We've been trying to minimize congestion for a long time. And it keeps
getting worse.
BRT and Light Rail folks are right to criticize attempts to build our way
out of congestion. But they are almost as wrong as the highwaymen to sell
BRT/LRT as a congestion relieving panacea. Why? Because (I'll bet) fewer
drivers than ever as a percentage (on 35, 394, 94, etc) are following the
traditional downtown commuting pattern.
I would politely suggest that traffic engineers, politicians, and transit
advocates focus their attention on connectivity, rather than congestion
mitigation.
Connectivity analysis might expose the folly of funneling so much
automobile traffic on a few major "arterials", and might make the case for
transit corridors, be they bicycle, bus, streetcar, subway; building more
cross streets over the "arterials", maybe even burying the freeways and
reclaiming the land like in Boston's big dig.
All forms of transportation generate dependence, but I believe the
automobile dependence created by attempting to minimize freeway congestion
is more pernicious.
Transportation money could be better spent than on the current MNDOT sceme
for Minneapolis.
Mike Jensvold
Ward 10
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