Minneapolis, MN

1. Unit 7 PBL
By: Morgan Fritz
HR: 4

2. Background information of Minneapolis MN
Minneapolis, MN lies on both banks of the Mississippi
River, just north of the river's confluence with the
Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, the state's
capital. The city is abundantly rich in water, with
thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks
and waterfalls, many connected by parkways in the
Chain of Lakes and the Grand Rounds National
Scenic Byway. It was once the world's flour milling
capital and a hub for timber. The city and surrounding
region is the primary business center between
Chicago and Seattle, with Minneapolis proper
containing America's fifth-highest concentration of
Fortune 500 companies. As an integral link to the
global economy, Minneapolis is categorized as a
global city.

3. Establishment of Minneapolis, MN
Fort Snelling was established in 1819, at the confluence of the
Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, and soldiers began using the
falls for waterpower. When land became available for settlement,
two towns were founded on either side of the falls: Saint
Anthony, on the east side, and Minneapolis, on the west side.
The two towns later merged into one city in 1872. Early
development focused on sawmills, but flour mills eventually
became the dominant industry. This industrial development
fueled the development of railroads and banks, as well as the
foundation of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. Through
innovations in milling techniques, Minneapolis became a
world-leading center of flour production, earning the name "Mill
City". As the city grew, the culture developed through its
churches, arts institutions, the University of Minnesota, and a
famous park system designed by Theodore Wirth.
The St. Anthony fall

4. Looking Back: Biking The First Paths
The City of Minneapolis has been at the
forefront of bicycling since bicycles were
introduced to the United States in the late
1800’s. Many of the first streets to have been
paved also became the city’s first bicycle
routes . As bicycling became more popular
during the turn of the century, cycle paths
were added to roadway boulevards (where
trees exist today). Bicycling in Minneapolis is
not just an activity but a way to get around.
Bicycling has been and always will be part of
the local culture.
The first cycle paths were built by the
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board in 1895
along Kenwood Parkway and along Lake Harriet
in 1896. A path was also constructed along Lake
St between Minnehaha Ave and the Mississippi
River in 1896. The Minnehaha Creek Trail was
constructed in 1897 with numerous cycle paths
to follow in 1898. Within 10 years the cycling
craze was over, and many of the cycle tracks
disappeared.

5. What Biking looks Like Today
The City of Minneapolis helps those who live
and work in the city use bicycles as a safe,
healthy and low-cost way to travel. Minneapolis
is ranked as one of the best biking city in the
country by Bike Score, it is #3 biking city by
Bicycling Magazine (2014), and the #2 bicycling
commuting city by the U.S. Census Bureau
(2014). As of 2015, Minneapolis has 129 miles
of on-street bikeways and 97 miles of off-street
bikeways. The city has also been awarded with
the Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Community
Award from the League of American Bicyclists.

6. Bussing in Minneapolis, MN
Now:
Ridership has increased by roughly 24 million
rides per year in the Twin Cities since 2003. The
increase in demand for public transportation
systems has been driven by multiple demographic
groups. Transit is needed to support aging baby
boomers, many of whom will reduce their driving
as they continue to age. Nationally, one of every
five adults over 65 doesn’t drive, and each year
more than 600,000 people 70 and older across the
US stop driving and must depend on others to
meet their transportation needs.
Then:
In the Year of 1873 the streetcar was built as the first car
that could allow people to drive fast and be safe in the city,
This car became the most popular car In Minneapolis that
Many roads were built such as a road leading from
DinkyTown to the Downtown area. Later on the street cars
became less and less due to the great depression, causing
car companies to go out of business, this is what enhanced
the metro transit to become the most popular to get around
after the great depression. Metro transit then became
unpopular after WW2 when the public was demanding new
housing as well as automobiles. The Metro Transit survived
till 1970 when its assets were bought by the Metropolitan
Transit Commision. Transit was unpopular and was decided
to be continued by the government

7. Light Rail in Minneapolis, MN
Then: It was not until the year of 2014 when the
light rail was introduced to Minneapolis, before
then the Transit train was popular till the year of
1900 when other modes of transportation
became faster such as biking, bussing, and
cars. Also later on in the years the tracks
became a mess and none had the patience to
ride the train anymore.
Now: Transit ridership in the Minneapolis-St. Paul
region rose dramatically in 2014, up 3.5 percent over
2013, which may be partially explained by the opening
of Metro Transit’s Green Line between Downtown
Minneapolis and Downtown Saint Paul.15 Light rail
transit provides a high quality alternative to automobile
travel and decreases personal transportation costs in
areas close to stations for those who use transit service
when compared to automobile usage.16 The Green Line
carried 6.5 million riders during the 7 months that it was
operating in 2014. Metro Transit’s other light rail line, the
Metro Blue Line, carried 9.5 million riders in 2014 – 11.2
percent of Metro Transit’s total 2014 ridership.17 Recent
estimates show that light rail accounts for about 20
percent of all transit trips taken in the Twin Cities.

