Wait! STAAAWWWWP. You didn't wanna read the rest of the comments anyway, just this one! Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: go.nebula.tv/citynerd
The point you made about people having a hard time differentiating "feeling a little uncomfortable" from being in "imminent danger" was SO good. Thanks for keeping that in.
Indeed. Years ago took a metro bus ride across south Chicago on vacation (Midway to the Museum of Science and Industry) and definitely felt a bit uncomfortable, but not imminent danger given it was a bright and pleasant day. Likely be a different story after dark in that area.
Yeah get on these trains in the early mornings in the winter and let me know if you feel uncomfortable or in imminent danger when most of the people on the train are addicts openly using.
As bad as the snow can get here though, I am always impressed and proud of how efficiently Minneapolis clears it, especially compared to other cities like Chicago… or… um… St. Paul.
@@mangos2888depending on the street, you can loose a whole lane. In some cases, almost two. It isn't possible to load up trucks and ship it. You have to keep it on site.
I once stayed at a hotel in Minneapolis that offered free bikes to its guests while they were staying there. It quickly turned into one of my favorite business trips as I used the bike network to explore multiple lakes, neighborhoods, and restaurants. The bike infrastructure of MSP is just incredible.
We did this exact same thing when we visited a few weeks ago! Stayed at the Chambers Hotel. They have bikes that you can use that are decently functional. We rode 60 miles that day, mostly on bike paths. I'm super envious of all the bike paths and I felt so much safer cycling here than anywhere in California
About Minneapolis streets being too wide... Minnesota streets are overbuilt. They are wider than in most parts of the country. The reason is that they need somewhere to push the snow onto during the winter. The extra width of the street can become walls of snow wider and taller than you are and it takes several days for crews to relocate all that excess snow. So, they just plow overnight so kids can go to school in the morning and then worry about the snow mounds later. Long crossing distances are just an unfortunate side effect. It's a Minnesota reality even in the smallest towns.
Wait... you mean the rest of the US doesn't know what it's like to have to clear a two-foot wall of packed snow out of your driveway every single time the plow comes through? I mean it makes sense, but jeez louise... how do you people stay fit?
I need you to know that Minneapolis is home to the academy of the blind. Our streets fill with snow so we need wider roads. The pedestrian signals are really important for our street accessibility.
Sorry if this is a really stupid question, but is our level of vision impaired accessibility not everywhere? I felt like this was at or below the bare minimum. But I've only ever lived in St. Paul, and as a sighted individual, so maybe I'm just super oblivious.
Public access to lakes and beaches is so underrated. I feel that is what has spoiled a lot of Hawaii’s beaches - they aren’t publicly accessible and have homes built on the sand dunes. Would be amazing to see you do a video on that!
There's a whole legal history around providing easements and access to beachfront that's fascinating. Maybe CityBeautiful has covered it, seems like it would be up his alley
@@CityNerd One of the things that Chicago has gotten exactly right. I don't believe there's any stretch of the long lakefront in the city (including beaches) that is off-limits to the general public.
As silly as it is, the MSP light rail is what made me start considering transit in America. Going from airport to downtown easily and cheaply, walking around the area, light rail to university, walking to stone bridge. Growing up in Texas you don’t even look for transit. MSP made me start checking for those rare occasions when it’s actually present
Our light rail leaves alot to be desired BUT i do think they did great with the first few lines by connecting downtown to the airport and mall of america and then minneapolis to St paul. It was a decent way to get decent utility without having to spend 100 billion to go all in
Been waiting for this for Quit sometime! Some sweet sweet CN love. Minnesotan's love nothing more than outsiders saying good thing about Minnesota. Even more than tater tot hotdish or juicy Lucys they love it
Born and raised in South Minneapolis and still here. New to channel and first vid to watch is hometown!. You mentioned the old K Mart building. You should research it's history it is interesting. Thinking of history, you missed to see or maybe mention the many old brownstone buildings. Also the many old brick architecture, which was made with bricks made in Chicago aka the Brickyard way back in the day. Lastly the grand old houses along Park Ave and Portland Ave.
First the Secret Base series about the Vikings, and now this! I liked this almost as much as the 1st episode of The History Of The Minnesota Vikings tbh
Minneapolitan here. Skyways are really appreciated both this time of year (90’s temps with awful humidity) and during the long cold winters. Also, wider streets downtown really help with snow removal during those long winters. The way the city lakes are interconnected and how nobody can build houses right on those lakes is definitely stellar about Mpls. We obviously love our lakes here!
My thing with the skyways is that everything shuts down at 3pm. I lived in downtown St Paul for two years but a lot of the cool downtown things I never got to go to because they were only open when I was at work
After watching them condone the looting and burning down of businesses I'd never consider living there No thanks. That crap would have been stamped out in short order in our county. We back the blue, kneel for the cross, and stand for our flag.
I think you may have missed the point about the large button pedestrian controls with announced countdown for crossing. These were installed specifically for the safety of blind and low-vision pedestrians. We have a relatively large blind population in Minneapolis. There are also bumpy metal plates installed where crosswalks meet the road which were designed to alert someone using a mobility aid like a white cane. Great video, tho!
100%. The Skyways and the read-aloud schedules at some bus stops are also important for blind and low-vision accessibility. There’s at least one fully blind worker at my office building, and I lost part of my vision from a COVID infection. All these infrastructure features are essential to let people like me live, work, and take pleasure in the places we live in.
The highest population of blind people are off of Franklin and Lyndale because of the Blind Center facility.. About 6 blocks from where this was located, spot on. There was some thinking behind this. They'll be screwing up Hennepin in Uptown this summer yay
I was downtown and there was blind/sight impaired gentleman getting off the light rail stop at 1st Ave. If you don't know, the station is in the middle of the street. I saw him using his cane trying to orient himself and since there were no bumps or curbs or anything to let him know where he was, he just started walking straight into the middle of the street at which point I shouted at him to say that the sidewalk was over here. It gave me an appreciation for blind people and the courage it takes to navigate cities and use transit -- it must be incredibly disorienting to be essentially teleported to a brand new destination without any sort of context. Because of the lack of physical stimuli, he had no way of knowing what the right way to go was so he had to make a decision and hope for the best which is like playing Russian Roulette just to get off a light rail stop. So, even though the bumps at crossings are great, it's just one piece of the puzzle, and hopefully there's a continued effort to add design that makes it safer for the differently aibled to exist.
FYI the LED boards displaying the "watch for pedestrian" messages - those boards display other messages, such as when snow emergencies are declared. "watch for pedestrians" is just some filler text when there are no other active notices.
Couple of notes as someone who lived in Minneapolis for 6 years and has just moved back home to Philly. Loved many parts of Minneapolis, but I could not handle the cold. In the past few years they've been making really good steps towards approving their infrastructure. - Aside from Hennepin (clubs), downtown is a complete wasteland at night. It makes it quite easy to bike through, but unless they are clubbing, the vast majority of people go out in neighborhoods like northeast, uptown, cedar-riverside, como etc. Many of the skyways close at night too, so it's a system that receives traffic only at very specific times. - Lyndale Ave was up until recently a 4 lane road with no turn lanes and very little pedestrian crossings. I've witnessed and had myself multiple near misses from people turning left before the road diet. It's not perfect now, but cars drive much slower now and the pedestrian crossings with the flashing yellow lights are a significant upgrade to the completely absent pedestrian crossings on a 4 block stretch. Lake, Lyndale, and Hennepin are still far to wide to be comfortable for pedestrians, but every indication is that they're actually working on improving things. I believe lake is undergoing a redesign to incorporate a new BRT line, and hopefully a road diet. Similar changes are happening on Hennepin. I still have always opted towards walking/biking on any other side street as none of the 3 are pleasant to walk on. Another project in that neighborhood which I'm sad I'm missing out on is the Bryant ave reconstruction. www.minneapolismn.gov/government/projects/bryant-ave-s-reconstruction/ - The boarded up storefront was a mini target up until may, not sure what is going in place of it. - The kmart is finally getting torn down, they're doing surveys on what people want. They are planning on reconnecting nicollet, and they currently are surveying/planning what to develop on the site. There's some implied possibility of extending the pedestrian/transit corridor of downtown nicollet, which would be far more successful as nicolett through whittier (eat street), gets far more foot traffic www2.minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiatives/new-nicollet/ In all, it seems that Minneapolis is very serious about improving many of the problems you mentioned in this video. Downtown is still unpleasant, and it's really unclear what their plan is on improving it as they've failed to bring back too many office workers. I've seen a lot of progress in all the surrounding neighborhoods, and their BRT network expansion plans seem to be happening quickly! There's also been some serious conversations about redesigning i94 talk.dot.state.mn.us/rethinking-i94
The skyway should be 25 hours to encourage nightlife. I live in miami, and if there were a way for me to easily get to nightlife destinations AND beat the heat, I'd be clubbing a lot more lol
I live near the edge of downtown. Last I heard a few months ago there us a plan to move all the buses off of nicolet mall and make it pedestrian only with alcohol allowed on the street for events.. I have mixed feelings on this idea.
@cannedpineapple2702 the Skyway is a hodge podge of privately owned areas made for daytime businesses so that probably won't happen. Downtown target isn't even open passed 6pm lol
As a year-round biker from Saint Paul, I encourage you to return in six months to do a video on winter cycling. So long as the roads are well cleared (they tend to be, but there’s room for improvement), it’s quite doable. It’s just a matter of wearing the right clothes. In fact, it makes winter better - more sunshine & exercise than you’d get otherwise.
I did my first -5F ride last winter in Minneapolis. A Notjustbikes video convinced me to try it. The thing holding me back was buying the right bike gear, which all was for cool-weather. I switched to normal clothes, instead of cycle gear, and it got a lot better.
Fun fact. Twin cities now has the highest hmong population in the world. They were a huge tribe that helped us in vietnam war under the promise of immigration. For a long time after the war they were stuck as refugees in thailand. Eventually some groups started bringing them over and after a few decades the whole camp was finally replanted.
Minnesota has a long tradition of taking in immigrants when noone else will. Finnish, Hmong, Somali - not to mention we have one of the biggest latino populations outside of NYC and the southwest. Almost every wave of immigration to the USA includes Minnesota due to the railroads, the Mississippi, Duluth being a seaport, and the MSP International airport.
@@simplesimon8255 its like a little bonus of info. Its often a thing done in normal conversations to keep the subject matter interesting. An aside if you will. For an extreme version of this concept see the news show in starship troopers.
@@sortasurvival5482 Your comment did nothing to pique, let alone sustain my interest in this topic. And what if I don’t want to watch the news show in starship troopers?
Minneapolis was the first Midwest city I ever visited. I was blown away by the community, infrastructure, and sense of place. I spent a week exploring the city and didn't want to leave. I was surprised, I had always heard of the Midwest as a cold, boring place. Much to the contrary. The entire Midwest is experiencing a revival, and in my opinion their cities are creating the best value proposition for young people looking for professional or community opportunities. I've now spent significant time in other Midwest cities - Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Fargo, Sioux Falls, Omaha, Lincoln...and I am filled with joy each time I get to see the true Heartland.
Get on Google Earth and take a birdseye view of U.S. Bank stadium (Vikings) and Arrowhead stadium (KC Chiefs). One has a grassy plaza and a light rail stop directly in front of the stadium, and is walkable from any apartment/office building in downtown. The other sits isolated in the middle of acres and acres of parking log. If you want to exemplify the difference between the thinking and values of the the two cities, the is a great example.
You should see indianapolis next, very affordable and walkable but it’s public transit is horrible, actually it doesn’t really have public transit, it just has a bus system running through suburbs. It used to have a history of streetcar suburbs. But Indianapolis is alot like chicago minus a good metro lol
It's really weird knowing city nerd walked by my apartment. Also, those ped crossings on lyndale are obnoxious, but that just got changed from 4 lane road to 2+turn lane dueing the pandemic and it has been AMAZING.
I have to cross Lyndale to get my grocery shopping done, (on foot) and the road narrowing has been wonderful! I can't wait for them to do the same on Hennepin.
Same. I think the crossings helped a lot, for how obnoxious they are, though. I've lived near Lyndale around that area for over a decade and now live even closer, and 25th and 27th were always near impossible to cross as a pedestrian before if you didn't sprint. Probably was impossible for the elderly or people with accessibility needs to cross. The lane reduction was huge, too.
I grew up here! Seeing some of my old stomping grounds is bitter sweet. Quick note about those wide roads and crossing timers: Yes it's a bit much in the summer months, but remember the winters. If it snows enough for a Minnesotan to notice, the outer lanes become snow banks leaving enough lanes for the city to still function.
The goal should be to have enough public transit that this is a non issue. And I find it a non issue as is being from Minnesota’s neighbor. I never thought to myself on a narrow street “gee I wish it was wider for the snow”. But I seee what you’re getting at.
Thanks for visiting Minneapolis! A couple quick takeaways for you... Metro Transit had much better headway service before the pandemic. However, there has been a labor shortage that has severely limited the return to full service. In the past 6 months things are getting much better and by this fall even more routes should be coming back with better service times. Just wanted to note that it wasn't because of lack of planning, but the very real issue of lack of staff. Downtown Minneapolis also used to be MUCH more vibrant before the pandemic, but it's having a lot more trouble coming back than other urban areas. We're all hopeful things will continue to improve, but we all know and don't like how desolate is can get now (which it wasn't before).
Yeah, I think a lot of agencies are struggling with labor shortages. All I can do is point out what I observe actually happening. It is interesting that the BRT (sort of) lines run at higher frequencies -- different driver skillset, I know.
@@CityNerd The BRT lines are newer and are a popular fad in US transit circles. The transit agencies are just trying to prove that all that money that they spent on a brand new BRT line was not wasted. In 10-15 years the transit planners lose interest in the new toy and these get the same crappy frequencies that light rail does. It's a matter of policy not objective issues with the labor market. Retraining a bus driver into an LRT driver is not that hard or expensive. It is basically the same skillset on modern LRTs.
The riots, political instability, and recession over the same timeframe also had an impact on suburban interactions... it created a lot of uncertainty and speculation as to the identity of the city. People were more apt to be tourists than engaged community members.
Downtown was much more vibrant, but rampant (for Mpls) crime, gang violence, robberies, drug use and - oh yeah - let's defund the police! - has made downtown Mpls a dystopic place in many areas that used to be wonderful. I had a guest here from Germany and we walked down Hennepin from the warehouse district to Rock Bottom at about 9pm one weeknight in summer, and he later commented that he never felt as terrified in his life (and this is someone whose corporate offices were near the Reeperbahn in Hamburg). Open drug deals, prostitution, and even a charming gunshot as we passed 8th street really rounded out the experience of downtown Mpls for him.
First Comment! “Portland-light” is indeed rich. Minneapolis tie-ing with Portland in biking despite 5 months of persistent snow and ice coverage is a testament to the planning and resolve of Minnesotans.
Speaking as someone living in Portland, originally from Chicago, Portland isn’t the transit and biking utopia it’s played out to be. Downtown Portland and the surrounding areas are all car dense, we’re losing our protected bike lanes, our transit system is being thrown by the wayside and developed in direct contrast to anyone’s best interest. I wouldn’t dare call Minneapolis “Portland lite”, I think it’s quite the opposite at this point
@@AllisonKozik that sucks to hear Portland is going backwards! I just assumed Portland and Minneapolis were on the same trajectory. MPLS is trying to expand the blue line into some of the northwest burbs. The green line heading to some southern burbs is still being constructed and won't open until around 2027.
