Education

Our Streets opposes the deployment of commercial autonomous vehicles (CAVs) on Minnesota’s public roads and streets. Decision-makers and legislators must carefully consider the impacts of this technology on labor, safety, transit, and active transportation development and services. 

While you may have sent emails and left voicemails, it is likely you’ve never met with the state elected officials who represent you. Meeting with them to talk about the issues you care about is an extremely effective advocacy tool. Don’t be daunted by the Capitol building—these folks work for you! Follow these steps to…

Minnesota’s most vulnerable, marginalized communities are targets of federal action. This has ultimately jeopardized neighbors’ fundamental freedom to move safely—stripping access to family and friends, jobs, school, and daily needs. Communities impacted by transportation projects deserve full consideration of their goals and concerns and actionable input in project decision-making. Today, because of our current crisis that is impossible.

The flaws in the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT) criteria for evaluating alternatives on the Rethinking I-94 project created systematic issues that prevent a meaningful evaluation of, and comparison between, fundamentally different approaches to the corridor’s future.

When we talk about highway justice, we are talking about racial justice at the intersection of economic justice and environmental justice. These struggles are inseparable. To isolate one is to weaken them all. We cannot afford to engage in purity politics that erase class struggle. Nor can we allow our language to be sanitized into abstraction. If we are serious about justice, we must speak the whole truth, especially when it makes people uncomfortable.

Many redevelopment projects face tensions between the desire for improvement and concern about the displacement that gentrification can bring. As seen throughout this policy framework, displacement does not have to be an inevitable outcome; nevertheless, avoiding displacement requires thoughtful and concerted policy, program, and organizing efforts. 

Vehicle mobility is a key metric in roadway alternatives analyses. Given the relative lack of congestion in this corridor, the September 2023 Olson Memorial Highway Multimodal Study Purpose and Need Statement (“P&NS”) prepared by MnDOT lists vehicle mobility only as a secondary need. Even though vehicle mobility is given as a secondary need, it is possible that it will still have a large weight in evaluation because vehicle mobility metrics are ubiquitous in alternatives analyses and can appear to be more objective compared to some of the other metrics that are harder to quantify.

It’s understandable for local business owners to fear losing a parking space means losing revenue, but there is no data to support this fear. Many studies show unchanged or improved local economic impacts when active transportation options are included in street redesign.

NUMO and WRI have released a report outlining the findings and recommendations. They summarized the top five major issues identified during the inspection that are likely contributing to crashes and crash risk on the corridor.

As part of the safety inspection, the NUMO and WRI team walked the Olson Memorial Highway corridor with Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) staff and community members present to identify areas of concern.