Mike presents an impossible conundrum - how would you accommodate all of the
car traffic assuming the rest of the region developed as it has but I-94 and
I35E weren't built, and everyone refuses to do anything but drive a car.
The development pattern of the Twin Cities over the past 60 years has been
completely inter-twined with the construction of the interstate and regional
highway system. There's not much point in the lamenting the past, but a big
reason why "we all love to drive" and why I-94 was "needed" is that the old
streetcar system was systematically bought up and dismantled. Don't you
think our "love of driving" has something to do with the billions upon
billions that the federal, state, and local governments have poured into
making driving convenient? How do these whackos out in Vancover survive
without a freeway system that brings people into the core of the City? How
has the core area of Vancouver grown by leaps and bounds over the past 25
years while the number of cars driving into and out of that area has
actually declined over that period? The answer is largely that Vancouver
chose to do things differently, building a good transit and bikeways system
and becoming a vertical city.
I moved to St. Paul from Philadelphia, where I owned a car but on a typical
day didn't have to use it. I took the train to work every day, walked to
the local library, coffee and pizza shops, etc. My wife walked to her
Medical school nearby. We used the car for weekend outings, grocery
shopping, etc. Old-time St. Paulites remember fondly the days when the Twin
Cities had one of the better streetcar systems in the world -- the freedom
it afforded for people of all ages to be able to get around town. But too
many modern day St. Paulites don't think they live in a city and don't want
to.
The competitive advantage that cities have over suburbs is their density,
easy access to everything one needs without getting in the car. For the
better part of the last 60 years, St. Paul decided to try to compete with
the suburbs by becoming more like them. Suburban strip malls like Midway
Center were some of the first signs of our suburbanization, and coincided
with tearing out the streetcars. A vibrant urban place accommodates cars as
one of several options, but does not put them first every time.
The decision about Ayd Mill is about what we value. If convenient and
speedy trips by car are a high priority, then by all means, build the thing.
Those of us who want to live in a city, I suppose, can move across the river
or out of town.
By the way, about the local vs. through trips on Ayd Mill: Sure, the
projection is that "only 30%" of the trips will be through trips, but that
is a significantly higher percentage than the "no build" scenario, in which
only 9% of trips on Ayd Mill would be through trips. While some of these
through trips would otherwise be made on Snelling or Lexington, half of them
(15% of the total trips) would be new through trips that are "induced" to
the area. Although admittedly the projections do also show significant
growth in the number of "City trips," which are those starting or ending in
St. Paul but not in the study area.
Russ Stark
Hamline-Midway
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