Absolutely awesome and thorough video! For some context on points in this video; 1. The 15 minute frequencies on the light rail are due to a driver shortage that will be fixed by hiring 7 more LRT drivers. 2. Uptown and Lake St is due to get a WHOLE bunch of traffic calming with the B Line BRT, which will also have significant bus lanes across Lake St. The B Line opens in 2024! 3. The parks system in Minneapolis and the connectivity of bike+ped infrastructure extends beyond Minneapolis, the Metropolitan Council and various park + recreation entities have connected parks across the entire twin cities! The Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers are entirely connected by trails, publicly accessible from the suburbs to the downtowns of both Minneapolis and St Paul. 4. Downtown Minneapolis is due to get a massive transformation over the coming years with more bike infrastructure, bus lanes, and street redesigns. Many pedestrian crossings are automated across Minneapolis, making beg buttons a redundancy for many intersections. Jacob Frey is the reason downtown is not as active though! 5. The boarding up of buildings across Lake St is a long term effect from the 2020 George Floyd Uprising. You definitely hit the nail on the head with how much of a core part that racial justice protest is to our identity. That specific building was the old Target which closed this year. 6. That Fucking Kmart is finally getting torn down next year! 7. The Orange Line BRT has actually spurred a lot of transit oriented development around the areas that it deviates from the highway, like in Burnsville and Bloomington around Knox Ave, 98th Street, and Burnsville's "Heart of the City" neighborhood. All built in just the last couple of years! 8. Amtrak will soon be serving Minneapolis as well as St Paul, through the expansion of Intercity rail with lines like the Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago/Great River corridor, as well as the higher speed rail Northern Lights Express between Minneapolis and Duluth. Can't wait for you to come visit us again, and hope to see more Twin Cities videos! My next suggestion is visiting the inner ring suburbs of the Twin Cities like Hopkins and Richfield, if you really wanna see some novel infrastructure!
I live in Chicago, I love visiting Minneapolis. Such a great city to walk around and explore. That Amtrak line sounds amazing. Too long of a drive if you're traveling alone for an extended weekend from down here. I'll have to read up on when it goes live.
MSP beats San Diego on bike lanes and BRT, but why the COVID-era LRT service cuts?San Diego's busiest LRT line ended 2021 with more frequency than it had in 2019, on top of opening an LRT expansion.
@@alexhaowenwong6122 it's literally just driver shortages since the pandemic, ideally the LRT should have 7-8 minute frequencies or 10 minutes at the worst.
Having lived in Minneapolis, San Francisco and the Central Coast of California I am surprised a few things. 1. How diverse Minneapolis. I will have to admit, after living in Minneapolis, moving first to a Bay Area City near SF, I wondered where all the diversity was. It was diverse, but in a kind of segregated way, if that makes sense. 2. How pedestrian and bike friendly Minneapolis is. Minneapolis and Portland often to go back and forth in being the bike friendliest city in the nation. Some people put Boulder and SF in that list above both. However, having lived in SF and having been to Boulder several times, there I can safely say that, SF at least it does not compare to either Minneapolis or Portland for ease of using a bike in town. You can literally ride a bike from the downtown business area of Minneapolis about 40 miles into a rural area and never be nervous or feel like you are being crowded out by cars or traffic. There are a lot of cars, but contrary to what some people think, cars will always be the main source of transportation for most people so, yes, the main reason for roads are for cars, the rest of the traffic, trucks, busses, bicycles, motorcycles and everything else is an "also uses," and I do not think that is really going to change in any of the major cites in our lifetime. And, that's ok, it's not a drawback. 3. The weather. I want to mention the weather. Yes, it can get cold, very cold, however, I would take the cold of Minneapolis over the heat of much of the Southwest in the summer any day. You can dress for cold weather and easily mitigate the coldest of days. I've spend extended time in Tampa, Phoenix and Laughlin, not to mention my son lives in the San Joaquin valley in CA. Heat is oppressive, cold is not. At some point it is so hot that being naked in the shade is still miserable. Once you have lived in Minneapolis for a while, if you take the advice of locals and dress properly, the cold is easily mitigated and will not prevent you from going anywhere or even being outside. I watched people jogging all year long, even in the dead of winter. I have actually spend hours outside in below zero weather and have not been cold enough to be uncomfortable. All in all I think it is one of my top cities to live in the US.
I lived in St Paul back around 1998. What I love about the Twin Cities was how much free entertainment was available in the parks around town. The parks are well setup both summer and winter, provided you dress for it. Biking around the cities is super, fantastic trails in and around the cities. Fantastic nature close by too. I have lived in 8 US states and I can say the city I most enjoyed living in was St Paul. I go where the jobs are, but if I had a chance, I'd move back to the Twin Cities in a heartbeat.
MN is not Norway; we do not have a "freedom to roam" law, but we take a public parks, lakes, and spaces seriously. Thank you for covering this. It was such a part of normal to me that I didn't really think about this as a differentiator that it is.
Well as someone from Texas, that knows almost every lake is private. Wandering means your about to learn what "stand your ground" is all about. So to me that's something really cool I wish we had.
@@eldermoose7938 I dont. If im paying 350k for a lake property it mine to use as i please. If i want parties there for my guests its for me. I want quite fishing and hanging with my neighbors. I dont want to maintain and clean up after other people that dont respect it. Also gotta keep people away from the duck hunting blinds. Good that my lake property isn't in the cities but outside of it an hour or so.
I think the Skyway is a necessary dystopia. When I worked downtown, I was definitely more connected to the city throughout the winter. Even though I didn't work in a building connected to the Skyway, I knew where I could pop in and out and minimize my time in the cold, and it's cold. I've lived in the Great Lakes region my entire life so I'm not a stranger to winters, but MN is on another level. The interesting thing about that is that winters are far more pleasant than anywhere else I've lived. That first 10 minutes in the cold is the worst part, and then if you are dressed appropriately it's easy to bear. Alternately in Toronto and Detroit, it's hard to dress for the weather as truly cold days are less constant. Back to the original subject, if it were not for the Skyways, we wouldn't have The Replacements 'Skyway', and that is a dystopia I wouldn't want a part of. I also have to laugh at "Minnesota Nice" extending to watching out for the police.
I think one issue with the Skyway in minneapolis is that it's a network of privately owned and operated skyways that close when the office workers go home. It brings the downtown lunch crowd off the street but then nothing is left for any after-work/night life stuff. Not to mention the lengths they go to keep "undesirable" people out of the skyway.
@@BurkeMinahanThis all sounds too familiar to Chicago's Pedway system. You can use it 7-5 on weekdays. Outside those times, you'll need to weave in and out. Also, I'm under the impression the Skyway is much larger, whereas the Pedway only covers the top half of the Loop.
@@BurkeMinahan So in essence, it's not the Skyway itself, but how it's managed? I can certainly see that as a problem. But generally, for these cities with actual winters (including my own), an indoor network is welcomed. It's just nice to walk around in a temperature-controlled area even if there's a blizzard outside.
@@AnotherDuckit's management is a bit messy. One building strikes a deal with another across the street and they build a Skyway between them. Some of the buildings are hotels, others office buildings with retail spaces, apartmentment buildings and some of it is a college campus. It's very much a hodge podge. Each separate deal is then managed by the entities that made it, setting hours of use, cleaning, repairs, and sometimes security. Part of the college campus actually requires id and isn't available to the regular public. The quality, style, and age of the Skyways very. So does the signage. Finding a bathroom is often a complaint next to navigation. There are maps, including an app but even with those it can be confusing to newcomers. In general most of them are open 9 to 5 but technically they all run by their own rules.
You said this wasn't going to be an exhaustive video, but it was still very thorough and touched on a lot of great things about the city as well as places for improvement. Well done!
Went to college and lived there for 12 years. Loved every minute of it. Would move back in a hearbeat. The skyways are a necessity during the winter. With the cold, winter and wind, the skyways are an absolute must.
As a Minnesotan I have a lot of optimism for Minneapolis the city used to be way more car centric than it currently is and some of that can be attributed to removing mandatory parking minimums. Plus the green line extension to the west will have less cars coming to downtown from the suburbs. Downtown seems quiet because a lot of the office space is vacant but hopefully they can be converted to apartments and road diets will be put in place. There is also a study to remove I-94 from Minneapolis and St Paul so fingers crossed that gets done. Anyways I’m happy to see my city be featured on this channel and can’t wait to see how it continues to improve.
I listened to a developer talk about the office to residential switch. The retrofitting from office to residential provides a lower quality residential for similar price of just demolishing and rebuilding. The cost goes into all that reworking of plumbing and whatnot (high cost) and you have to develop a living space based on what is currently built without any choice (lower quality).
I’m so excited for the light rail in my SLP neighborhood. I hate sitting in traffic to get to 94, and I will definitely use the light rail when I need to get to downtown or St. Paul.
@@lindsaystrand9170 As somebody who lived downtown Mpls for 30 years without a car, you may end up surprised at how long it takes to use the light rail. When I would meet friends downtown St Paul they were always surprised that I was taking the bus instead of the train. It was way faster to take the 94 express bus than the light rail stopping everywhere along university the entire way. I also always opted to take the 5 bus from downtown to Ikea because the train station at MOA is on the opposite end of the mall and then you had to cross a highway on foot to get to IKEA. The bus dropped me off right at IKEA. Besides regularly taking the blue line to the airport, I took busses to get everywhere else.
Minneapolis-St.Paul has long been one of the most underrated metro areas in the country. A high standard of living, cleanliness, increasing mass transit options, a huge state university, all four major sports, fairly affordable housing, and apparently a great bike path system.
I live in Minneapolis, and if you consider giving buses fancy paint jobs and then marketing them as BRT “increasing transit options”, than sure I guess.
Adding to your comments about the width of the roads, I feel like its a necessity given how much snow piles up here in the winter. I commute down there fairly often, and it gets a lot narrower in the winter with feet of snow on the banks.
If you work downtown, you take advantage of the skyway every single day. Even then, when going to events downtown it is very convenient and links a lot of places together without needing to worry about cars/traffic/crosswalks... This is most loved during the winter as well. Pedestrian count down timers are for the blind...
Wow, as someone who has lived in Minneapolis for the last 10 years, you really covered a lot of ground in 3 days! I'm seriously impressed. Btw, you stayed at the hotel that my partner works at! I hope you had a good stay there.
Minneapolis is the epicenter of the American Indian Movement, which started in the 70s and is still going strong. There are indigenous organizations, businesses, and housing complexes in a corridor just southeast of downtown, particularly along Franklin and Cedar Avenues. Much of the Native-led housing development there is designed to be more communal than a typical apartment complex, which is neat from an urbanist perspective. (The city recently officially recognized the biggest lake in the Chain of Lakes by its Dakota name Bde Maka Ska, which translates to "White Earth Lake". It was previously named after John C. Calhoun, a forgettable politician with no meaningful connection to the region who happened to be virulently racist even by 1820s standards.)
@@nikhillrao3799 I'm not a big Civil War history person so his name meant nothing to me, but I suppose a dude that scary-looking can hardly be called "forgettable". My in-depth Wikipedia research tells me the lake got named after Calhoun by some army surveyors he sent to scout out the area before the area was even colonized. I don't think he even ever set foot there.
@@Honeycrispsosweet I visited them once and didn't quite realize what was going on until after the fact. It was small, circular, single story units attached to each other several in a row, with large public space in the center. The design was clearly evocative of precolonial housing. I tried to look up what it was named and couldn't find it.
I rode my bicycle from Nebraska to Minneapolis and spent the night on a park bench, it was a very welcoming city! I'm surprised you didn't talk about the bike highway more- that thing blew me away
I live in St. Paul and get very sad when I see the old street car rails under the streets! It is such a shame that not just St. Paul but many American cities gave up their original transportation systems for cars. Street maintenance costs SO much more when it is car-centric. Anyway, hope you stop over in SP next time, try Lowertown, and W 7th St which IMO is walkable. I wish there were more corner markets as the only grocery store downtown SP is Lunds which is nice, but pricey.
It's amazing to sere Mineapolis did the right thing with their lakes. Orlando has beautiful lakes that have highways going right across them, it's really depressing.
I’ve used the greenway to safely get home after a fun night of drinking in uptown. Easy to ride your bike tipsy when you don’t have to worry about getting hit by a car lol. Also I love the skyways for year round use! Not having to stop for streetlights or traffic or weather is so great! It’s also super convenient because I’m able to have groceries and dr appointments all downtown!
Isn't a bicycle considered a "vehicle" under your state's vehicle code? If it is, you can be charged with DWI regardless (unless there's some special exception for bicycle paths versus roads). Heck, I knew someone who would've gotten a DUI on a horse (if the police had caught her). I DID know someone who got a ticket for riding a horse the wrong way down a one-way street in NYC.
As someone who has worked with Met Council on cargo oriented development a few years ago, I really appreciated the overall thoughtfulness that went into how they tackled serious problems. I remember that when the light rail was being built a lot of grant money went into ensuring that local small businesses didn't suffer customer loss with roadway shutdowns. You don't normally see this kind of work, particularly with a city of this size.
Yeah, that's a really tough part of these kinds of transit projects. I did design management on a BRT project in Portland and the amount of outreach and coordination with affected businesses throughout the project is truly mind-boggling.
Those businesses had some financial support through grants while they were building the line. I cannot speak to whether they stayed open to this day. @@IcatchTuna
Hey there! Welcome to Minneapolis! I couldn't agree more with your insights. As someone who's been cycling here all year round for more than two decades, I totally get the importance of studded tires, bar mitts, and a good dose of foolish bravery for those icy rides! You did a fantastic job exploring various places and talking about our transportation system, including its ups and downs. Your understanding of our culture and city life is spot on, and it's clear you put a lot of effort into your research. Watching your essay I realized just how special it itls to not have homes surrounding our lake system, it’s like that as well up and down the Mississippi River- one of my favorite places to walk on the hidden forest trails. Now, let me share a little local tale with you. You might have heard some folks jokingly call a certain K-mart "that f***ing K-mart." The thing is, it was poorly dropped right in the middle of Nicollet Ave, causing quite a headache for everyone, and most businesses to its north had to close down. But here's the bright side: many immigrants saw an opportunity and opened amazing restaurants there, which is why we call it "Eat Street." It's a delicious outcome from a challenging situation! And oh, the blue line lightrail-it's been through some seriously rough times during the pandemic and protests, causing locals like me, who live nearby, to take a break from using it. I’ll save you the details but it was so much worse than a couple smelly riders. It was a dangerous place for a while with fights and knives being a problem. But it's been making a huge comeback eback k in the last six months, and things are looking up. I did like that little “gotcha” monologue, and it’s the kind of thing I’d normally say to visiting pearl clutching suburbanites. but we are coming off a bad time on the light rail. You really captured the heart of Minneapolis in your video, and I'm so glad you enjoyed exploring our city. Keep up the fantastic work.
