Open letter to the Saint Paul City Council about Ayd mill Road 

As a senior citizen who has been car free for 39 of my 66 years of life, and involved with active transportation and volunteer work for a long time, I was very impressed and thrilled to hear Mayor Carter's plan to re-configure and re-design the road to include protected space for walk and bike. This plan will provide full, protected space for walk, bike and handicapped mobility on a through space that follows the alignment that can connect with the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis. In addition, the 22 to 24 feet of the eastern road space will provide adequate clearance to stripe separate space for walk and bike with two separate lanes for the bicycle.

From a cost maintenance standpoint this design will decrease the surface space impacted by the heavier motor vehicles by 50% on this road and save significant labor and cost to maintain the entire roadway.

This design approach is exactly how this roadway should have been built from the beginning, and provides a design concept that should have been, and can still be applied to many other roads like I-94, 35E, 280, Snelling and University in Saint Paul.

Implementing this concept specifically on Ayd Mill Road will not cause any harm to traffic movement anywhere in the city, and is in my view the easiest, best and most cost effective design to build with ultimately the best overall outcomes; It is the best thing we can do at this time.

Please support this plan and design as it moves forward.

Thank you.

Paul Nelson
Ward Four.
Hamline-Midway

Plans are underway for a bike/walk trail linking downtown St. Paul with the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis and we need your help to make it happen!

Join St Paul Smart Trips and the St. Paul Greenway Committee for this community event to rally support for a comprehensive-pedestrian and bicycle greenway in St. Paul. The City of St. Paul has already begun planning for a narrow path, but we want something better! Come learn about the project, share your vision and voice your support for a world-class green urban trail that accommodates all users safely and comfortably.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010
7.00pm - 8:30pm
Linwood Rec center
860 St. Clair Avenue., St. Paul

visit smart-trips.org/greenway

Transportation and Human Rights. 24 January 2006

Walking and bicycling transportation are very human and basic forms of access. All roads, all bridges, all streets, all interstate freeway/expressways, and all highways (so called) should have equivalent corresponding, adjacent, or inclusive (where applicable), facility for walking, bicycling and handicapped access. Everyone has a right to be able to get to and from work, obtain food and clothing, get to and from school safely, and meet with family and friends as human beings with or without a physical handicap. I think human access is a basic fundamental human right.

-Paul Nelson