this away in my mind for when certain projects near design stage and engineers propose "multiuse trails" instead of sidewalks and bike lanes.

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woofner
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby woofner » June 19th, 2015, 10:46 am

Har, har, cyclists are jerks, very funny. I can't wait for the Strib to publish a commentary called "Seven signs you're a dick driver."

Sure, speeding spandex warriors are annoying, but are they really hurting anything? It seems like just one of those annoyances of mass society (like, say, clueless pedestrians on the bike trail). Sometimes there will be some annoying things about being on a trail, but it's still nice to have a trail, isn't it?

If the author of the commentary really wants to do something about the spandex scourge instead of just vent, he should advocate for better suburban on-street cycling conditions. I just moved to a town that, like Minneapolis, has an extensive off-street path network. Speeds stay more consistently low on paths here, however, and I think the biggest reason is that this town, unlike Minneapolis, has an extensive and relatively safe-feeling suburban on-street bike network. Just about every major street in the suburbs here has a bike lane, and motorists are consistently courteous to cyclists (in that they obey laws to yield right-of-way). The reason suburban on-street cycling is important for road racers is that the traffic signals are spaced far more widely, which is important for building speed on a bicycle and also likely a big reason why those racers target the separated Minneapolis Chain of Lakes paths. So if the commentary's author is interested in a solution to his gripe that is a bit more effective than writing a ranty opinion piece, he should advocate at the municipal level for the rapid adoption of the Hennepin County 2040 bikeways plan, which contemplates a vast expansion of on-street cycling infrastructure in the vicinity of the Chain of Lakes.
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Anondson
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby Anondson » June 19th, 2015, 11:08 am

Another proposed counterpoint headline, "11 signs you are a selfish walker".

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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby Anondson » June 30th, 2015, 7:53 pm

Another article about a pedestrian (runner) killed by a driver.

http://www.startribune.com/runner-fatal ... 310919651/

The article quotes a police spokeswoman, the jogger “was not crossing in a crosswalk or at a controlled intersection..."

I'm pretty furious about this quote because Vicksburg Lane has few controlled intersections or marked crossings and what there is is very far apart. The distance the jogger would be required to go to cross the four lane death road at a crosswalk or a controlled intersection is unbelievable. There are even trails that feed on to Vicksburg in what any rational observer would come upon and think it was meant to cross to the trail on the other side of Vicksburg.

Frankly, Vicksburg is an example of a street designed to kill. It did.

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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby seanrichardryan » June 30th, 2015, 8:53 pm

He was probably crossing here https://goo.gl/maps/YPFcZ , just south of 26th where two trails meet. NO marked crosswalk, which happen to be very few and far between in the area.
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mattaudio
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby mattaudio » July 1st, 2015, 1:54 pm

Ugh, Plymouth. Just like Robbinsdale: https://streets.mn/2015/04/28/pedestrian-safety-kit/
"Wear reflective clothing or items and carry a whistle or noisemaker."
http://www.plymouthmn.gov/index.aspx?page=109

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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby RailBaronYarr » July 1st, 2015, 1:56 pm

This used to have better signage and a marked crosswalk: https://goo.gl/maps/elIrZ

But the trail map clearly shows it's still a trail crossing. http://www.plymouthmn.gov/Modules/ShowD ... umentid=60

mattaudio
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby mattaudio » July 1st, 2015, 1:59 pm

Those are two exhibits used in my pending Streets post on the topic.

trigonalmayhem

Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby trigonalmayhem » July 2nd, 2015, 6:46 am

I imagine they could also be exhibits in a negligence case against the city and its traffic engineers.

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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby mattaudio » July 2nd, 2015, 10:41 am


twincitizen
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby twincitizen » July 2nd, 2015, 11:08 am

Wait. There was previously a zebra crosswalk (including painted stop bars!) and they removed it at some point? You've got to be effing kidding me. That is straight up negligence on the part of the city. Why the hell would they do that?

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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby Anondson » July 2nd, 2015, 11:15 am

Driver anger.

mattaudio
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby mattaudio » July 2nd, 2015, 12:32 pm

I seriously hope (and expect) the city to get sued over this.

trigonalmayhem

Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby trigonalmayhem » July 5th, 2015, 4:13 pm

I wish we could sue cities for creating dangerous situations *before* someone died.

mattaudio
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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby mattaudio » July 30th, 2015, 10:40 am

Count me as not surprised that someone died crossing a road designed like this: https://goo.gl/maps/p8k2i

http://www.startribune.com/vehicle-fata ... 319961781/

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Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Postby Anondson » September 18th, 2015, 11:53 am

This could as well go under the Saint Louis Park general thread I suppose.

With the controversial Louisiana and 7 triple roundabouts essentially complete, the city has started upgrading the sidewalks along the western side of Louisiana north of TH 7. The sidewalk was very narrow before, it is being widened it seems to be a multiuse trail. The trail is also being run along Louisiana under the pedestrian bridge linking the apartments north of Louisiana Oaks to the eastern side of Louisiana. The sidewalk previously passed up to the bridge and back down. Now it will be a much straighter run along the street. Functionally, this will bring a better quality bike link to the future Louisiana Ave station.


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