There's no doubt some serious incidents have happened on the light rail, but in my experience: lots of the suburbanites discussing it have never stepped foot into the light rail anyway. I've avoided it because with my schedule and lack of time to connect with friends and that I work from home my reliance had dipped severely over the pandemic. But it shouldn't be abandoned by the wayside, and there are also many contributing factors to the presence of struggling or unstable individuals. A lot of those factors are ones these suburbanites who don't know better think aren't important to deal with and support services for... I grew up in the suburbs but having lived in Philly and St. Paul, it really opens your eyes to what's going on beyond the handful of people on a street corner in the suburbs asking for money.
I’m a long-time (47-years) transplant to the Twin Cities from Cleveland, Ohio. I have worked downtown and can’t imagine it without skyways, especially in the dead of winter!! The lakes and parks are wonderful (every home in Mpls has a park or lake within a few blocks), making it a very livable city. Arts organizations abound not only for the talented, but also for children’s development. Downsides are the winters if not into winter sports (mostly x-country skiing, hockey, skating, curling) and MN Nice!
Minneapolis literally means "City of Waters." The lakes are the heart and soul of the city, and I'm glad you liked it. And yes, we definitely recognize that the KMart on Nicollet Mall was an enormous mistake, and the Minneapolis Police Department was an even bigger mistake.
It wasn't so much a 'mistake' as it was a way to disrupt a major traffic artery otherwise connecting 'unsavory' (aka minority) neighborhoods from nicer (read: whiter) neighborhoods north of it and the downtown. An awful thing, of course, but deliberate.
loving this video, esp as someone who's only ever passed through the twin cities and read wikipedia articles. excited to see what else shows up in this new series
It's called the "twin cities" for a reason. You completely ignored Saint Paul, which is a damn shame. The Metro Green Line has revitalized University Avenue, and Lowertown is a hidden gem. Hope you come back sometime to do a Part 2 👍
@@curryman999 not sure about that. I remember not being able to sleep from the heat in mpls. Considering that we are accelerating global warming, it will only be more miserable.
It’s just OK. The urban heat island effect really does a disservice. I live an hour and a half northeast in Polk County, WI and being in a rural area keep our temperatures a reliable 3-5 deg F cooler. Turns out plants and forests are good for keeping cool after all. The city with a real claim to a nice summer is Duluth. Minneapolitans love to go there in summer. You could always tell them apart from the locals because they drive the giant new Suburbans.
The Twin Cities really pleasantly surprised me when I moved to Minnesota for college. The more I learnt about urban planning the less I was convinced there’d be too many American metropolitan areas I’d want to live in but I’ve since fallen in love with the area. The bike accessibility, integration of green spaces and the access to the lakes are all huge pluses.
I would love a video detailing the different types of pedestrian crossings. From the rectangle beacons, to H.A.W.K. crossings, there are a ton of interesting ways that planners are trying to get cars to slow for pedestrians.
{Edit: 60+ miles of the banks of the Mississippi, running through the Cities, are publicly owned, typically parks. You can also rent/use kayaks to get from some parts to others.} One thing I'd like to mention about your criticism on the wideness of our streets is that we get such an abundance of snow that we typically lose a minimum of one car-width along the sides of our streets from the snow piling up from plowing and extending beyond the curbs. There are also underground tunnels, not just the skyways. I'd say that the tunnels and skyways work as replacements to the sidewalk in the downtowns, but you have to consider that for the office folks downtown, heels and loafers can be genuinely dangerous to climb across a snowbank, or across ice. They also function to allow physically disabled folks to get around, since someone in a wheelchair isn't likely to be able to climb up and down a four foot snowbank. The difference in street traffic in the downtowns since the pandemic has been DRASTIC. They've always been kinda deserted at night, but since the pandemic the difference is quite stark. There's been talk about converting some of the empty office buildings into affordable housing, which would be cool. Another thing the snow impacts is some fire hydrants are several feet off the ground, and have flags sticking out of the top, because the snow can get so high.
Thanks for visiting. Minneapolis resident here (30 years). I am a blue line rider from 38th to downtown for work. The skyway system is a winter necessity. My office is one block of surface street to connect and that alone is a difficult walk not to mention getting around all the snow and ice that narrows the streets, especially in the residential neighborhoods. Also your comment about being 'unsafe vs being uncomfortable' on transit was interesting as I've experienced both. The pandemic completely changed the rail ridership from packed trains to now empty. And thank you for your respect for George Floyd square. It's a sacred place. Our city may never fully heal from this. Next time be sure to visit Little Earth! The urban native community is warm and welcoming. Great work!
UMN sucked a lots glad I didn't finish my edumbications. Top 3 researchers Universities in the country blow me. Dinkytown was much better before e2010. Gophers are good for shooting at.
I live in Edina, just outside of Minneapolis. I don't have a car. My apartment complex has a bus stop, I am within a few blocks of multiple grocery stores, big box retailers, and a mall. And I work mostly remotely for a nearby major employer. So, yup, it's possible to live without a car. I would have a bit of problem without ride share for getting to the more far flung parts of the twin cities, but it rare that I need to use such.
If you did this for Detroit in a serious and respectful way (given where they've been and how little they have to work with) and give them some credit for what they've accomplished in that past 5-10 years, you could legitimately change an entire metro area's trajectory and future. Think about it.
I have lived in a few US cities, and one thing that I think you missed about the skyways is that the separation of pedestrians and vehicular traffic makes it much faster, safer and more pleasant for all involved. I hate waiting for a walk signal in the rain (or shine). When I drive, it is nice to be able to get more than two cars through a green light making right/left turns because pedestrians are always there sharing your same time at the light. Busses move faster. Skyways really make it pretty nice.
Yeah, I like that I get to connect more deeply with a local audience, but I hope more general viewers who aren't necessarily familiar with these cities get value out of them too.
Some of the street scape issues you mentioned - for instance the pedestrian crossing buttons are laid out “strangely” because half the year has ice and snow and ice ruts and snow piles etc… so what looks like a weird use of space has to do with out weather landscape…
as a native Minnesota, Twin Cities frequenter and a railfan, I am enamored with the rail history of Minneapolis. To the point that I actually downloaded google earth pro just to look at it through time. It is my understanding that in the early 1900s, because of the iron production, wheat production and as the kinda heartbeat of the midwest states, Minneapolis actually rivaled New York in commerce via rail. Theres a reason we had a dozen railways just going from Duluth to somewhere else, like Duluth to Saint Paul, Duluth to Minneapolis, Duluth to Chicago, Duluth to Sault St. Marie, Duluth to the Pacific.
i also think the downtown needs more trees and greenery. theyve been tearing up parking lots and building new buildings all over the city but there needs to be more green space and trees downtown, it feels more empty than chicago or new york even tho it could be alot more vibrant
On the beg buttons: they're at almost every intersection, but you don't actually have to press them - a couple of years ago they changed the setup so pedestrian lights turn green on every cycle at every intersection throughout Minneapolis. Once in a while I spot one that doesn't, I call 311, and they come fix it. You can still press them if you want audio cues I guess.
They're like some elevator buttons. If you press them, you feel better, but they don't actually do anything. We have those here too, although most do work at certain hours of the day when the vehicle traffic lights are on detection mode rather than cycle.
Yeah, a lot of cities have this. I'm surprised CityNerd didn't test it out and notice this. In Seattle, ones at normal four way intersections are mostly for beeps for the visually impaired (and anxious people). We do have functional ones at lights over popular crossings (just normal streets with a bus stop/businesses/schools on the other side) that will basically immediately switch the light for you unless you call it within a certain amount of time of someone else just having called it. I don't really think of those as beg buttons so much as command buttons, though, since you literally get to stop traffic. Lol.
"As a society, we kind of don't do a great job differentiating between being made to feel a bit uncomfortable from actually being exposed to a safety risk. If your main problem with transit is that it isn't used exclusively by gainfully employed people who look and smell the way you want them to, I'd just suggest that's a problem well, WELL outside the scope of transit." One of the all time great CityNerd quotes and something more Americans need to realize if we're going to fully invest in our cities and bring people together again.
It's a byproduct of the isolation of suburban car-centric lifestyles. When you're perpetually cocooned and isolated from other people, the world starts seeming like a very scary place.
Very true but we also can't ignore the fact that there have been several shootings and stabbings not only on the platforms but right inside the trains and busses themselves and people do smoke cigarettes, meth and shoot up on the trains and leave needles sitting right on the seats.
A very short Google search shows multiple transit location shootings in MPS, so people are right to feel "uncomfortable", and your suggesting that it is somehow a bias problem is disingenuous. And more generally, when disorder and drug use and loitering are tolerated in public spaces, it pushes out people who are gainfully employed and suggests to others that the area is open for other criminal behavior. And the great cities of Asia and most of Europe have a delightful urban fabric with a fraction of the panhandlers and drug users of our major cities, we don't have to tolerate that and it isn't a badge of your personal tolerance to be put off by bums passed out on the train.
Heyyy my home town! I'm so grateful for the Twin City's cycling trail infrastructure! It extends all the way to the WI border. The town I'm moving to is almost fully bikeable because of this and has a thriving, human-scale downtown. On top of that, the cycling trails link up to the Gateway Trail, Browns Creek Trail, and the MRT.
@@theblondebomber Funnily enough I did tell him about it on a recent vid of his since his channel was so influential for where I ended up buying a house. I just don't want to say the town name for obvious internet reasons.
Probably the most interesting piece of urban infrastructure that Not Just Bikes shows off in the Netherlands that I see used the least in the US is keeping the crosswalk at the sidewalk grade, so cars have to come UP to the crosswalk level when passing through which slows them down and also psychologically reminds them they are entering and passing through pedestrian territory, rather than having peds descend DOWN to street level, signifying to ped and driver that it is territory for cars.
It's crazy how many cities are empty downtown while the city keeps spending money catering to people from the suburbs driving to mall parkades and stadiums downtown , or worse yet building super wide roads that help cars move through the city without stopping at all. Just make the downtown great for the people living downtown, concentrate on that. Great to see that a lot of cities are finally figuring that out.
Hopefully the long term impact of COVID will be the transition of downtowns from daytime, office monocultures, to places work more residential and a better mix of commercial, cultural and other amenities to serve downtown dwellers and to draw in suburbanites outside of office hours.
Minneapolis is working on a massive transition to residential conversions and infill downtown, compared to 2008 it's absolutely insane how much has been built. Cars gutted downtown but we are fixing it, the big thing is going to be when Minneapolis builds out the bike infrastructure across the downtown street grid, and really clamp down on car traffic.
About Hmong (the H is silent) and Somali immigrants in Minnesota, well, first of all, it's not just them, we also have the largest Tibetan community outside of Asia. In general though, our Africans are Somali or Ethiopian most commonly, and Asians are southeast Asians. This is a result of them all having been refugees from war. What I've heard, and am not entirely sure is correct, is that this is related to the Lutheran church and it's outreach and humanitarian work and whatnot.
Wanted to mention that Cincinnati also used to have a skyway, and they took it out for precisely the reasons you mentioned - it sucked up vibrancy from the street level, and city leaders decided (correctly) that to get the downtown a bit more activated it was good to tear it down. Also the climate isn't quite as harsh down there either / the roads are narrower and there is much better legacy bones than in Minneapolis (though way less done with it). I do think its had some impact, downtown is significantly more vibrant than it used to be.
Not gonna lie, prior to the pandemic the skyways where very vibrant and not as sterile as they are today. The pandemic delt a huge blow to downtown since it was built up for the corporate can work from home mostly. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the closest we get to pre pandemic these days
To clarify, much of the Cincinnati Skywalk has been dismantled, and sections of it are still being closed and removed, but several significant sections of the Cincinnati Skywalk still exist and are open for use.
i really liked what you had to say about train transit, "there's a difference between being made to feel uncomfortable and being exposed to a legitimate safety risk." i feel this is good advice for anyone in life
Hello, North Dakotan here. North Dakota/Minnesota winters can be really rough but if you have a good coat, decent car, etc. you will be fine! You get used to the brutal cold but you never get used to the seasonal depression. On the topic of the skyway, in the winter the Skyway is a GREAT idea. You can commute from wherever you are and walk through downtown without freezing your ass off in -30+ degree weather (with windchill) and that is important. But this video was very insightful regardless! I grew up in Fargo, ND so the first time I visited Minneapolis back when I was 15, I QUICKLY fell in love. There is so much to love about Minneapolis.
Visit Cincinnati! It’s very walkable and has the most Italianate style buildings outside of New York. There are tons of other historical buildings like the Carew Tower, Union Terminal, and Music Hall. Cincinnati also has a professional baseball, football, soccer, and hockey team. Regarding transit, there’s a small streetcar network which was intended to be a lot bigger but got its funding cut by the state and an Amtrak connection. Restaurants such as The Incline serve a reminder of the extensive transit that the city used to have. Downtown has seen enormous growth and renovations of old abandoned buildings continue along with a new stadium town being designed by the FC Cincinnati Stadium. So come to Cincinnati, there’s a ton of history and great things to do all the time!
The Minneapolis Skyway reminds me a lot of the Houston Tunnel System. Obviously, Houston rarely gets snow or super cold out, but heat and humidity is in full gear for 7-8 months out of the year. The Tunnel System is vibrant with lots of shops and eateries, and most importantly air conditioning. Both Houston Tunnel System and Minneapolis Skyway remind me of airport terminals.
You may not know this, but the Tunnel is mostly fallout shelter compliant. Welcom Wilson Sr. was Civil Defense planner for Eisenhower. When he got back to H-town he went crazy for the fallout shelters, and that included the tunnel system. There's also a second set of tunnels under the Courthouse area, which you would know if you were ever paneled for a criminal jury.
Yes. I've worked in downtown Houston in a previous life in a building on the tunnels. The tunnels are one of Houston's best kept secrets. A fair number of Houstonians don't even know it's there. And that 7-8 months estimate is being charitable. More like 9 months.
When I first moved to Minneapolis, it seemed like the skyway system was all anyone could talk about as a “place” to see. I saw it, and (being from Houston and acquainted with the tunnel system) was not that impressed. The ability to see outside is possibly the biggest plus point to the skyways, but even then, I don’t think Minneapolitans are aware that it isn’t all that unique. There are a dozen other equivalent downtown systems in the US used for similar purposes. In the south (Dallas and Houston) it’s for extreme heat, in the north (Minneapolis, Calgary, Montreal, etc.) it’s for extreme cold. Minneapolis isn’t even the largest system and even Houston’s tunnel system is larger (tho admittedly Minneapolis has the largest completely-connected system). They’re all the same though: a system of getting from building to building while avoiding the extreme climate while also enjoying food and shopping amenities-a large, uncentralized mall. It’s a great thing to have in these cities, but it really isn’t all that unique or special. Being from Houston, I might recommend those things as a thing to go look at if you do go downtown, but never as an “attraction” as people seem to think it is here. Side note: Houston actually has two skyway/tunnel systems. The largest and more famous is in downtown, but the med center (a large city within the city dedicated to biotech/health/medical) also has its own enormous system of bridges, though they also serve a more important service than just “let people avoid the inconvenient weather”.
