With the recent addition of dedicated express-bus lanes on formerly choked freeways, the Twin Cities have joined Seattle as one of the two leading cities offering innovative alternatives to time-wasting freeway commuting, according to
USA Today:
"Getting people...to choose public transit, carpools, biking, telecommuting or other alternatives to driving to work solo is a major part of a campaign to relieve congestion on I-35W and other roads here. The state is spending $500 million, including $133 million in federal money granted to cities running innovative projects, on a broad effort to ease logjams on I-35W....
"The congestion-easing efforts have helped make the Twin Cities, along with Seattle, a national leader among cities working to keep traffic moving, says Tim Lomax, a congestion specialist at the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University....
"'Those two are at the forefront of what's going on,' says Lomax, co-author of the annual Urban Mobility Report, which ranks congestion trends in 90 cities. 'The things that stand out in my mind are the use of information, very detailed information that drives their decisions about day-to-day operations and long-term projects. They are not only thought leaders but action leaders.'"
Read the full article
here.