Secrets of the City

This is sort of old news, but I thought it was worth pointing out, if only to bring attention to “commuter Aaron Laffin of Richfield,” who says the Crosstown causes him to waste 10 to 15 minutes every day on his way to work, where he undoubtedly never wastes any time, and another 10 or 15 on his way home, where he never watches Law and Order reruns.

A front page story in the Strib today notes that Twin Cities commutes are getting longer, at the same time mass transit usage is rising. Is suburban sprawl going to choke itself?

No it’s not all the jerks on the road that are making you mad, it’s just that you are mentally ill. Nevertheless, if you don’t stay out of the left lane except when you are passing, there’s gonna be trouble.

Starting on Monday, Lake Street will be torn up between Hiawatha and 36th Ave S affecting the Town Talk Diner, El Nuevo Rodeo, the beloved Target and many other local businesses and residents. Busses are rerouted to 31st St. Lake St on 36th to the River gets work in 2007 and Uptown residents and visitors near Lake St get road works in 2007-2008. More information at lakestreet.info.

According to a survey conducted by Prince Market Research, Minneapolis is considered to have some of the most courteous drivers in the nation. Minnesotans are less likely to change lanes without signaling or swear at other motorists. When was the last time you cussed at a fellow Minnesotan driver?

‘CCO asks the question: What if we all drove 55?. Energy experts claim that driving 55 instead of 70 can increase gas mileage by up to 20%. That translates to about $3.08 (in real $) per gallon instead of $2.57. Any other good conservation tricks out there? (Mythbusters say that driving with your tailgate down doesn’t work.)

Nate at Twin Cities Metroblogging tried out Hourcar the other day. If you haven’t heard about it, it’s a car sharing program, where you reserve a time slot, pick up the car at one of many hubs around the city, and return it when your reservation is over. (There’s also ZipCar.) Both companies are marketing the service to city dwellers and environmentalists. Apparently, the car sharing idea is getting pretty popular in cities around the world. About $35 for 4 hours.

The cameras that catch red light runners at intersections in Minneapolis have been ordered turned off by a Hennepin County judge after the MN Civil Liberties Union won a motion they filed in December. The cameras were ruled unconstitutional because the tickets were sent to the owner of the car regardless of whether they were driving. The program has issued 26,000 tickets, adding up to about $600,000.

Only a fool heralds the obvious, but it has snowed a bit, and the wind has blown a bit, and it looks like tens of thousands of homes are without power. Cautions Xcel Energy: “An estimated time of restoration for the outages will be made after the snow ends. High winds are expected to continue into the evening, however, which may cause additional outages.” So you may be forced to spend your evening sitting in your car in front of your house- but your two hour commute home will have given your new digs plenty of time to heat up. You don’t want to go in there anyway. Your fish are dead.

Before you hop in the car for the commute home tonight, try out MinneapolisTrafficMap.com, a new GoogleMaps-powered real-time traffic map. The data comes from MN DOT, but is presented much more sensibly. Some of the cool features include the ability to map your trip, turns cameras off/on, and show accidents and construction.