I also find it hilarious that Houston’s tunnel system is always shit upon as a concept on the rare few occasions it does make it into urbanists content because it “kills the street life”, while things like Minneapolis’ skyways are praised even though they do the exact same thing. It’s all politics and not actually understanding nuances of the city (like the fact that Houston has an enormously successful metro system, even on a national stage, a great urban core, and many walkable/transit-friendly neighborhoods) all in the name of dunking on suburban sprawl that has become synonymous with “Houston” and “no zoning”, despite none of that being actually true (see: CityBeautiful). This is one of the few videos I’ve seen with any nuance, but I’m sure someday we’ll see CityNerd make one of these about Houston, and I really hope he doesn’t go the NJB route of choosing to stay in a hotel 20mi away in the suburbs of “technically Houston” then complaining that it “doesn’t feel like downtown.”* *NJB stayed in Willowbrook in his now famous video, about 40min from downtown Houston. It’s one of the spindly appendages of the city limits. His complaints were rancid if you actually know the area. No one stays there for any kind of business trip…well, unless your business is finding the worst of the worst and acting like it’s typical. It’d be like seeking out a heroine addict in NYC and having an interview with “a typical NYer” and saying “this is why I hate NYC”.
That boarded-up business in Uptown was actually a Target but they closed not too long ago. Lake Street will probably get a redesign, I'm not sure if its currently on-going but Hennepin Ave is getting one w/mixed reactions. Metro Transit does want 24/7 bus lanes in that corridor but Frey vetoed that since he said buses didn't run 24/7 down Hennepin. It's weird, he's very pro-transit and all of that but he wants businesses to have ample parking still. Sidewalk-level bike lanes are coming to Hennepin Ave as well as hopefully reduced general traffic lanes. Otherwise, yeah, Lake Street is a bit too hostile to pedestrians. Whenever you come back to Minnesota (specifically to St. Paul), head over to HmongTown Market Place, it's similar to the Midtown Global Market but strictly Hmong food, shopping, and etc. Minneapolis is still in the process of reaching out to residents of the area on what they would prefer to have the old Kmart be. It's most likely going to be some sort of community space, possibly retail and homes. By the way, Nice Ride was canceled for 2023 and probably beyond because they lost a huge sponsor, the Minnesota Blue Cross so Lyft which operates and maintains it decided to yeet it away. Minneapolis already has plans for bike shares to return one day, which is nice thankfully I do hope that soon, Metro Transit will soon increase the frequency of both LRT lines and extend service later in the night like they had done pre-pandemic. I'm pretty sure you've probably already found/heard about extensions/new lines but I'm going to tell you anyway. Both the Green and Blue Lines are being extended, more than doubling their current lengths. Both should hopefully be open before 2030. New BRT Lines as well like the B Line that's going to run on Lake Street to St. Paul and Gold, Purple, E, F, G, and H lines. The Gold Line (St. Paul to Woodbury) is going to be open before 2027. There's also going to be a higher-speed rail line (up to 90mph) from Minneapolis Target Field to Duluth, yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Would hopefully be open before 2030). Lastly, other proposed passenger rail lines like one to Rochester and besides the existing Empire Builder are hopefully going to be built before 2050.
Frey bows whichever direction the wind blows. He doesn't have any strong opinions about anything Hennepin Ave will get 24/7 bus lanes some day, just not for a few years
Our green space is absolutely top notch. You're right about uptown, though. We moved out in 2019 right before the pandemic kicked in. And let me tell you, the pandemic KILLED Uptown. It used to be a lot more vibrant. There was a lot more businesses, night life, unique restaurants and small business, etc. It's always been kinda pedestrian unfriendly and ugly for walking in the main areas though.
I LIVE NEXT TO THE BUILDING IN THE THUMBNAIL!!! I’m geeking out!! I love living in the Lynlake/Uptown Area, it’s incredibly walkable and bikeable. Lake street and Hennepin Ave through the neighborhood are both wayyy to car-centric though, which only exacerbates the issues of the vacant storefronts and truncates the vibrancy of the street presence. By implementing traffic calming and improving ped/bike infrastructure, it could change drastically. Thanks for the great video on the Twin Cities!
Metro Minneapolis is quit a bit larger than Portland so it’s kind of a weird dig. Minneapolis feels decently bigger. I’ve been to both a few times. That’s coming from someone from Milwaukee I love lambasting Minnesota.
I think a video on trail/greenway oriented development would be a cool topic to explore. A potential option could be the Indianapolis Cultural Trail and the Monon Trail
We have a greenway investment going on here in northwest Arkansas near Fayetteville. It's slowly but surely becoming a lot easier to get to different parts of town with dedicated multi-use trails. The area is still extremely car-oriented but it's easier and way more accepted now to cycle places. I wish they would continue investment for bicycles and pedestrians in commercial areas as it's hard to even find a bike rack in some spots but acres of surface parking. The sidewalks are mostly 4ft wide as well which makes it hard to avoid stepping into the road with lots of pedestrian traffic.
I've ridden both! Live in Minneapolis and my partner is from Indy. One big difference currently, the Greenway connects a huge network of trails along the river, lakes, Cedar Lake Trail, etc. The Greenway becomes kind of like the bike superhighway through the cities. Monon (from the sense I got) was more of a single direction trail, slightly more disconnected from a trail network but maybe that's something Indy is aiming for! Monon certainly has a ton of development along the path, I'd love to see trail oriented development video as well! There are lots of great examples in the Twin Cities.
Had to comment. Nice review of the Twin Cities. I have to say in the 24 years of living here the infrastructure is slowly trending upwards. I had to laugh when you mentioned how wide the downtown streets are. If you come back in January-March you’ll see how narrow they become due to the piles of snow banks. I park downtown for work and sometimes I’ll see I’m a good 6 feet from the curb because of the 5 feet of packed snow and ice. Love your work. Keep up the good fight.
Those walk buttons at the intersections are mainly for the blind. They have an auditory countdown and also a message stating which intersection you are crossing.
I was interested in your points about the Minneapolis Park System! So cool that the lakefront is entirely public. Seems like an interesting contrast to Madison, another midwest city that has multiple lakes in its city proper, but doesn't have a requirement that lakefront be public. Most of the lakefront is private property, apart from a few key parks on the lake front.
Another great video! Loved hearing this will be a reccuring series. Would love see one on Pittsburgh, a favorite of your top tens and where I'm from. I'd also enjoy one on San Diego which, if it had been designed properly, would be a top tier pedestrian friendly city. Thank you for sharing these!
This video is so perfectly timed. My kid is looking at Macalester College and really wants to live in city that is friendly for people that don't want to have a car.
Hey Mac alum here! From back East originally and now live in St Paul. While this video doesn’t really cover St Paul much, the Mac campus is one of the most walkable areas of St Paul which is great. It’s also improved a lot since I was a student. The big thing is they now have a rapid bus line right on the campus. It goes towards both light rail lines. Furthermore, Summit Ave which is the east-west connective tissue of the city is right on the side of campus. It has a painted bike lane that is well used in the warmer months. During the winter, I find it it’s often plowed over which is too bad but still am able to use it for biking. This also might get fixed within the next few years because of a long overdue reconstruction of Summit. There is a bus line that covers a similar route also right on campus. Most Mac students don’t have a car because of how accessible the area is. Best of luck to your kid on their college search!
The extra wide streets downtown, you described as suboptimal... are actually a blessing because when it snows we lose like 2 feet on both sides from the plows
Minneaaaap! By the way, those rectangular rapid flashing beacons are a much needed improvement for those two intersections (25th and 27th). They were virtually impossible to cross as a pedestrian before, and the addition of making Lyndale two lanes instead of four lanes helped existing as a pedestrian a lot, too. EDIT: That Kmart has been a bane on the landscape forever, and finally the city bought out the lease so it could be redeveloped and reconnect the street. There are a lot of ideas, I think there's a focus on biking/walking/transit and livable spaces.
I just wonder if they tried just the improved crossing with the right-sizing (I hate the term road diet) to see how it worked before adding RRFBs. I just never see RRFBs on these kinds of streetcar-era main streets
@@CityNerd hmm 'right-sizing', i like it... and i'm not an eng native-speaker, but what about 'debloating/unbloating'? (i always thought 'stroad' requires more explanation than 'bloatroad' would)
While rail trails are generally a great way of repurposing defunct rail lines for cycling, I can’t help but think that if it’s overdone it could potentially preclude the development of better transit alternatives such as regional rail or rapid transit. This isn’t saying that ALL rail lines should be reactivated for rail transit, but in cases where there’s a need for such services abandoned railroads shouldn’t be exclusively removed for bikes only, greater vision for better transit alternatives should be consider
The Midtown Greenway highlighted in this video only uses half of the rialroad right of way with the idea of someday running a light rail line down the other side. I think it's a great example of not cutting off all your options for the future.
On the east side of Saint Paul, there’s a rail-to-trail that has always had signs up indicating that it could someday become rapid transit again. There currently are plans in the works for just that. (NIMBYs are up in arms.)
This has already happened. The green line extension in Minneapolis has taken out portions of the bike trails. In neighboring suburbs, the trees were removed to make room for the tracks. I'm a little upset about that. It was a nice shaded ride during the 90F+ 100% humidity days.
My least favorite part is definetly the wide streets. Living in Marcy Holmes it blew my mind how a neighborhood where most people walk/bike/bus to places had skinny side walks with massive roads that are so loud and have traffic almost 24/7.
That lake street bus station is a major improvement over the old stop there, which was just a pull-off on the freeway itself that had people waiting with no protection from the 55+MPH traffic.
You make a really good point about the car-focused enviroment of Uptown. It's an area I wanted to live in for walkability and general vibes/cultural amenities, but it always feel more unpleasant than it should.... That's why I chose to live in Whitter!
I'm surprised you didn't point out the big issue with the skyways downtown, that is, that they are privately own, and therefore not open to the public, and therefore segregate Minneapolis that much more between the homeless outdoors and the professional indoors.
As a resident of the Twin Cities, I appreciate this. I wish you kept going with the lakes panning--the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway is just a delight to bike, 50 miles of delightful parkland wrapping basically the entirety of Minneapolis. So many great park areas amidst the suburbs too--friends from elsewhere who've been here (or looked on Google) are stunned by how not city like it is from all the parks and lakes. Feels like living in a real gem of ~flyover country~.
Wait! STAAAWWWWP. You didn't wanna read the rest of the comments anyway, just this one! Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: go.nebula.tv/citynerd
stawp ☠️
stawp
it is impossible to read this in your voice
Stawp
@@blueninja012 I can. I imagine it really slow and low.
The point you made about people having a hard time differentiating "feeling a little uncomfortable" from being in "imminent danger" was SO good. Thanks for keeping that in.
Indeed. Years ago took a metro bus ride across south Chicago on vacation (Midway to the Museum of Science and Industry) and definitely felt a bit uncomfortable, but not imminent danger given it was a bright and pleasant day. Likely be a different story after dark in that area.
I came here to say this!
Yes!!! Every time some cowardly suburbanite denigrates my city it irritates me. I might steal this wording in my next reply!
That’s a false dichotomy. Panhandling and open drug use fit neither of those categories.
Yeah get on these trains in the early mornings in the winter and let me know if you feel uncomfortable or in imminent danger when most of the people on the train are addicts openly using.
As a resident, I have to say you nailed it.
I will say that when the snow piles up, those wide streets feel pretty narrow.
Nice work!
As bad as the snow can get here though, I am always impressed and proud of how efficiently Minneapolis clears it, especially compared to other cities like Chicago… or… um… St. Paul.
This thought hit me too - in the winter months, the roads are a lot more narrow! It matters! 😂
Came to comment this. I totally agree.
@@mangos2888depending on the street, you can loose a whole lane. In some cases, almost two. It isn't possible to load up trucks and ship it. You have to keep it on site.
@@mangos2888and midwest snow don’t melt lol, that shit stay until it wants to melt
I once stayed at a hotel in Minneapolis that offered free bikes to its guests while they were staying there. It quickly turned into one of my favorite business trips as I used the bike network to explore multiple lakes, neighborhoods, and restaurants. The bike infrastructure of MSP is just incredible.
Best in the country. Sorry Portland, but the Twin Cities metro has the best bike infrastructure in the U.S. and I don't even think it's close.
Having lived here most of my life, this depressed me. Yes it is top tier in the US but it’s nothing compared to the Netherlands…
What hotel? I’m visiting soon and I’d love to take advantage
We did this exact same thing when we visited a few weeks ago! Stayed at the Chambers Hotel. They have bikes that you can use that are decently functional. We rode 60 miles that day, mostly on bike paths. I'm super envious of all the bike paths and I felt so much safer cycling here than anywhere in California
Yeah, I should've looked for such a hotel, in retrospect! I certainly saw a few while exploring downtown.
About Minneapolis streets being too wide... Minnesota streets are overbuilt. They are wider than in most parts of the country. The reason is that they need somewhere to push the snow onto during the winter. The extra width of the street can become walls of snow wider and taller than you are and it takes several days for crews to relocate all that excess snow. So, they just plow overnight so kids can go to school in the morning and then worry about the snow mounds later. Long crossing distances are just an unfortunate side effect. It's a Minnesota reality even in the smallest towns.
Thats also why the signals are set back from the sidewalk edge.
This is correct...and great point.
Wait... you mean the rest of the US doesn't know what it's like to have to clear a two-foot wall of packed snow out of your driveway every single time the plow comes through?
I mean it makes sense, but jeez louise... how do you people stay fit?
This guys a genuine Minnesnowtan
Also, a lot of the roads originally had streetcar lines on them.
I need you to know that Minneapolis is home to the academy of the blind. Our streets fill with snow so we need wider roads. The pedestrian signals are really important for our street accessibility.
@@Alkaline_Saint the snow is trucked away!
@@MarkBerg-tk8js it’s not trucked away on the same day is falls!
@@MarkBerg-tk8js It is? Never lived in the cities proper, just in the suburbs where they love to just pile snow onto our lawns and driveways.
Sorry if this is a really stupid question, but is our level of vision impaired accessibility not everywhere? I felt like this was at or below the bare minimum. But I've only ever lived in St. Paul, and as a sighted individual, so maybe I'm just super oblivious.
@@MarkBerg-tk8jslol not in Saint Paul
Public access to lakes and beaches is so underrated. I feel that is what has spoiled a lot of Hawaii’s beaches - they aren’t publicly accessible and have homes built on the sand dunes. Would be amazing to see you do a video on that!
There's a whole legal history around providing easements and access to beachfront that's fascinating. Maybe CityBeautiful has covered it, seems like it would be up his alley
@@CityNerd One of the things that Chicago has gotten exactly right. I don't believe there's any stretch of the long lakefront in the city (including beaches) that is off-limits to the general public.
@@CityNerd I grew up in Chicago. I was shocked to discover like Chicago's "Plan of Chicago" Minneapolis published a "Plan of Minneapolis."
All beaches in Hawaii are public. Property owners must build right of ways from the streets through their property to the beach
@@ptknudson80 but they don't.
As silly as it is, the MSP light rail is what made me start considering transit in America. Going from airport to downtown easily and cheaply, walking around the area, light rail to university, walking to stone bridge.
Growing up in Texas you don’t even look for transit. MSP made me start checking for those rare occasions when it’s actually present
100%. Trains are like big advertisements for transit. The typical American bus stop is essentially invisible to most people.
