15. January, 2001 - Urban Sprawl links for MLK Day

I've updated my page of Dave's Photos to collect links to the various pages of pictures I've put on the web. I also updated the Vacation 2000 and Downtown Minneapolis pages.
Crosstown Hwy. will be closed for repairs beginning in 2002. This is one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in Minneapolis currently. I used to have to drive through it every day. I'm much happier now that I don't have to. Segments of the interchange now carry more vehicles than they're designed for 14 hours a day. Oof.
Stillwater bridge plans halted. While the current situation in Stillwater isn't very good (downtown is often jammed with cars trying to cross the river), I'm not sure that putting in a new bridge is the right answer, either. It'll make a large part of Wisconsin an easier commute, which will lead to increased development there. And none of the plans for a new bridge included provisions for anything other than cars, usually with just one person in each of 'em.
After years of study, Light rail is a go in Twin Cities area. Which is a pretty good thing, since construction had already started on the first line. In all, this was an encouraging process. Yes, it's still taking a ton of federal money, but the county and state made big commitments first.
Sprawl Watch
Smart Growth America
Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy
Loss of rural land accelerating in MN. But there's still a lot of open space left.