[Mpls] 5 lanes

[WJKAHN at aol.com]

Mike Jensvold writes: The comparison that someone made earlier of Lake with 
University was helpful.  I'm curious if anyone knows the exact width of 
right-of-way for the two streets?

Bill Kahn carps: I suggest those interested in these tidbits consult the 
right of way folks in the Hennepin County Transportation department with contact 
info found at <A 
HREF="http://www.hennepin.us/vgn/portal/internet/hcchannelmaster/0,2324,1273_100015682,00.html">this site</A>. Another site is maintained by 
both the county and the City of Minneapolis for info on the Lake St. 
reconstruction process <A 
HREF="http://www.hennepin.us/vgn/portal/internet/hcchannelmaster/0,2324,1273_100015682,00.html">here</A>. I walk both Lake and University 
with confidence as long as I don't have to cross them, and haven't driven a  
taxicab on either in several months; it was rare when I did drive one down Lake 
St., since I drove for a St. Paul company (I had to most times since state 
and city laws require me to drive the shortist route and that was Lake St. to 
certain Mpls destinations). 

Gary Hoover writes: There is no technological fix or even any national, 
state, or local planning to address this huge energy depletion, and while nearly 
every economist or scientist working on projects related to energy are giving 
clear warnings about this, most Americans refuse to pay attention.  By the time 
the facts
trickle down to the so-called "free-market" it will be far too late to 
respond -- technological fixes will be far more expensive and will take too many 
years to bring online to provide us with even half the energy we are used to 
dealing with.  The harderst-hit sector will be transportation.  We need to stop 
spending money on building better roads, and spend more on rails, 
biodeisel-hybrid busses, and bikeable-walkable urban neighborhood infrastructure.

Bill Kahn carps some more: I suppose that the "huge energy depletion" 
mentioned above is the increasing scarcity of fossil fuels or energy carriers used 
presently in transportation vehicles. While manufacturers appear to have mostly 
missed the boat on hybrid vehicles while catering to the market demand created 
by the tax advantages of SUVs and the like, they are looking forward to the 
time when internal combustion engines are displaced by other techologies such 
as fuel cells of one kind or another. Prototypes have been developed and 
doubtless will be refined before we run out of gasoline and diesel fuel and marketed 
when they are reasonable substitutes; we can only hope they are marketed 
freely with a great deal of competition. Doubtless we will still be driving on 
petroleum products, even if we are no longer oxidizing them; and hopefully a few 
folks will walk and bicycle.
   What we really need are political leaders not bent on finding the last 
drops of oil in the world and burning them who will provide the incentives to 
develop the new energy infrastructure we need to forestall any more contributions 
to global warming. We don't have them now, but we could change that in 
November. Vote for alternative energy carriers.

Bill Kahn
Prospect Park