Our light rail leaves alot to be desired BUT i do think they did great with the first few lines by connecting downtown to the airport and mall of america and then minneapolis to St paul. It was a decent way to get decent utility without having to spend 100 billion to go all in
This is how i felt taking the train from the denver airport to downtown, it was really pleasant
It's your best friend on a windy January day, as well as those skyways. :)
Its beneficial but is it safe? No
Time to drop everything and watch Minneapolis/St. Paul get a spotlight
Yes! Minnesotan here and love our Twin Cities! :)
Hooray for Another Installment of Stroking the Minnesotan Ego!!
Been waiting for this for Quit sometime! Some sweet sweet CN love. Minnesotan's love nothing more than outsiders saying good thing about Minnesota. Even more than tater tot hotdish or juicy Lucys they love it
Born and raised in South Minneapolis and still here. New to channel and first vid to watch is hometown!. You mentioned the old K Mart building. You should research it's history it is interesting. Thinking of history, you missed to see or maybe mention the many old brownstone buildings. Also the many old brick architecture, which was made with bricks made in Chicago aka the Brickyard way back in the day. Lastly the grand old houses along Park Ave and Portland Ave.
First the Secret Base series about the Vikings, and now this! I liked this almost as much as the 1st episode of The History Of The Minnesota Vikings tbh
Minneapolitan here. Skyways are really appreciated both this time of year (90’s temps with awful humidity) and during the long cold winters. Also, wider streets downtown really help with snow removal during those long winters. The way the city lakes are interconnected and how nobody can build houses right on those lakes is definitely stellar about Mpls. We obviously love our lakes here!
Minneapolite responding: can confirm.
yeah i agree, love the skyways... also i hadn't considered the streets being larger for plows ... honestly underrated comment
My thing with the skyways is that everything shuts down at 3pm. I lived in downtown St Paul for two years but a lot of the cool downtown things I never got to go to because they were only open when I was at work
Very glad my family moved away from there a long time ago. A frozen turd.
After watching them condone the looting and burning down of businesses I'd never consider living there
No thanks.
That crap would have been stamped out in short order in our county.
We back the blue,
kneel for the cross, and stand for our flag.
I think you may have missed the point about the large button pedestrian controls with announced countdown for crossing. These were installed specifically for the safety of blind and low-vision pedestrians. We have a relatively large blind population in Minneapolis. There are also bumpy metal plates installed where crosswalks meet the road which were designed to alert someone using a mobility aid like a white cane. Great video, tho!
100%. The Skyways and the read-aloud schedules at some bus stops are also important for blind and low-vision accessibility. There’s at least one fully blind worker at my office building, and I lost part of my vision from a COVID infection. All these infrastructure features are essential to let people like me live, work, and take pleasure in the places we live in.
The highest population of blind people are off of Franklin and Lyndale because of the Blind Center facility.. About 6 blocks from where this was located, spot on. There was some thinking behind this. They'll be screwing up Hennepin in Uptown this summer yay
I've found those metal plates at the end of sidewalks are can get slippery when wet
I was downtown and there was blind/sight impaired gentleman getting off the light rail stop at 1st Ave. If you don't know, the station is in the middle of the street. I saw him using his cane trying to orient himself and since there were no bumps or curbs or anything to let him know where he was, he just started walking straight into the middle of the street at which point I shouted at him to say that the sidewalk was over here. It gave me an appreciation for blind people and the courage it takes to navigate cities and use transit -- it must be incredibly disorienting to be essentially teleported to a brand new destination without any sort of context. Because of the lack of physical stimuli, he had no way of knowing what the right way to go was so he had to make a decision and hope for the best which is like playing Russian Roulette just to get off a light rail stop. So, even though the bumps at crossings are great, it's just one piece of the puzzle, and hopefully there's a continued effort to add design that makes it safer for the differently aibled to exist.
FYI the LED boards displaying the "watch for pedestrian" messages - those boards display other messages, such as when snow emergencies are declared. "watch for pedestrians" is just some filler text when there are no other active notices.
Ooooh excellent point!
Couple of notes as someone who lived in Minneapolis for 6 years and has just moved back home to Philly. Loved many parts of Minneapolis, but I could not handle the cold. In the past few years they've been making really good steps towards approving their infrastructure.
- Aside from Hennepin (clubs), downtown is a complete wasteland at night. It makes it quite easy to bike through, but unless they are clubbing, the vast majority of people go out in neighborhoods like northeast, uptown, cedar-riverside, como etc. Many of the skyways close at night too, so it's a system that receives traffic only at very specific times.
- Lyndale Ave was up until recently a 4 lane road with no turn lanes and very little pedestrian crossings. I've witnessed and had myself multiple near misses from people turning left before the road diet. It's not perfect now, but cars drive much slower now and the pedestrian crossings with the flashing yellow lights are a significant upgrade to the completely absent pedestrian crossings on a 4 block stretch. Lake, Lyndale, and Hennepin are still far to wide to be comfortable for pedestrians, but every indication is that they're actually working on improving things. I believe lake is undergoing a redesign to incorporate a new BRT line, and hopefully a road diet. Similar changes are happening on Hennepin. I still have always opted towards walking/biking on any other side street as none of the 3 are pleasant to walk on. Another project in that neighborhood which I'm sad I'm missing out on is the Bryant ave reconstruction. www.minneapolismn.gov/government/projects/bryant-ave-s-reconstruction/
- The boarded up storefront was a mini target up until may, not sure what is going in place of it.
- The kmart is finally getting torn down, they're doing surveys on what people want. They are planning on reconnecting nicollet, and they currently are surveying/planning what to develop on the site. There's some implied possibility of extending the pedestrian/transit corridor of downtown nicollet, which would be far more successful as nicolett through whittier (eat street), gets far more foot traffic www2.minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiatives/new-nicollet/
In all, it seems that Minneapolis is very serious about improving many of the problems you mentioned in this video. Downtown is still unpleasant, and it's really unclear what their plan is on improving it as they've failed to bring back too many office workers. I've seen a lot of progress in all the surrounding neighborhoods, and their BRT network expansion plans seem to be happening quickly! There's also been some serious conversations about redesigning i94 talk.dot.state.mn.us/rethinking-i94
The skyway should be 25 hours to encourage nightlife. I live in miami, and if there were a way for me to easily get to nightlife destinations AND beat the heat, I'd be clubbing a lot more lol
I live near the edge of downtown. Last I heard a few months ago there us a plan to move all the buses off of nicolet mall and make it pedestrian only with alcohol allowed on the street for events.. I have mixed feelings on this idea.
@cannedpineapple2702 the Skyway is a hodge podge of privately owned areas made for daytime businesses so that probably won't happen. Downtown target isn't even open passed 6pm lol
@@cannedpineapple2702 LOL we're Minnesotans. We eat dinner at 5pm and are in bed by 11. :)
Convert as much of downtown to residential as possible. People would love to be able to walk to work in those skyways.
As a year-round biker from Saint Paul, I encourage you to return in six months to do a video on winter cycling. So long as the roads are well cleared (they tend to be, but there’s room for improvement), it’s quite doable. It’s just a matter of wearing the right clothes. In fact, it makes winter better - more sunshine & exercise than you’d get otherwise.
I did my first -5F ride last winter in Minneapolis. A Notjustbikes video convinced me to try it. The thing holding me back was buying the right bike gear, which all was for cool-weather. I switched to normal clothes, instead of cycle gear, and it got a lot better.
6 months of wind.
For real, cold is defeated by good/proper clothes.
@JamesDanielsplexplex, The drastic changes in weather conditions wreaks havoc on road surfaces and vehicles!!!
No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.
Fun fact. Twin cities now has the highest hmong population in the world. They were a huge tribe that helped us in vietnam war under the promise of immigration. For a long time after the war they were stuck as refugees in thailand. Eventually some groups started bringing them over and after a few decades the whole camp was finally replanted.
Minnesota has a long tradition of taking in immigrants when noone else will. Finnish, Hmong, Somali - not to mention we have one of the biggest latino populations outside of NYC and the southwest. Almost every wave of immigration to the USA includes Minnesota due to the railroads, the Mississippi, Duluth being a seaport, and the MSP International airport.
@@Robynhoodlum damn beat me to it.
What does that have to do with this video?
@@simplesimon8255 its like a little bonus of info. Its often a thing done in normal conversations to keep the subject matter interesting. An aside if you will. For an extreme version of this concept see the news show in starship troopers.
@@sortasurvival5482 Your comment did nothing to pique, let alone sustain my interest in this topic. And what if I don’t want to watch the news show in starship troopers?
The “eyesore rapid flashing beacons” have made for safe and comfortable pedestrian crossings on what was a very dangerous street. They are great.
"It comes as kind of a shock to me that the Golden Gophers actually practice." LOL!
Also, definitely make a visit to St. Paul.
hey now, one season they did so well the fans actually cared when they lost!
Minneapolis was the first Midwest city I ever visited. I was blown away by the community, infrastructure, and sense of place. I spent a week exploring the city and didn't want to leave. I was surprised, I had always heard of the Midwest as a cold, boring place. Much to the contrary. The entire Midwest is experiencing a revival, and in my opinion their cities are creating the best value proposition for young people looking for professional or community opportunities. I've now spent significant time in other Midwest cities - Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Fargo, Sioux Falls, Omaha, Lincoln...and I am filled with joy each time I get to see the true Heartland.
Come on over to Madison, Milwaukee and Appleton
Same
Get on Google Earth and take a birdseye view of U.S. Bank stadium (Vikings) and Arrowhead stadium (KC Chiefs). One has a grassy plaza and a light rail stop directly in front of the stadium, and is walkable from any apartment/office building in downtown. The other sits isolated in the middle of acres and acres of parking log. If you want to exemplify the difference between the thinking and values of the the two cities, the is a great example.
You should see indianapolis next, very affordable and walkable but it’s public transit is horrible, actually it doesn’t really have public transit, it just has a bus system running through suburbs. It used to have a history of streetcar suburbs. But Indianapolis is alot like chicago minus a good metro lol
Awwwe Fargo is where I was born and raised. 🥰 Ugh lol, it's a sorry excuse for a city 😅, but it's nostalgic for me 😛
It's really weird knowing city nerd walked by my apartment.
Also, those ped crossings on lyndale are obnoxious, but that just got changed from 4 lane road to 2+turn lane dueing the pandemic and it has been AMAZING.
I have to cross Lyndale to get my grocery shopping done, (on foot) and the road narrowing has been wonderful! I can't wait for them to do the same on Hennepin.
NOBODY is safe from the walking, gawking CityNerd!😱
Same. I think the crossings helped a lot, for how obnoxious they are, though. I've lived near Lyndale around that area for over a decade and now live even closer, and 25th and 27th were always near impossible to cross as a pedestrian before if you didn't sprint. Probably was impossible for the elderly or people with accessibility needs to cross. The lane reduction was huge, too.
Yeah I don't know the history there -- I'm sure the overall improvement is great, but it's a weird type of street to have RRFBs!
I grew up here! Seeing some of my old stomping grounds is bitter sweet.
Quick note about those wide roads and crossing timers: Yes it's a bit much in the summer months, but remember the winters. If it snows enough for a Minnesotan to notice, the outer lanes become snow banks leaving enough lanes for the city to still function.
The goal should be to have enough public transit that this is a non issue. And I find it a non issue as is being from Minnesota’s neighbor. I never thought to myself on a narrow street “gee I wish it was wider for the snow”. But I seee what you’re getting at.
"Which they're trying to rebrand as Eat Street"
That was 20+ years ago, and it worked.
Yup!
We love Eat Street.
Thanks for visiting Minneapolis! A couple quick takeaways for you... Metro Transit had much better headway service before the pandemic. However, there has been a labor shortage that has severely limited the return to full service. In the past 6 months things are getting much better and by this fall even more routes should be coming back with better service times. Just wanted to note that it wasn't because of lack of planning, but the very real issue of lack of staff.
Downtown Minneapolis also used to be MUCH more vibrant before the pandemic, but it's having a lot more trouble coming back than other urban areas. We're all hopeful things will continue to improve, but we all know and don't like how desolate is can get now (which it wasn't before).
Yeah, I think a lot of agencies are struggling with labor shortages. All I can do is point out what I observe actually happening. It is interesting that the BRT (sort of) lines run at higher frequencies -- different driver skillset, I know.
Yes, thanks for saying this about downtown. Was gonna say that too😊
@@CityNerd The BRT lines are newer and are a popular fad in US transit circles. The transit agencies are just trying to prove that all that money that they spent on a brand new BRT line was not wasted.
In 10-15 years the transit planners lose interest in the new toy and these get the same crappy frequencies that light rail does. It's a matter of policy not objective issues with the labor market. Retraining a bus driver into an LRT driver is not that hard or expensive. It is basically the same skillset on modern LRTs.
The riots, political instability, and recession over the same timeframe also had an impact on suburban interactions... it created a lot of uncertainty and speculation as to the identity of the city.
People were more apt to be tourists than engaged community members.
Downtown was much more vibrant, but rampant (for Mpls) crime, gang violence, robberies, drug use and - oh yeah - let's defund the police! - has made downtown Mpls a dystopic place in many areas that used to be wonderful.
I had a guest here from Germany and we walked down Hennepin from the warehouse district to Rock Bottom at about 9pm one weeknight in summer, and he later commented that he never felt as terrified in his life (and this is someone whose corporate offices were near the Reeperbahn in Hamburg). Open drug deals, prostitution, and even a charming gunshot as we passed 8th street really rounded out the experience of downtown Mpls for him.
First Comment!
“Portland-light” is indeed rich. Minneapolis tie-ing with Portland in biking despite 5 months of persistent snow and ice coverage is a testament to the planning and resolve of Minnesotans.
Thank you for saying it! Portland ain't got our weather
@@goldenstarmusic1689 And we still bike in the winter!
Portland is very car centric once you get outside the downtown area.
Speaking as someone living in Portland, originally from Chicago, Portland isn’t the transit and biking utopia it’s played out to be. Downtown Portland and the surrounding areas are all car dense, we’re losing our protected bike lanes, our transit system is being thrown by the wayside and developed in direct contrast to anyone’s best interest. I wouldn’t dare call Minneapolis “Portland lite”, I think it’s quite the opposite at this point
@@AllisonKozik that sucks to hear Portland is going backwards! I just assumed Portland and Minneapolis were on the same trajectory. MPLS is trying to expand the blue line into some of the northwest burbs. The green line heading to some southern burbs is still being constructed and won't open until around 2027.
Absolutely awesome and thorough video! For some context on points in this video;
1. The 15 minute frequencies on the light rail are due to a driver shortage that will be fixed by hiring 7 more LRT drivers.
2. Uptown and Lake St is due to get a WHOLE bunch of traffic calming with the B Line BRT, which will also have significant bus lanes across Lake St. The B Line opens in 2024!
3. The parks system in Minneapolis and the connectivity of bike+ped infrastructure extends beyond Minneapolis, the Metropolitan Council and various park + recreation entities have connected parks across the entire twin cities! The Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers are entirely connected by trails, publicly accessible from the suburbs to the downtowns of both Minneapolis and St Paul.
4. Downtown Minneapolis is due to get a massive transformation over the coming years with more bike infrastructure, bus lanes, and street redesigns. Many pedestrian crossings are automated across Minneapolis, making beg buttons a redundancy for many intersections. Jacob Frey is the reason downtown is not as active though!