8. Walking in Minneapolis, MN
Then: Since the day since Minneapolis
was established, to today walking has
been popular to the public as the most
convenient and healthy way to get around
the city. Walking in minneapolis was the
only way to get around till bikes and
automobile transit was introduced.
Walking was the only way to get around
for some people even though cars and
other modes of transit were available due
to the cost of the transportation.
Now: Increases in walking can be seen in
certain demographic groups, including aging
residents who may choose to move to areas that
are walkable to reduce the amount that they
need to drive. There is a debate as to whether
people are actively seeking to live in
communities that facilitate car free living.
Existing information shows that property values
are higher in areas with stronger Walk Scores (a
proprietary system that analyzes routes from
one address to local amenities and provides a
score based on how many are within a walkable
distance), perhaps indicating that there is, in
fact, higher demand for homes within short
distance of walkable amenities

9. Increase in Highways
Congestion on metro area highways and freeways jumped
by 2 percentage points in 2015 over the previous year,
and traffic on the metro’s busiest corridors is only
expected to worsen in the coming years as the population
grows and increased demand pushes the system closer to
capacity, the Minnesota Department of Transportation
concludes in a new report. The study is analyzing I-494
and Hwy 62 between the Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP)
International Airport on the east and the I-494/Hwy 62
interchange on the west. The analysis includes adding
MnPASS Express Lanes, auxiliary lanes, turn lanes,
dynamic shoulders, modifying interchanges, and
improving transit accessibility and travel options for transit.
Both highways are being studied because improvements
to one road is likely to impact the parallel road.
Today in minneapolis the MPT is trying to
increase the speed of the highways instead of
building more highways, in an attempt to decrease
the congestion and make the highways more
effective to the public. If this plan passes some
highway speeds will increase from 55 MPH to 65-
70 MPH. If the idea does not pass the next plan is
to conduct express lanes for people to go faster or
make more lanes in the highway itself .

10. Increase in population
The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area's population isn't growing by
leaps and bounds like some of the cities at the other end of
Interstate 35 (in Texas). You can decide if that's good news or bad
news. Still, the Twin Cities tied for second-highest growth rate
among the largest metros in the Midwest, according to new
population estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Since 2010, the 16 counties that comprise Minneapolis-St. Paul
metropolitan region (as defined by the federal government) have
collectively grown by about five percent, just over 175,000 people,
thanks to a combination of a healthy ratio of births to deaths and a
strong influx of immigrants. Those two things have kept the
population growing, despite a net loss of residents to other areas of
the state or the United States.

11. Rank Size rule
The rank-size rule (or rank-size distribution) of
city populations, is a commonly observed
statistical relationship between the population
sizes and population ranks of a nation's cities.
Minneapolis is the largest city in MN and you will
see Minneapolis fits the rank size rule because
you can see the transition of the populations
from almost being half.
Minneapolis = 410,000
St. Paul = 300.00
Rochester = 110.00

12. Burgess Concentric-Zone Model
Minneapolis fits the Burgess Concentric-Zone
Model because the model shows things in clusters
similar to what minneapolis represents. If you
consider New York to Minneapolis, NY has may
CBD’s making the rings not in order. Minneapolis
has one clustered CBD making the rings in order.
Minneapolis does not work well with the Hoyt’s
Sector Model, and Harris-Ullman’s
Multiple-Nuclei Model because the models work
more for larger urban cities such as New York and
Chicago. Also the models involve more with
middle and upper class living, Minneapolis has that
but not in a large scale area.

13. CBD ( downtown) of Minneapolis

14. Zone 2 ( Factories and Industries)

15. Zone 3 ( working class housing)

16. Zone 4 ( Middle Class Suburbs)

17. Popular Public Service in Minneapolis
Minneapolis public Works Is a public service that
works for the public such as keeps the parks clean
and takes the trash etc… Also the MPW works for
the government, such as when the public requests
something or has a complaint the MPW will try to
fix the problem.

