Notable Quotes #26: Doug Gordon calls the Minneapolis Skyways "Car Infrastructure"

 

In a recent episode of the War on Cars podcast, hosts Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon mentioned the Minneapolis skyway system as an example of car infrastructure. They were talking about the incredibly stupid Las Vegas convention center tunnel project, and someone asked what they would think about the tunnel project if it was intended for bicycles rather than cars.

Here's the relevant discussion:

Sarah: I gotta say, I would not want to see this project regardless of what was moving through it. It if it were for bikes and peds, it’s so over-engineered. Bikes and peds can move along the surface of the planet quite easily. If  it’s there, in the Las Vegas area, maybe it’s a question of if it’s too hot? Maybe there could be shade structures, I don’t know. But the idea that you need to bore a tunnel through the earth for people to walk across a 2 mile expanse I do not support this idea.

Doug: I tend to think that things like tunnels for bikes, or like the skyways in Minneapolis, even though they’re billed as infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians, ultimately they’re just another form of car infrastructure. They just keep the pedestrians away from the roads. They done’t have a right to be there, so let’s build this really expensive pedestrian bridge for them. For example, I would watch something like that and just say, “fix the streets.” 

How hard can this be? Why are we spending $50M digging a tunnel when I have to take a ramp down there and build this narrow thing, when I probably could just take a straight shot across on the nearest roadway. But Vegas like so many sunbelt cities is just car sewers everywhere. 

I think this is right on. Skyways were pitched and built as car infrastructure in the 1950s, and they remain that way today, forming an excuse for downtown Minneapolis leaders to continue to ignore the street.