What the Twin Cities Do Better Than Anywhere Else in the US 

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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

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.

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!

Time to drop everything and watch Minneapolis/St. Paul get a spotlight

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

"It comes as kind of a shock to me that the Golden Gophers actually practice." LOL! Also, definitely make a visit to St. Paul.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

My brother moved there from Texas last year. He loves it and never wants to go back to Texas

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!

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'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. 🚲

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

The “eyesore rapid flashing beacons” have made for safe and comfortable pedestrian crossings on what was a very dangerous street. They are great.

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

Similar to the skyway system downtown, the UMn campus has a super expansive tunnel system that connect most of the buildings on campus.

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!

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.

"Which they're trying to rebrand as Eat Street" That was 20+ years ago, and it worked.

It will always be fascinating how nice the summers are here compared to other US cities.

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.

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!

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.

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 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.

{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.

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...

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

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.

As a Portlander who has never been to Minneapolis, this video was very interesting. I really think Portland and Minneapolis could learn from each other as they seem to have a lot in common. For one, those cycle tracks raised to sidewalk level look awesome and are definitely something Portland needs more of.

That shot at Gophers football was absolutely brutal… yet totally fair and warranted. Well done.

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.

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.

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.

I was going to mention that the reason the downtown street life is poor is that we have amazing parks, lakes and trails that if you're going for a walk you go to those. The skyway is very utilitarian and not really meant as an attraction. Related to that is why they recently added the push to walk buttons, because you have the skyway, you dont need to be on the dangerous roads.

I just want to point out that all of the Minneapolis light rail vehicles have built-in snowplows.

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

Your point on being made to feel uncomfortable is unfortunately one of the big stumbling blocks for many people. I’m a native New Yorker, and I still don’t have a driver’s license. I still haven’t been able to convince my friends and family to ride the bus or light rail. My kid as had some unfortunate experiences with unhoused people on the bus when he was 3-4 and now it is an uphill battle to get him to run errands with me on the bus It is an issue that will continue to hamstring public transport in the US if we don’t deal with it

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.

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

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!

I worked as a mail carrier out of the Kmart on lake street; two of our stations burned down in 2020 and we were utilizing the parking lot and the building until the city and usps finalized construction on our old station. for three years that lot was usps but it’s a generations long joke that it’ll ever actually get torn down. excited to see the dream of Nicollet being connected (if it ever happens 😅)

I love the on-the-ground content. Great supplement to the quantitative analysis stuff.

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.

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.

Just wanted to plug Minneapolis indie songwriter Jeremy Messersmith. Specifically his album "The Silver City" which has a song called "Light Rail" and another song called "Skyway."

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.

Love to hear this will be a recurring series! These are great.

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.

I’m impressed that you pronounced Bde Maka Ska correctly. Even most locals I’ve interacted with put stress on the wrong syllable or just give up and call it by its old name, Lake Calhoun. There’s an interesting history behind that name change, by the way, that I’d recommend researching.

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

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.

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 glad that you made this video, as I love to visit the Twin Cities! Whenever we’re there, we do almost everything we can off of the Green Line, and I love that the region makes that possible.

Your brief aside at 7:50 is downright inspiring. You really hit the nail on the head there

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.

10:59 the skyways are definitely the latter. They were first imagined in the ‘60s as a way for Downtown to compete with malls (the Twin Cities were the first to have suburban shopping malls), and ended up destroying walkability Downtown. However, the average MPLS resident often assumes they came about due to the weather, as that’s the argument always used for keeping them around.

The parks here a a major plus. The rivers and lakes are great here.

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~.

This was a great video for someone highly considering a move to the twin cities (me!), it seems like a region really heading in the right direction

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.

Greenway Oriented Development is actually a thing in New Orleans! The Lafitte Greenway was built in the last 10 years running through devestated neighborhoods from Hurricane Katrina, catalyzing commercial and residential development. New Orleans would be a great, unique city to delve into for your next case study!

So much information here. Thank you.

Great video! I’m from MPLS and downtown is so depressing. There’s nothing to do there. But the north loop, st Anthony west, northeast, uptown, bde maka ska, lakes districts, and plenty of St. Paul spots near the cathedral are wonderful to walk around.

I moved to MSP from Miami and I love it here. I am so glad to see a creator I follow visit my city.

When I visited years ago it was a beautiful September where it was still warm. Walking around I saw those heaters in bus stops and I just stopped realized just how it must get

Nice framed Round Midnight cover on the wall. I mostly just watch these videos to better garner your music taste, so these easter eggs really keep me coming back!

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.

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

fantastic video, looking forward to seeing a lot more like this