5. The boarding up of buildings across Lake St is a long term effect from the 2020 George Floyd Uprising. You definitely hit the nail on the head with how much of a core part that racial justice protest is to our identity. That specific building was the old Target which closed this year.
6. That Fucking Kmart is finally getting torn down next year!
7. The Orange Line BRT has actually spurred a lot of transit oriented development around the areas that it deviates from the highway, like in Burnsville and Bloomington around Knox Ave, 98th Street, and Burnsville's "Heart of the City" neighborhood. All built in just the last couple of years!
8. Amtrak will soon be serving Minneapolis as well as St Paul, through the expansion of Intercity rail with lines like the Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago/Great River corridor, as well as the higher speed rail Northern Lights Express between Minneapolis and Duluth.
Can't wait for you to come visit us again, and hope to see more Twin Cities videos! My next suggestion is visiting the inner ring suburbs of the Twin Cities like Hopkins and Richfield, if you really wanna see some novel infrastructure!
Minneapolis is a city that recently realized that they should stop being racist
Great context. Thank you!
I live in Chicago, I love visiting Minneapolis. Such a great city to walk around and explore. That Amtrak line sounds amazing. Too long of a drive if you're traveling alone for an extended weekend from down here. I'll have to read up on when it goes live.
MSP beats San Diego on bike lanes and BRT, but why the COVID-era LRT service cuts?San Diego's busiest LRT line ended 2021 with more frequency than it had in 2019, on top of opening an LRT expansion.
@@alexhaowenwong6122 it's literally just driver shortages since the pandemic, ideally the LRT should have 7-8 minute frequencies or 10 minutes at the worst.
Having lived in Minneapolis, San Francisco and the Central Coast of California I am surprised a few things.
1. How diverse Minneapolis. I will have to admit, after living in Minneapolis, moving first to a Bay Area City near SF, I wondered where all the diversity was. It was diverse, but in a kind of segregated way, if that makes sense.
2. How pedestrian and bike friendly Minneapolis is. Minneapolis and Portland often to go back and forth in being the bike friendliest city in the nation. Some people put Boulder and SF in that list above both. However, having lived in SF and having been to Boulder several times, there I can safely say that, SF at least it does not compare to either Minneapolis or Portland for ease of using a bike in town. You can literally ride a bike from the downtown business area of Minneapolis about 40 miles into a rural area and never be nervous or feel like you are being crowded out by cars or traffic. There are a lot of cars, but contrary to what some people think, cars will always be the main source of transportation for most people so, yes, the main reason for roads are for cars, the rest of the traffic, trucks, busses, bicycles, motorcycles and everything else is an "also uses," and I do not think that is really going to change in any of the major cites in our lifetime. And, that's ok, it's not a drawback.
3. The weather. I want to mention the weather. Yes, it can get cold, very cold, however, I would take the cold of Minneapolis over the heat of much of the Southwest in the summer any day. You can dress for cold weather and easily mitigate the coldest of days. I've spend extended time in Tampa, Phoenix and Laughlin, not to mention my son lives in the San Joaquin valley in CA. Heat is oppressive, cold is not. At some point it is so hot that being naked in the shade is still miserable. Once you have lived in Minneapolis for a while, if you take the advice of locals and dress properly, the cold is easily mitigated and will not prevent you from going anywhere or even being outside. I watched people jogging all year long, even in the dead of winter. I have actually spend hours outside in below zero weather and have not been cold enough to be uncomfortable.
All in all I think it is one of my top cities to live in the US.
I lived in St Paul back around 1998. What I love about the Twin Cities was how much free entertainment was available in the parks around town. The parks are well setup both summer and winter, provided you dress for it. Biking around the cities is super, fantastic trails in and around the cities. Fantastic nature close by too. I have lived in 8 US states and I can say the city I most enjoyed living in was St Paul. I go where the jobs are, but if I had a chance, I'd move back to the Twin Cities in a heartbeat.
@@voidaccount12345no wonder homes
are so inexpensive. Sad.
@@ladesigner8764haha!!!
Sad?
Inexpensive? Compared to what? And in what neighborhood?
MN is not Norway; we do not have a "freedom to roam" law, but we take a public parks, lakes, and spaces seriously. Thank you for covering this. It was such a part of normal to me that I didn't really think about this as a differentiator that it is.
Well as someone from Texas, that knows almost every lake is private. Wandering means your about to learn what "stand your ground" is all about. So to me that's something really cool I wish we had.
@@eldermoose7938 I dont. If im paying 350k for a lake property it mine to use as i please. If i want parties there for my guests its for me. I want quite fishing and hanging with my neighbors. I dont want to maintain and clean up after other people that dont respect it. Also gotta keep people away from the duck hunting blinds. Good that my lake property isn't in the cities but outside of it an hour or so.
@brabblemaster401 sounds like you be happier to live somewhere more rural and not a metropolitan hub where we all benefit from sharing
@@zakh7675 I do. I live a little bit south of the twin cities. And I have a cabin north of the cities on a lake
@@brabblemaster401 missed that part. Sounds like a great place
I think the Skyway is a necessary dystopia. When I worked downtown, I was definitely more connected to the city throughout the winter. Even though I didn't work in a building connected to the Skyway, I knew where I could pop in and out and minimize my time in the cold, and it's cold. I've lived in the Great Lakes region my entire life so I'm not a stranger to winters, but MN is on another level. The interesting thing about that is that winters are far more pleasant than anywhere else I've lived. That first 10 minutes in the cold is the worst part, and then if you are dressed appropriately it's easy to bear. Alternately in Toronto and Detroit, it's hard to dress for the weather as truly cold days are less constant.
Back to the original subject, if it were not for the Skyways, we wouldn't have The Replacements 'Skyway', and that is a dystopia I wouldn't want a part of.
I also have to laugh at "Minnesota Nice" extending to watching out for the police.
I think one issue with the Skyway in minneapolis is that it's a network of privately owned and operated skyways that close when the office workers go home. It brings the downtown lunch crowd off the street but then nothing is left for any after-work/night life stuff. Not to mention the lengths they go to keep "undesirable" people out of the skyway.
@@BurkeMinahanThis all sounds too familiar to Chicago's Pedway system. You can use it 7-5 on weekdays. Outside those times, you'll need to weave in and out. Also, I'm under the impression the Skyway is much larger, whereas the Pedway only covers the top half of the Loop.
@@BurkeMinahan So in essence, it's not the Skyway itself, but how it's managed? I can certainly see that as a problem.
But generally, for these cities with actual winters (including my own), an indoor network is welcomed. It's just nice to walk around in a temperature-controlled area even if there's a blizzard outside.
Exactly Michael. I view the Skyways as a necessary evil in MSP. Yes in Seattle and Portland we should ban them. Minneapolis. They need them.
@@AnotherDuckit's management is a bit messy. One building strikes a deal with another across the street and they build a Skyway between them. Some of the buildings are hotels, others office buildings with retail spaces, apartmentment buildings and some of it is a college campus. It's very much a hodge podge. Each separate deal is then managed by the entities that made it, setting hours of use, cleaning, repairs, and sometimes security. Part of the college campus actually requires id and isn't available to the regular public. The quality, style, and age of the Skyways very. So does the signage. Finding a bathroom is often a complaint next to navigation. There are maps, including an app but even with those it can be confusing to newcomers.
In general most of them are open 9 to 5 but technically they all run by their own rules.
You said this wasn't going to be an exhaustive video, but it was still very thorough and touched on a lot of great things about the city as well as places for improvement. Well done!
Went to college and lived there for 12 years. Loved every minute of it. Would move back in a hearbeat. The skyways are a necessity during the winter. With the cold, winter and wind, the skyways are an absolute must.
As a Minnesotan I have a lot of optimism for Minneapolis the city used to be way more car centric than it currently is and some of that can be attributed to removing mandatory parking minimums. Plus the green line extension to the west will have less cars coming to downtown from the suburbs. Downtown seems quiet because a lot of the office space is vacant but hopefully they can be converted to apartments and road diets will be put in place. There is also a study to remove I-94 from Minneapolis and St Paul so fingers crossed that gets done. Anyways I’m happy to see my city be featured on this channel and can’t wait to see how it continues to improve.
I listened to a developer talk about the office to residential switch. The retrofitting from office to residential provides a lower quality residential for similar price of just demolishing and rebuilding. The cost goes into all that reworking of plumbing and whatnot (high cost) and you have to develop a living space based on what is currently built without any choice (lower quality).
I’m so excited for the light rail in my SLP neighborhood. I hate sitting in traffic to get to 94, and I will definitely use the light rail when I need to get to downtown or St. Paul.
@@lindsaystrand9170 As somebody who lived downtown Mpls for 30 years without a car, you may end up surprised at how long it takes to use the light rail. When I would meet friends downtown St Paul they were always surprised that I was taking the bus instead of the train. It was way faster to take the 94 express bus than the light rail stopping everywhere along university the entire way. I also always opted to take the 5 bus from downtown to Ikea because the train station at MOA is on the opposite end of the mall and then you had to cross a highway on foot to get to IKEA. The bus dropped me off right at IKEA. Besides regularly taking the blue line to the airport, I took busses to get everywhere else.
You really want them to remove 94 for a dubious benefit? Voters like you is why Minneapolis is dying. Oh, and it ain’t going to happen.
@AyjAy011, "Remove I-94?"At what cost?
My brother moved there from Texas last year. He loves it and never wants to go back to Texas
I've visited. Yes it's much nicer than Texas in general.
I love this so much! Minnesota is pretty great! :)
Minneapolis-St.Paul has long been one of the most underrated metro areas in the country. A high standard of living, cleanliness, increasing mass transit options, a huge state university, all four major sports, fairly affordable housing, and apparently a great bike path system.
All five, that is! Allianz Field is even featured in his footage.
I live in Minneapolis, and if you consider giving buses fancy paint jobs and then marketing them as BRT “increasing transit options”, than sure I guess.
@@OhioGrandma46 Not too long ago, MSP had virtually no mass transit options, other than buses. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Eat street is not a rebrand. It’s just Nicollet Ave through Whittier with lots of restaurants. Since 1989 it’s been called that way. Not a rebrand.
Adding to your comments about the width of the roads, I feel like its a necessity given how much snow piles up here in the winter. I commute down there fairly often, and it gets a lot narrower in the winter with feet of snow on the banks.
If you work downtown, you take advantage of the skyway every single day. Even then, when going to events downtown it is very convenient and links a lot of places together without needing to worry about cars/traffic/crosswalks... This is most loved during the winter as well.
Pedestrian count down timers are for the blind...
Wow, as someone who has lived in Minneapolis for the last 10 years, you really covered a lot of ground in 3 days! I'm seriously impressed. Btw, you stayed at the hotel that my partner works at! I hope you had a good stay there.
The hotel fulfilled my requirement of being somewhat inexpensive
Minneapolis is the epicenter of the American Indian Movement, which started in the 70s and is still going strong. There are indigenous organizations, businesses, and housing complexes in a corridor just southeast of downtown, particularly along Franklin and Cedar Avenues. Much of the Native-led housing development there is designed to be more communal than a typical apartment complex, which is neat from an urbanist perspective. (The city recently officially recognized the biggest lake in the Chain of Lakes by its Dakota name Bde Maka Ska, which translates to "White Earth Lake". It was previously named after John C. Calhoun, a forgettable politician with no meaningful connection to the region who happened to be virulently racist even by 1820s standards.)
He's despicable but not really forgettable, pretty important in the lead up to the civil war. Not sure why he got a lake in Minnesota tho?
@@nikhillrao3799 I'm not a big Civil War history person so his name meant nothing to me, but I suppose a dude that scary-looking can hardly be called "forgettable".
My in-depth Wikipedia research tells me the lake got named after Calhoun by some army surveyors he sent to scout out the area before the area was even colonized. I don't think he even ever set foot there.
I’m interested to learn more about the more communal style apartments you described - any leads for where to start?
@@Honeycrispsosweet I visited them once and didn't quite realize what was going on until after the fact. It was small, circular, single story units attached to each other several in a row, with large public space in the center. The design was clearly evocative of precolonial housing. I tried to look up what it was named and couldn't find it.
@@HessianHunter The housing community is called Little Earth, the one off Cedar.
I rode my bicycle from Nebraska to Minneapolis and spent the night on a park bench, it was a very welcoming city! I'm surprised you didn't talk about the bike highway more- that thing blew me away
I'm Dutch and visited the Twin Cities many times for work. I recognize some of the landmarks and the bike lanes make me feel at home. 🚲
I live in St. Paul and get very sad when I see the old street car rails under the streets! It is such a shame that not just St. Paul but many American cities gave up their original transportation systems for cars. Street maintenance costs SO much more when it is car-centric. Anyway, hope you stop over in SP next time, try Lowertown, and W 7th St which IMO is walkable. I wish there were more corner markets as the only grocery store downtown SP is Lunds which is nice, but pricey.
It's amazing to sere Mineapolis did the right thing with their lakes. Orlando has beautiful lakes that have highways going right across them, it's really depressing.
No way 💀💀💀
@@namegoeshere1yeah this lake by downtown Orlando and the executive airport you can cut straight through the lake on a highway.
I’ve used the greenway to safely get home after a fun night of drinking in uptown. Easy to ride your bike tipsy when you don’t have to worry about getting hit by a car lol. Also I love the skyways for year round use! Not having to stop for streetlights or traffic or weather is so great! It’s also super convenient because I’m able to have groceries and dr appointments all downtown!
Absolutely nailed it. The Greenway is probably single-handedly responsible for reducing drunk driving in Minneapolis
You could've gotten a DUI
Isn't a bicycle considered a "vehicle" under your state's vehicle code? If it is, you can be charged with DWI regardless (unless there's some special exception for bicycle paths versus roads). Heck, I knew someone who would've gotten a DUI on a horse (if the police had caught her). I DID know someone who got a ticket for riding a horse the wrong way down a one-way street in NYC.
The DUI law in Minnesota only applies to "motor vehicles", so, you can bike while drunk. Been there, dun that, got the stitches.
As someone who has worked with Met Council on cargo oriented development a few years ago, I really appreciated the overall thoughtfulness that went into how they tackled serious problems. I remember that when the light rail was being built a lot of grant money went into ensuring that local small businesses didn't suffer customer loss with roadway shutdowns. You don't normally see this kind of work, particularly with a city of this size.
Yeah, that's a really tough part of these kinds of transit projects. I did design management on a BRT project in Portland and the amount of outreach and coordination with affected businesses throughout the project is truly mind-boggling.
Now hold on so all the small business that went out of buisness because of light rail wasn't really true.
Those businesses had some financial support through grants while they were building the line. I cannot speak to whether they stayed open to this day. @@IcatchTuna
Hey there! Welcome to Minneapolis! I couldn't agree more with your insights. As someone who's been cycling here all year round for more than two decades, I totally get the importance of studded tires, bar mitts, and a good dose of foolish bravery for those icy rides!
You did a fantastic job exploring various places and talking about our transportation system, including its ups and downs. Your understanding of our culture and city life is spot on, and it's clear you put a lot of effort into your research. Watching your essay I realized just how special it itls to not have homes surrounding our lake system, it’s like that as well up and down the Mississippi River- one of my favorite places to walk on the hidden forest trails.
