The Complete List
A Report Team of citizen volunteers spent weeks sifting through the hundreds of ideas submitted in each Envision category, then used an affinity analysis process to organize the ideas into related groupings - 44 in all. This is the complete list of Transportation ideas. For the Vision Guide, the Report Team combined and restated the groupings, and selected ideas that inspired interest and action (see also Current Problems and Other Issues).
Parkways / Trees & Plants / Infrastructure Beautification
- Beautification of highways, roads, and right-of-way with consideration of lights, sound walls, minimal signs, and other road infrastructure: public art, boulevards, citizen involvement [5]
- Environmentally sound road maintenance
- Reinvest in infrastructure; focus on what city can do: infrastructure and sidewalks [2]
- Grass boulevard between sidewalk and street
- Put green parks over freeways
- Expand lilacs, trees, landscaping of highways per city plan
- Improve beauty of boulevards, streets, with flowers, plantings, trees
- Remake Glenwood to a true parkway
- Snowplow business first during week, homes first on Sundays
- Improved paving material that resists icing and potholes
- Utilize and develop environmentally better ways of maintaining roads. Heated roads.
- Major street intersections, all sidewalks and driveway ends in Golden Valley are heated and de-iced during the winter by some means
Street Crossings / Under & Overpasses
- Increase or restore crossings severed by highways; bike-pedestrian bridgeways over highways [2]
- Submerge Highway 55 at Winnetka; a more friendly 55 through Golden Valley [2]
- Provide better walkability in development areas; infrastructure changes for year-round pedestrian safety (trails and cross walks in commercial areas etc).
- Heated, deiced sidewalks, drives and intersections
- Emphasize year-round safety and convenience for pedestrians through the use of additional pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, skyways and tunnels, crosswalk over Winnetka, and other infrastructure changes. Increase number of pedestrian overpasses over Highway 55. [3]
- Provide pedestrian-and bike-friendly streets and paths that are attractive, safe, well-maintained, and aesthetically pleasing. [3]
- Re-connect Golden Valley Road across or beneath Highway 100.
- Make roads safer for wildlife.
- Speed bumps on neighborhood streets
- Roundabouts to smooth traffic flow
- Diamond intersections
- No "unnecessary" curves in streets
- Keep neighborhood integrity when widening streets
- Private toll roads
Traffic Reduction
- Develop neighborhood-friendly road systems to reduce commuter traffic in neighborhoods [3]
- Wide use of synchronized "smart" traffic lights that can measure traffic flow and change their wait times [2]
- Golden Valley employs collision avoidance systems.
- Reduced neighborhood commuter traffic via friendly design
- Reconcile with the inevitability of vehicular traffic; focus on excellence in design of roads; integrate highways into surroundings; decide how to relate to highways that serve and divide Golden Valley [3]
- Create greater capacity for autos using current corridors (394/169/100/55) [2]
- Shared roadways, raise awareness of and friendliness towards non-automobile "traffic" (bikes, pedestrians) and use markings on streets
- Through streets, not just through highways
- Traffic calming methods
- Reduced heavy vehicle traffic on residential streets (one truck vs. many for garbage and recycling)
Parking Standards
- Increase parking restrictions to improve maintenance, access and safety: no overnight parking and no on-street parking.
- Increased on-street parking restrictions [2]
Noise / Light Pollution
- Better street lighting [3]
Neighborhoods / Schools / Parks
- Encourage the use of main roads and car-pooling
- Golden Valley creates more opportunity for telecommuting; wireless Internet citywide to promote telecommuting
- Coordinated rides for student activities
- Better student ride coordination to Hopkins and Robbinsdale
Methods / Options
- Support regional collaboration on transportation issues [2]
- Tax policy to encourage one-car households
- Golden Valley business incentives to hire in Golden Valley and thus reduce commuting
- Have large employers provide incentives to employees to shift commute to non-rush hour peaks
- Secure places for bikes and skis-at hubs/parking lots, on transit and at destinations
Businesses / Restaurants / Entertainment / Shopping
- Euro-style Car free zones in shopping areas
- Provide better walkability in development areas; infrastructure changes for year-round pedestrian safety (trails and cross walks in commercial areas, etc)
- More bike racks
- Parking ramps vs. parking lots; parking underground, with greenspace at grade for Park and Ride [4]
Regional Trails
- Better connect trails and walkways, widen the bike trails and walkways and connect them to the transit system
- Have the city be more pedestrian friendly through the use of additional sidewalks, skyways and tunnels, a cross walk over Winnetka, and other infrastructure changes that would emphasize year around safety and convenience for pedestrians.