18. Popular Consumer Service in Minneapolis
Dannenbaum Engineering
Dannenbaum has been providing port infrastructure design
services for more than 20 years. Recent projects include design
of the Gulf Coast’s newest and largest container terminal main
wharf at Bayport and the heavy container yard at Barbours Cut
Terminal at the Port of Houston. Dannenbaum breadth of
aviation-related work in Texas is characterized by designs at
Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport flyover at JFK Boulevard
of the Hardy Toll Road Connector; Taxiway Bridge over Terminal
Access Road; and Terminal A/B South Ramp with
Taxiways.Across the State, Dannenbaum designs are carrying
Texans to their destinations. We engineered such projects as the
Beltway 8 Overpass at SH 288 in Houston, several segments of
the Sam Houston and Hardy Toll Roads in Harris County, IH 35
through New Braunfels and the Loop 289/US 82 multi-level
interchange in Lubbock.

19. Popular Business service in Minneapolis
Fox tax is a well known for providing
professional tax planning and preparation for
individuals and small businesses. In addition to
providing their professional services to the
creative community in the Twin Cities and
beyond, Fox Tax represents and promotes
emerging artists in their gallery space at 503
First Ave Northeast in Minneapolis. For more
information on the gallery, current shows and
upcoming events.

20. Day:1
I came to Minneapolis to look for potential
places to live, I am looking for a place that is in a
suburb area because I don’t want to have the
congestion of the urban area and I would like
some recreational space as well. I am going to
the suburbs of edina and Victoria to look for my
perfect house, I would also like to live in an
apartment if it meets my standards of spacious
and up to date.

21. House Hunting
House: 1
The first house I visited in Edina was an
apartment and the interior of the apartment was
beautiful it was spacious up to date and the
exterior had easy access to the city and many
places to walk.
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Edina-MN/
pmf,pf_pt/44.894989,-93.393905_ll/4520_rid/15000
0-325000_price/553-1197_mp/globalrelevanceex_so
rt/44.947548,-93.19994,44.806686,-93.445759_rect/1
1_zm/

22. House Hunting
House:2
The second house that I visited was in Victoria
and I chose this area because it was a nice area
that was near the city and fit my criteria. The
house I looked at in victoria was an actual house
and It met criteria and had a big backyard but I
do love the apartment.
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Victoria-M
N/pmf,pf_pt/1581311_zpid/34558_rid/150000-32500
0_price/553-1197_mp/globalrelevanceex_sort/44.89
7653,-93.602915,44.827204,-93.725824_rect/12_zm/

23. Day:2
I chose the apartment because it was modern in
the interior and it was close to the city for work.
Another benefit was that the apartment was
near some recreational things such as walking
paths and dog parks as well. With it being near
the city it allows me to not only ignore the city
problems of it being busy and loud is that I can
get easy access to my job and other city
activities.

24. Day:3
The city of Minneapolis has been increasing in
transportation due to the sprawl of the city.
Unlike many of the nation’s metro areas,
blocked by oceans, mountains and other
physical barriers, the Twin Cities has been able
to spill freely out over neighboring farmland,
and it was long considered one of the most
thoroughly sprawling of its size. With the urban
sprawl increasing if is impacting the inner ring
of the suburbs.

25. Day: 4
Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN, have formed an innovative partnership aimed at taking the Twin Cities region to a new
level of prosperity. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Business Plan, created as a part of the Brookings Institution’s
Metropolitan Policy Program, is a long-term strategy for sustainable economic growth in which the cities will pool their
assets rather than competing against each other. Minneapolis-St. Paul is home to a number of universities and colleges,
Fortune 500 companies and medical research facilities, and the region’s business plan will help reduce transaction costs
between businesses, inventors, suppliers, workers and consumers through better infrastructure and networking programs.
Economic activity thrives where transaction costs are lowest, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul plan aims to reduce these costs
whenever possible. One of the ways the plan will do this is by constructing a light-rail line linking universities, medical and
research institutions, central business districts and population centers throughout the region. Doing so will increase
interaction between businesses and connect the area’s patent-holders with the economic actors that have capital to invest,
hopefully increasing the percentage of inventions from the region that make it into the global marketplace. In addition to
connecting existing assets like universities and medical centers, the cities will also encourage new development along the
light-rail line to maximize the return on their investment.

26. Day:5
I found a job that I have an interview for
tomorrow for a Receptionist in brooklyn center,
at the Earl Brown Terrace, this is not a big job
but it is a good way to start out and some
activities I found was the Twins baseball games
as well as a cool restaurant called the melting
pot where you have your own fondue. Overall I
can not wait to start my new life in Minneapolis
MN!