SKYWAYS
They are but one reason walkers opt against using street level
The point
to make about Minneapolis’s skyways is not whether they are good or bad;
they are, as the Star Tribune Editorial Board says, here to stay (“Find ways to improve skyways, streetscapes,”
Nov. 28). The real issue is why Minneapolis has so many unpleasant
streets. While the new Nicollet Mall, now under construction, will draw
people out of the skyways, few other downtown streets ever will as long
as they remain devoted to moving a maximum number of vehicles as fast as
possible. We might learn from central Barcelona, Spain, in which
through-traffic gets routed around “superblocks,” where the streets in
multiblock areas provide vehicle access only to parking ramps, freeing
up nearly 60 percent of the public right of way for pedestrians. Great
cities have great streets, and if we want to be the former, we need more
of the latter.
Tom Fisher, St. Paul