Traffic Management / Transit Centers
- Develop transportation hubs that provide indoor facilities (restrooms, seats, snack shops, etc) adequate parking for commuters, and routes to other suburbs [2]
- Build multiple park and rides for bus and light rail. Provide underground parking with a park (green area) on top [2]
- Company owned/rented shuttle to park and ride lots and to their place of employment
- Employer incentives to shift commuter times
- Integrated transportation systems (transit-car-bike-parking)
- Coordinate mass transit stops with conveniences and services; Transit Center/Park and Ride near downtown, integrated with new mall/community center at 55 and Winnetka [5]
- Encourage community carpooling and Ridesharing: "Coordinated hitchhiking"-designated stations where people can wait for rides; 1-point dispatch for rides of various types throughout the city (cab, bus, Metro mobility, Rideshare, shuttle) [3]
- Provide traffic hubs for access to all forms of transportation, including the addition of light rail transit
- Park and ride transit station for bus and light rail lines
Buses / Light Rail / Transit Centers
- Support a light rail system along I-394, Highway 55 and Highway 100 that is integrated with the metro area system. Build rail stations that connect with a light rail station at I-394 and Xenia [4]
- Transportation later in day (Bus, trolley, light rail) [2]
- Support regional collaboration on transportation
- Safe public transit at night for those going out for evening and weekend activities (especially Minneapolis)
- Have buses that run North and South. The bus routes currently run East and West.
- A city-owned or private trolley shuttle that connects key Golden Valley locations, including the LRT. An intra-city shuttle that residents can use to get around Golden Valley [8]
- Xenia circulator bus (Golden Valley-St Louis Park)
- Convenient and fast bus service
- Better bus shelters with solar heat
- Light Rail Transit Center. LRT Center (not buses) in downtown Golden Valley. Include underground parking covered with plantings or amenity (miniature golf course). Run Highway 55 LRT underground. Golden Valley is "Center of the Universe in Minnesota" with easy LRT access from here throughout the metro and the state.
- Coordinate local plan with MnDOT and neighboring cities
- Better urban connections to Minneapolis, not cut off
- Connect with other city cores and existing transit hubs, e.g., Robbinsdale
- Link Senior transit with other suburbs; Plymouth, Minnetonka, etc
- Golden Valley is a leader in mass transit
- Develop feeder systems into the railway terminal
- Build rail system stations that connect inter-modal
- Partner with other cities on bus systems using the Metro tax dollars that would be returned to the city
- Opt out of Metro transit and use the money to better serve our needs
Sidewalks / Local Trails / Regional Lanes & Trails / Park Access
- Connect walking paths, bike trails, and transit routes to one another and to other cities' trail systems. Provide trail connections to Wirth Park [9]
- Provide more formal and established pathways, trails, off-road bikeways, and sidewalks throughout community for recreation and commuting use. Build more bike racks. [4]
- North/South Bike trails to connect with St. Louis Park trail to downtown [2]
- The bicycle-connected city. Make city more traversable by bicycle, especially for youth. More bridges, underpasses to overcome all the highways that divide the city. More and better-marked bicycle trails, with maps that show "real trails" not just streets designated as trails [2]
- Finish the Luce Line Trail along the railroad easement[2]
- More sidewalks to encourage walking
- Improved trails/bike paths/pedestrian bridgeways - pedestrian-friendly system
- More and better trails of all types
- Off-road bike paths
- Trail and park access. Trails radiating in all four directions from each city park, so every neighborhood is connected to every park. