[Mpls] auto anxiety/Hiawatha traffic

[Geoffrey Garton]

I live a few blocks west of the 38th St. Station.   My nightmare with the 
lights is of the pedestrian variety.  I was excited to do some errands via 
LRT and leave the car at home.  First stop 46th St. to return a movie at the 
Blockbuster on the east side of Hiawatha, where most of the commercial 
activity is located.  I stood at that corner waiting for a light change with 
my toddler, in the rain until we were both beside ourselves.  I want to 
resist the urge to exaggerate, but it must have been over five minutes.  Is 
something not fundamentally wrong with this scenario?  LRT is to spur 
commercial/residential growth while encouraging us to live without our cars  
and pedestrians can't cross Hiawatha to reach the businesses on the East or 
the train on the west side?  I don't expect instant perfection from this 
system but the ability to walk across HIawatha (at all, much less safely) 
should be a priority.

Also, as someone mentioned in a previous post, traffic over the "land 
bridge" west of the round about has increased dramatically as drivers seek 
to avoid the lights on Hiawatha.   This has created an unfortunate situation 
for cyclists exciting the bike path onto that road.


Geoff Garton
Standish

_________________________________________________________________
Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! 
http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/