https://streets.mn/2018/02/09/a-history-of-minnesotas-highways-part-one/
Fantastic article! I love learning about the very early days, which are not talked about enough. Looking forward to the next installment.
That was a quality little read. I'm starting to get a little more into Minnesota stuff after visiting the northeast side of the state last year.
Monte, kudos for an excellent article.
Excellent Article! You are bold to post stuff on streets mn. They tend not to be the most welcoming of all views unless it fits their agenda of "We hate cars and will do anything to rally against them".
QuoteExcellent Article! You are bold to post stuff on streets mn. They tend not to be the most welcoming of all views unless it fits their agenda of "We hate cars and will do anything to rally against them".
That's mainly a few select users on that site. Most of the Streets.MN board as well as its founder may be pro-alternative-transit, but they're also open to road-related posts. I've done a couple myself, and the founder once asked me to do a podcast with him on Twin Cities freeway history and the routes that were cancelled (unfortunately we couldn't work timing out...I was still active duty at the time).
Awesome! Great work on the article.
It's kind of strange that I wound up at streets.mn, but it's the only place I'll be writing now since I can't recover my own Wordpress blog since the email address I used to create it is no longer active. The official stance of the site is not to hate on highways and the suburbs, it's generic mumbo-jumbo about expanding conversations about land use in the Twin Cities. As an urbanist site though, it does have that tone due to most of the writers and mods / board members. I got my start there when I complained, and they suggested I start writing my own articles from my own point of view. The only censoring they've done is when I've gotten off topic and into my anti-big government rants. I did leave when some of the board didn't like to hear what I had to say, but then was requested to come back 9 months later after some turnover of board members.
https://streets.mn/2018/03/09/a-history-of-minnesotas-highways-part-two/
More great work, Monte. Can't wait for the future installments this article hints at. :thumbsup:
I have noticed in the past that all the CRs were defined as having gaps at the Minneapolis/St. Paul city limits. Any idea why that is? Were the cities themselves more interested in municipal control over the roads, rather than the state, or did the state feel that their maintenance was none of their business?
Constitutional Routes still are defined as not existing within the "Cities of the First Class" (which is Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth). I'm not sure what the Legislature's reasoning was at the time they created the amendment in 1919.
Part 3
https://streets.mn/2018/04/13/a-history-of-minnesotas-highways-part-three/
Nice! Just a little editing note:
QuoteIn the background is a 1930s historic entrance monument. Part Three will look at the dramatic changes to Minnesota's Highways in the 1930s.
I think you mean part four. ;-)
What was long intended to be a single part got split into what is currently parts 2 and 3 because it got to long. Authors can't edit a post once it's published so I can't fix it either.
Article breaks have been a challenge in that parts started to be published before the whole thing is written, combined with trying to keep individual articles from getting too long, finding good places for article breaks, and not splitting it up more than necessary. I have a (not unfavorable) reputation among other authors for longform, at a recent writer's conference they said to the potential future writers "You don't have to make them as long or as well-researched as Monte's." Suggested article length is 500-1000 words and I often double that (I have a hard limit I've set for myself at 2000- any more and I'll split or edit).
https://streets.mn/2018/06/01/a-history-of-minnesotas-highways-part-four/
I added a couple of things that were missed (in the comments), but not bad overall.
Part 5
https://streets.mn/2018/06/27/a-history-of-minnesotas-highways-part-five/
Part 6
https://streets.mn/2018/08/09/a-history-of-minnesotas-highways-part-6/