transportation : Featured Stories

Public art has evolved into an essential element of urban placemaking and social engagement. From murals on vacant buidlings to art in laundormats to temporary art installations that invite public participation, we take a look at public art and how it's changing cities.

With new ventures in greater Minnesota, plans for "inspansion" in the Twin Cities, and a bicycle that makes ice cream, the bikeshare program is both growing fast and becoming a (sometimes quirky) part of Minnesota culture. Nice Ride's marketing director fills us in.

It's been an article of faith since Central Corridor light rail (Green Line) construction began that, despite all the disruption and traffic chaos of the building stage, the line would eventually become a magnet for local entrepreneurs. That scenario appears to be playing out; here are three entrepreneurial ventures that were lured to the line by light rail's promise.

Charging stations for electric cars are popping up here and there in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. In fact, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is working to install up to 76 electric car-charging stations throughout the metro area, adding to an already expanding network.  Here's our guide (a work in progress) to our towns' car-charging infrastructure.

While the Twin Cities duke it out with Portland over which metropolis sets the gold standard of bike culture, other cities--some of them unlikely--are becoming serious players in the boom. Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, DC, and Tampa are among the places where ingenious entrepreneurs are "riding" the new bike culture,

This week: Get in gear (or jump on your fixie) for what ARTCRANK, our high-powered local (and national and international) poster collective, touts as "the biggest bike-art shindig ever thrown," this Saturday.

From "road diets" to "advisory bike lanes" to Complete Streets programs, Twin Cities suburbs are beginning to create infrastructure and policy to turn their familiar auto-only paradigm into a new vision of walkable, bikeable streets.

According to Amber Collett, a transit and bike activist (and a former Twin Cities resident), we've got reason to envy Portland's bike-friendly transit system. But Minneapolis actually wins in the comparison. Why? Read on.

The Central Corridor light rail line (aka the Green Line) won't be finished till 2014, but it's already earning its keep, writes Conrad LeFiebre of MN 2020, as development advances, once-disrupted business stabilizes, and observers add up the unique advantages of a line that connects two downtowns.

Jay Walljasper checks in with British urbanist Charles Landry, who recaps his experience touring the Twin Cities, meeting a wide array of local urban changemakers, and applying his principles of city vitality to our reality. And Landry draws some conclusions about how our towns can thrive in the coming decades.

In this blog post from Minnesota 2020, Conrad deFiebre argues that, while light rail is both successful and expanding in the Twin Cities, it's not the only answer to the 21st-century transit question in our metro. Meet the "rapid bus," a transit mode that mimics rail--on rubber tires.

It's long been known that biking is good for your health, good as a transportation option, good for reducing carbon emissions. But it's becoming clearer and clearer that cities that are bike-friendly are also attracting the kind of talent that builds the businesses of the future.