Now, let me share a little local tale with you. You might have heard some folks jokingly call a certain K-mart "that f***ing K-mart." The thing is, it was poorly dropped right in the middle of Nicollet Ave, causing quite a headache for everyone, and most businesses to its north had to close down. But here's the bright side: many immigrants saw an opportunity and opened amazing restaurants there, which is why we call it "Eat Street." It's a delicious outcome from a challenging situation!
And oh, the blue line lightrail-it's been through some seriously rough times during the pandemic and protests, causing locals like me, who live nearby, to take a break from using it. I’ll save you the details but it was so much worse than a couple smelly riders. It was a dangerous place for a while with fights and knives being a problem. But it's been making a huge comeback eback k in the last six months, and things are looking up. I did like that little “gotcha” monologue, and it’s the kind of thing I’d normally say to visiting pearl clutching suburbanites. but we are coming off a bad time on the light rail.
You really captured the heart of Minneapolis in your video, and I'm so glad you enjoyed exploring our city. Keep up the fantastic work.
There's no doubt some serious incidents have happened on the light rail, but in my experience: lots of the suburbanites discussing it have never stepped foot into the light rail anyway. I've avoided it because with my schedule and lack of time to connect with friends and that I work from home my reliance had dipped severely over the pandemic. But it shouldn't be abandoned by the wayside, and there are also many contributing factors to the presence of struggling or unstable individuals. A lot of those factors are ones these suburbanites who don't know better think aren't important to deal with and support services for... I grew up in the suburbs but having lived in Philly and St. Paul, it really opens your eyes to what's going on beyond the handful of people on a street corner in the suburbs asking for money.
I’m a long-time (47-years) transplant to the Twin Cities from Cleveland, Ohio. I have worked downtown and can’t imagine it without skyways, especially in the dead of winter!! The lakes and parks are wonderful (every home in Mpls has a park or lake within a few blocks), making it a very livable city. Arts organizations abound not only for the talented, but also for children’s development. Downsides are the winters if not into winter sports (mostly x-country skiing, hockey, skating, curling) and MN Nice!
Minneapolis literally means "City of Waters." The lakes are the heart and soul of the city, and I'm glad you liked it. And yes, we definitely recognize that the KMart on Nicollet Mall was an enormous mistake, and the Minneapolis Police Department was an even bigger mistake.
It wasn't so much a 'mistake' as it was a way to disrupt a major traffic artery otherwise connecting 'unsavory' (aka minority) neighborhoods from nicer (read: whiter) neighborhoods north of it and the downtown. An awful thing, of course, but deliberate.
The KMart is on Nicollet Ave further south. Nicollet Mall only extends from Washington Ave to Grant St downtown. Same road, different names
@@onesob13 I know. Still.
@@inspectahdick2406 The same reason I-94 exists.
@@inspectahdick2406No, back when the Kmart was built, 50 years ago, those neighborhoods were predominantly White.
loving this video, esp as someone who's only ever passed through the twin cities and read wikipedia articles. excited to see what else shows up in this new series
I just want to point out that all of the Minneapolis light rail vehicles have built-in snowplows.
That shot at Gophers football was absolutely brutal… yet totally fair and warranted. Well done.
It's called the "twin cities" for a reason. You completely ignored Saint Paul, which is a damn shame. The Metro Green Line has revitalized University Avenue, and Lowertown is a hidden gem. Hope you come back sometime to do a Part 2 👍
It will always be fascinating how nice the summers are here compared to other US cities.
With the occasional apocalyptic midwestern thunderstorm (at least in my experience). This is a good thing. I like thunderstorms.
And getting nicer.
That is my only complaint about whether in MN the unbearable summer heat. I'll take February over August any day of the week.
@@curryman999 not sure about that. I remember not being able to sleep from the heat in mpls. Considering that we are accelerating global warming, it will only be more miserable.
It’s just OK. The urban heat island effect really does a disservice. I live an hour and a half northeast in Polk County, WI and being in a rural area keep our temperatures a reliable 3-5 deg F cooler. Turns out plants and forests are good for keeping cool after all.
The city with a real claim to a nice summer is Duluth. Minneapolitans love to go there in summer. You could always tell them apart from the locals because they drive the giant new Suburbans.
The Twin Cities really pleasantly surprised me when I moved to Minnesota for college. The more I learnt about urban planning the less I was convinced there’d be too many American metropolitan areas I’d want to live in but I’ve since fallen in love with the area. The bike accessibility, integration of green spaces and the access to the lakes are all huge pluses.
I would love a video detailing the different types of pedestrian crossings. From the rectangle beacons, to H.A.W.K. crossings, there are a ton of interesting ways that planners are trying to get cars to slow for pedestrians.
Great idea!
Might call for a visit to Tucson
{Edit: 60+ miles of the banks of the Mississippi, running through the Cities, are publicly owned, typically parks. You can also rent/use kayaks to get from some parts to others.}
One thing I'd like to mention about your criticism on the wideness of our streets is that we get such an abundance of snow that we typically lose a minimum of one car-width along the sides of our streets from the snow piling up from plowing and extending beyond the curbs.
There are also underground tunnels, not just the skyways. I'd say that the tunnels and skyways work as replacements to the sidewalk in the downtowns, but you have to consider that for the office folks downtown, heels and loafers can be genuinely dangerous to climb across a snowbank, or across ice. They also function to allow physically disabled folks to get around, since someone in a wheelchair isn't likely to be able to climb up and down a four foot snowbank.
The difference in street traffic in the downtowns since the pandemic has been DRASTIC. They've always been kinda deserted at night, but since the pandemic the difference is quite stark. There's been talk about converting some of the empty office buildings into affordable housing, which would be cool.
Another thing the snow impacts is some fire hydrants are several feet off the ground, and have flags sticking out of the top, because the snow can get so high.
Thanks for visiting. Minneapolis resident here (30 years). I am a blue line rider from 38th to downtown for work. The skyway system is a winter necessity. My office is one block of surface street to connect and that alone is a difficult walk not to mention getting around all the snow and ice that narrows the streets, especially in the residential neighborhoods. Also your comment about being 'unsafe vs being uncomfortable' on transit was interesting as I've experienced both. The pandemic completely changed the rail ridership from packed trains to now empty. And thank you for your respect for George Floyd square. It's a sacred place. Our city may never fully heal from this. Next time be sure to visit Little Earth! The urban native community is warm and welcoming. Great work!
Similar to the skyway system downtown, the UMn campus has a super expansive tunnel system that connect most of the buildings on campus.
UMn is dumbly spread across 3 callouses, across a river...
UMN sucked a lots glad I didn't finish my edumbications. Top 3 researchers Universities in the country blow me. Dinkytown was much better before e2010. Gophers are good for shooting at.
@@mostlyguesses8385 true, but all the buildings are at least grouped by college.
The tunnels are boiling under the sidewalks, I got locked in under the pool buildings and it was hot af. Idk if the rest is nicer during the summer.
What is it, like the gopher tunnels or something, it has a name right
I live in Edina, just outside of Minneapolis.
I don't have a car. My apartment complex has a bus stop, I am within a few blocks of multiple grocery stores, big box retailers, and a mall. And I work mostly remotely for a nearby major employer. So, yup, it's possible to live without a car.
I would have a bit of problem without ride share for getting to the more far flung parts of the twin cities, but it rare that I need to use such.
If you did this for Detroit in a serious and respectful way (given where they've been and how little they have to work with) and give them some credit for what they've accomplished in that past 5-10 years, you could legitimately change an entire metro area's trajectory and future.
Think about it.
One note on the wide streets. In the winter we lose a lot of street to piles of snow the plow leaves behind.
I have lived in a few US cities, and one thing that I think you missed about the skyways is that the separation of pedestrians and vehicular traffic makes it much faster, safer and more pleasant for all involved. I hate waiting for a walk signal in the rain (or shine). When I drive, it is nice to be able to get more than two cars through a green light making right/left turns because pedestrians are always there sharing your same time at the light. Busses move faster. Skyways really make it pretty nice.
Love to hear this will be a recurring series! These are great.
Yeah, I like that I get to connect more deeply with a local audience, but I hope more general viewers who aren't necessarily familiar with these cities get value out of them too.
@@CityNerdI do, not from any of the places so far but I enjoy them
Some of the street scape issues you mentioned - for instance the pedestrian crossing buttons are laid out “strangely” because half the year has ice and snow and ice ruts and snow piles etc… so what looks like a weird use of space has to do with out weather landscape…
I moved to MSP from Miami and I love it here. I am so glad to see a creator I follow visit my city.
Miami to MSP here too! I still wear my heat jerseys but I like it here so much more.
Miami to Chicago here (but I wanted to join in on the lovefest)
@motul1986 I still cheer for the heat because the wolves aren’t that great.
as a native Minnesota, Twin Cities frequenter and a railfan, I am enamored with the rail history of Minneapolis. To the point that I actually downloaded google earth pro just to look at it through time.
It is my understanding that in the early 1900s, because of the iron production, wheat production and as the kinda heartbeat of the midwest states, Minneapolis actually rivaled New York in commerce via rail. Theres a reason we had a dozen railways just going from Duluth to somewhere else, like Duluth to Saint Paul, Duluth to Minneapolis, Duluth to Chicago, Duluth to Sault St. Marie, Duluth to the Pacific.
i also think the downtown needs more trees and greenery. theyve been tearing up parking lots and building new buildings all over the city but there needs to be more green space and trees downtown, it feels more empty than chicago or new york even tho it could be alot more vibrant
On the beg buttons: they're at almost every intersection, but you don't actually have to press them - a couple of years ago they changed the setup so pedestrian lights turn green on every cycle at every intersection throughout Minneapolis. Once in a while I spot one that doesn't, I call 311, and they come fix it. You can still press them if you want audio cues I guess.
They're like some elevator buttons. If you press them, you feel better, but they don't actually do anything. We have those here too, although most do work at certain hours of the day when the vehicle traffic lights are on detection mode rather than cycle.
Yeah, a lot of cities have this. I'm surprised CityNerd didn't test it out and notice this. In Seattle, ones at normal four way intersections are mostly for beeps for the visually impaired (and anxious people). We do have functional ones at lights over popular crossings (just normal streets with a bus stop/businesses/schools on the other side) that will basically immediately switch the light for you unless you call it within a certain amount of time of someone else just having called it. I don't really think of those as beg buttons so much as command buttons, though, since you literally get to stop traffic. Lol.
I think that was a pandemic thing. Some of them have been switched back to beg button mode, like one near my home.
"As a society, we kind of don't do a great job differentiating between being made to feel a bit uncomfortable from actually being exposed to a safety risk. If your main problem with transit is that it isn't used exclusively by gainfully employed people who look and smell the way you want them to, I'd just suggest that's a problem well, WELL outside the scope of transit."
One of the all time great CityNerd quotes and something more Americans need to realize if we're going to fully invest in our cities and bring people together again.
My immediate thought, "This is a 'you' problem."
It's a byproduct of the isolation of suburban car-centric lifestyles. When you're perpetually cocooned and isolated from other people, the world starts seeming like a very scary place.
Very true but we also can't ignore the fact that there have been several shootings and stabbings not only on the platforms but right inside the trains and busses themselves and people do smoke cigarettes, meth and shoot up on the trains and leave needles sitting right on the seats.
Except there have been recent assaults, murders and open hard drug use on light rail during the DAY. It’s a mistake to assume this is pearl clutching.
A very short Google search shows multiple transit location shootings in MPS, so people are right to feel "uncomfortable", and your suggesting that it is somehow a bias problem is disingenuous.
And more generally, when disorder and drug use and loitering are tolerated in public spaces, it pushes out people who are gainfully employed and suggests to others that the area is open for other criminal behavior. And the great cities of Asia and most of Europe have a delightful urban fabric with a fraction of the panhandlers and drug users of our major cities, we don't have to tolerate that and it isn't a badge of your personal tolerance to be put off by bums passed out on the train.
Heyyy my home town! I'm so grateful for the Twin City's cycling trail infrastructure! It extends all the way to the WI border. The town I'm moving to is almost fully bikeable because of this and has a thriving, human-scale downtown. On top of that, the cycling trails link up to the Gateway Trail, Browns Creek Trail, and the MRT.
Wow- sounds awesome; don’t let NJB know about it or he’d lose his mind.
@@theblondebomber Funnily enough I did tell him about it on a recent vid of his since his channel was so influential for where I ended up buying a house. I just don't want to say the town name for obvious internet reasons.
Probably the most interesting piece of urban infrastructure that Not Just Bikes shows off in the Netherlands that I see used the least in the US is keeping the crosswalk at the sidewalk grade, so cars have to come UP to the crosswalk level when passing through which slows them down and also psychologically reminds them they are entering and passing through pedestrian territory, rather than having peds descend DOWN to street level, signifying to ped and driver that it is territory for cars.
The reason the streets are so wide is due to mitigate snow and ice emergencies. The stuff doesn't melt here like it does in Cleveland!
It's crazy how many cities are empty downtown while the city keeps spending money catering to people from the suburbs driving to mall parkades and stadiums downtown , or worse yet building super wide roads that help cars move through the city without stopping at all. Just make the downtown great for the people living downtown, concentrate on that. Great to see that a lot of cities are finally figuring that out.
Hopefully the long term impact of COVID will be the transition of downtowns from daytime, office monocultures, to places work more residential and a better mix of commercial, cultural and other amenities to serve downtown dwellers and to draw in suburbanites outside of office hours.
Minneapolis is working on a massive transition to residential conversions and infill downtown, compared to 2008 it's absolutely insane how much has been built. Cars gutted downtown but we are fixing it, the big thing is going to be when Minneapolis builds out the bike infrastructure across the downtown street grid, and really clamp down on car traffic.
I feel that it might take some time. But it will happen.
About Hmong (the H is silent) and Somali immigrants in Minnesota, well, first of all, it's not just them, we also have the largest Tibetan community outside of Asia. In general though, our Africans are Somali or Ethiopian most commonly, and Asians are southeast Asians. This is a result of them all having been refugees from war. What I've heard, and am not entirely sure is correct, is that this is related to the Lutheran church and it's outreach and humanitarian work and whatnot.
Wanted to mention that Cincinnati also used to have a skyway, and they took it out for precisely the reasons you mentioned - it sucked up vibrancy from the street level, and city leaders decided (correctly) that to get the downtown a bit more activated it was good to tear it down. Also the climate isn't quite as harsh down there either / the roads are narrower and there is much better legacy bones than in Minneapolis (though way less done with it).
I do think its had some impact, downtown is significantly more vibrant than it used to be.
For real, those skyways are your best friend in January. Wind chill below zero is actually painful!
Not gonna lie, prior to the pandemic the skyways where very vibrant and not as sterile as they are today. The pandemic delt a huge blow to downtown since it was built up for the corporate can work from home mostly. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the closest we get to pre pandemic these days
To clarify, much of the Cincinnati Skywalk has been dismantled, and sections of it are still being closed and removed, but several significant sections of the Cincinnati Skywalk still exist and are open for use.
Cincinnati mentioned (in the comments)
@@CityNerd I got the image: pbs.twimg.com/media/Fii-e8VXkAIZK_E?format=jpg&name=large
i really liked what you had to say about train transit, "there's a difference between being made to feel uncomfortable and being exposed to a legitimate safety risk." i feel this is good advice for anyone in life
Hello, North Dakotan here.
North Dakota/Minnesota winters can be really rough but if you have a good coat, decent car, etc. you will be fine! You get used to the brutal cold but you never get used to the seasonal depression.
On the topic of the skyway, in the winter the Skyway is a GREAT idea. You can commute from wherever you are and walk through downtown without freezing your ass off in -30+ degree weather (with windchill) and that is important.
But this video was very insightful regardless!
I grew up in Fargo, ND so the first time I visited Minneapolis back when I was 15, I QUICKLY fell in love. There is so much to love about Minneapolis.
Visit Cincinnati! It’s very walkable and has the most Italianate style buildings outside of New York. There are tons of other historical buildings like the Carew Tower, Union Terminal, and Music Hall. Cincinnati also has a professional baseball, football, soccer, and hockey team. Regarding transit, there’s a small streetcar network which was intended to be a lot bigger but got its funding cut by the state and an Amtrak connection. Restaurants such as The Incline serve a reminder of the extensive transit that the city used to have. Downtown has seen enormous growth and renovations of old abandoned buildings continue along with a new stadium town being designed by the FC Cincinnati Stadium. So come to Cincinnati, there’s a ton of history and great things to do all the time!
The Minneapolis Skyway reminds me a lot of the Houston Tunnel System. Obviously, Houston rarely gets snow or super cold out, but heat and humidity is in full gear for 7-8 months out of the year. The Tunnel System is vibrant with lots of shops and eateries, and most importantly air conditioning. Both Houston Tunnel System and Minneapolis Skyway remind me of airport terminals.
The skyway can be quite mazelike and hard to navigate. Otherwise I think it is a cool piece of infrastructure that contributes to spatial identity.
You may not know this, but the Tunnel is mostly fallout shelter compliant. Welcom Wilson Sr. was Civil Defense planner for Eisenhower. When he got back to H-town he went crazy for the fallout shelters, and that included the tunnel system. There's also a second set of tunnels under the Courthouse area, which you would know if you were ever paneled for a criminal jury.
Yes. I've worked in downtown Houston in a previous life in a building on the tunnels. The tunnels are one of Houston's best kept secrets. A fair number of Houstonians don't even know it's there. And that 7-8 months estimate is being charitable. More like 9 months.
When I first moved to Minneapolis, it seemed like the skyway system was all anyone could talk about as a “place” to see. I saw it, and (being from Houston and acquainted with the tunnel system) was not that impressed. The ability to see outside is possibly the biggest plus point to the skyways, but even then, I don’t think Minneapolitans are aware that it isn’t all that unique. There are a dozen other equivalent downtown systems in the US used for similar purposes. In the south (Dallas and Houston) it’s for extreme heat, in the north (Minneapolis, Calgary, Montreal, etc.) it’s for extreme cold. Minneapolis isn’t even the largest system and even Houston’s tunnel system is larger (tho admittedly Minneapolis has the largest completely-connected system).
They’re all the same though: a system of getting from building to building while avoiding the extreme climate while also enjoying food and shopping amenities-a large, uncentralized mall. It’s a great thing to have in these cities, but it really isn’t all that unique or special. Being from Houston, I might recommend those things as a thing to go look at if you do go downtown, but never as an “attraction” as people seem to think it is here.
Side note: Houston actually has two skyway/tunnel systems. The largest and more famous is in downtown, but the med center (a large city within the city dedicated to biotech/health/medical) also has its own enormous system of bridges, though they also serve a more important service than just “let people avoid the inconvenient weather”.
I also find it hilarious that Houston’s tunnel system is always shit upon as a concept on the rare few occasions it does make it into urbanists content because it “kills the street life”, while things like Minneapolis’ skyways are praised even though they do the exact same thing. It’s all politics and not actually understanding nuances of the city (like the fact that Houston has an enormously successful metro system, even on a national stage, a great urban core, and many walkable/transit-friendly neighborhoods) all in the name of dunking on suburban sprawl that has become synonymous with “Houston” and “no zoning”, despite none of that being actually true (see: CityBeautiful).
This is one of the few videos I’ve seen with any nuance, but I’m sure someday we’ll see CityNerd make one of these about Houston, and I really hope he doesn’t go the NJB route of choosing to stay in a hotel 20mi away in the suburbs of “technically Houston” then complaining that it “doesn’t feel like downtown.”*
*NJB stayed in Willowbrook in his now famous video, about 40min from downtown Houston. It’s one of the spindly appendages of the city limits. His complaints were rancid if you actually know the area. No one stays there for any kind of business trip…well, unless your business is finding the worst of the worst and acting like it’s typical. It’d be like seeking out a heroine addict in NYC and having an interview with “a typical NYer” and saying “this is why I hate NYC”.
That boarded-up business in Uptown was actually a Target but they closed not too long ago. Lake Street will probably get a redesign, I'm not sure if its currently on-going but Hennepin Ave is getting one w/mixed reactions. Metro Transit does want 24/7 bus lanes in that corridor but Frey vetoed that since he said buses didn't run 24/7 down Hennepin. It's weird, he's very pro-transit and all of that but he wants businesses to have ample parking still. Sidewalk-level bike lanes are coming to Hennepin Ave as well as hopefully reduced general traffic lanes.
Otherwise, yeah, Lake Street is a bit too hostile to pedestrians. Whenever you come back to Minnesota (specifically to St. Paul), head over to HmongTown Market Place, it's similar to the Midtown Global Market but strictly Hmong food, shopping, and etc.
Minneapolis is still in the process of reaching out to residents of the area on what they would prefer to have the old Kmart be. It's most likely going to be some sort of community space, possibly retail and homes.
By the way, Nice Ride was canceled for 2023 and probably beyond because they lost a huge sponsor, the Minnesota Blue Cross so Lyft which operates and maintains it decided to yeet it away. Minneapolis already has plans for bike shares to return one day, which is nice thankfully
I do hope that soon, Metro Transit will soon increase the frequency of both LRT lines and extend service later in the night like they had done pre-pandemic.
I'm pretty sure you've probably already found/heard about extensions/new lines but I'm going to tell you anyway. Both the Green and Blue Lines are being extended, more than doubling their current lengths. Both should hopefully be open before 2030. New BRT Lines as well like the B Line that's going to run on Lake Street to St. Paul and Gold, Purple, E, F, G, and H lines. The Gold Line (St. Paul to Woodbury) is going to be open before 2027. There's also going to be a higher-speed rail line (up to 90mph) from Minneapolis Target Field to Duluth, yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Would hopefully be open before 2030). Lastly, other proposed passenger rail lines like one to Rochester and besides the existing Empire Builder are hopefully going to be built before 2050.
Frey bows whichever direction the wind blows. He doesn't have any strong opinions about anything
Hennepin Ave will get 24/7 bus lanes some day, just not for a few years
Our green space is absolutely top notch. You're right about uptown, though. We moved out in 2019 right before the pandemic kicked in. And let me tell you, the pandemic KILLED Uptown. It used to be a lot more vibrant. There was a lot more businesses, night life, unique restaurants and small business, etc. It's always been kinda pedestrian unfriendly and ugly for walking in the main areas though.
your comment about people avoiding public transit because of the other people who may also use it is perfect
I LIVE NEXT TO THE BUILDING IN THE THUMBNAIL!!! I’m geeking out!! I love living in the Lynlake/Uptown Area, it’s incredibly walkable and bikeable. Lake street and Hennepin Ave through the neighborhood are both wayyy to car-centric though, which only exacerbates the issues of the vacant storefronts and truncates the vibrancy of the street presence. By implementing traffic calming and improving ped/bike infrastructure, it could change drastically. Thanks for the great video on the Twin Cities!
Metro Minneapolis is quit a bit larger than Portland so it’s kind of a weird dig. Minneapolis feels decently bigger. I’ve been to both a few times. That’s coming from someone from Milwaukee I love lambasting Minnesota.
I think a video on trail/greenway oriented development would be a cool topic to explore. A potential option could be the Indianapolis Cultural Trail and the Monon Trail
We have a greenway investment going on here in northwest Arkansas near Fayetteville. It's slowly but surely becoming a lot easier to get to different parts of town with dedicated multi-use trails. The area is still extremely car-oriented but it's easier and way more accepted now to cycle places. I wish they would continue investment for bicycles and pedestrians in commercial areas as it's hard to even find a bike rack in some spots but acres of surface parking. The sidewalks are mostly 4ft wide as well which makes it hard to avoid stepping into the road with lots of pedestrian traffic.
I've ridden both! Live in Minneapolis and my partner is from Indy. One big difference currently, the Greenway connects a huge network of trails along the river, lakes, Cedar Lake Trail, etc. The Greenway becomes kind of like the bike superhighway through the cities. Monon (from the sense I got) was more of a single direction trail, slightly more disconnected from a trail network but maybe that's something Indy is aiming for!
Monon certainly has a ton of development along the path, I'd love to see trail oriented development video as well! There are lots of great examples in the Twin Cities.
I've had people talk about the Atlanta Beltline too
@@jackswift12 Carmel appears to have built a whole downtown from the trail
Had to comment. Nice review of the Twin Cities. I have to say in the 24 years of living here the infrastructure is slowly trending upwards. I had to laugh when you mentioned how wide the downtown streets are. If you come back in January-March you’ll see how narrow they become due to the piles of snow banks. I park downtown for work and sometimes I’ll see I’m a good 6 feet from the curb because of the 5 feet of packed snow and ice. Love your work. Keep up the good fight.
Those walk buttons at the intersections are mainly for the blind. They have an auditory countdown and also a message stating which intersection you are crossing.
I was interested in your points about the Minneapolis Park System! So cool that the lakefront is entirely public. Seems like an interesting contrast to Madison, another midwest city that has multiple lakes in its city proper, but doesn't have a requirement that lakefront be public. Most of the lakefront is private property, apart from a few key parks on the lake front.
Another great video! Loved hearing this will be a reccuring series.
Would love see one on Pittsburgh, a favorite of your top tens and where I'm from. I'd also enjoy one on San Diego which, if it had been designed properly, would be a top tier pedestrian friendly city.
Thank you for sharing these!
I imagine we’ll get one eventually. I’m curious to hear what he thinks about all the steep hills.
All cities are on the list, just a matter of time and priorities!
This video is so perfectly timed. My kid is looking at Macalester College and really wants to live in city that is friendly for people that don't want to have a car.
It warms my heart to see you supporting them!
Hey Mac alum here! From back East originally and now live in St Paul.
While this video doesn’t really cover St Paul much, the Mac campus is one of the most walkable areas of St Paul which is great. It’s also improved a lot since I was a student.
The big thing is they now have a rapid bus line right on the campus. It goes towards both light rail lines.
Furthermore, Summit Ave which is the east-west connective tissue of the city is right on the side of campus. It has a painted bike lane that is well used in the warmer months. During the winter, I find it it’s often plowed over which is too bad but still am able to use it for biking. This also might get fixed within the next few years because of a long overdue reconstruction of Summit. There is a bus line that covers a similar route also right on campus.
Most Mac students don’t have a car because of how accessible the area is. Best of luck to your kid on their college search!
That’s a great area! Wonderful food places. Sidewalks. Grocery stores nearby.
Near buses. Near the freeway.
The extra wide streets downtown, you described as suboptimal... are actually a blessing because when it snows we lose like 2 feet on both sides from the plows
As someone with season tickets to the Timberwolves I thank god every other day for the SKYWAY! Definitely makes my city more enjoyable
Minneaaaap! By the way, those rectangular rapid flashing beacons are a much needed improvement for those two intersections (25th and 27th). They were virtually impossible to cross as a pedestrian before, and the addition of making Lyndale two lanes instead of four lanes helped existing as a pedestrian a lot, too.
EDIT: That Kmart has been a bane on the landscape forever, and finally the city bought out the lease so it could be redeveloped and reconnect the street. There are a lot of ideas, I think there's a focus on biking/walking/transit and livable spaces.
I just wonder if they tried just the improved crossing with the right-sizing (I hate the term road diet) to see how it worked before adding RRFBs. I just never see RRFBs on these kinds of streetcar-era main streets
@@CityNerd hmm 'right-sizing', i like it...
and i'm not an eng native-speaker, but what about 'debloating/unbloating'?
(i always thought 'stroad' requires more explanation than 'bloatroad' would)
While rail trails are generally a great way of repurposing defunct rail lines for cycling, I can’t help but think that if it’s overdone it could potentially preclude the development of better transit alternatives such as regional rail or rapid transit. This isn’t saying that ALL rail lines should be reactivated for rail transit, but in cases where there’s a need for such services abandoned railroads shouldn’t be exclusively removed for bikes only, greater vision for better transit alternatives should be consider
The Midtown Greenway highlighted in this video only uses half of the rialroad right of way with the idea of someday running a light rail line down the other side. I think it's a great example of not cutting off all your options for the future.
On the east side of Saint Paul, there’s a rail-to-trail that has always had signs up indicating that it could someday become rapid transit again. There currently are plans in the works for just that. (NIMBYs are up in arms.)
This has already happened. The green line extension in Minneapolis has taken out portions of the bike trails. In neighboring suburbs, the trees were removed to make room for the tracks. I'm a little upset about that. It was a nice shaded ride during the 90F+ 100% humidity days.
@@JamesDanielsplexplex yup I think the purple line is going to be moved to White Bear lake. Which Will make the route much slower.
My least favorite part is definetly the wide streets. Living in Marcy Holmes it blew my mind how a neighborhood where most people walk/bike/bus to places had skinny side walks with massive roads that are so loud and have traffic almost 24/7.
That lake street bus station is a major improvement over the old stop there, which was just a pull-off on the freeway itself that had people waiting with no protection from the 55+MPH traffic.
"it comes as some surprise the golden gophers practice" sweet one liner, great video dude
I realy love that this idea is becoming a series. I learned alot this episode. Thank you, CityNerd
You make a really good point about the car-focused enviroment of Uptown. It's an area I wanted to live in for walkability and general vibes/cultural amenities, but it always feel more unpleasant than it should.... That's why I chose to live in Whitter!
Can't wait for the B Line to make Lake Street safer and have dedicated bus lanes! Coming 2024
@@goldenstarmusic1689 The final plan does not have dedicated bus lanes on Lake. Just bump outs.
@@koolbob23 isn't it a westbound bus lane?
@@koolbob23 there's Unidirectional bus lanes which is still a major step forward for an aBRT line
I've always felt Uptown should be a major walkable destination with shops and cafes everywhere. It's just a little bit of what it could be.
I'm surprised you didn't point out the big issue with the skyways downtown, that is, that they are privately own, and therefore not open to the public, and therefore segregate Minneapolis that much more between the homeless outdoors and the professional indoors.
As a resident of the Twin Cities, I appreciate this. I wish you kept going with the lakes panning--the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway is just a delight to bike, 50 miles of delightful parkland wrapping basically the entirety of Minneapolis. So many great park areas amidst the suburbs too--friends from elsewhere who've been here (or looked on Google) are stunned by how not city like it is from all the parks and lakes. Feels like living in a real gem of ~flyover country~.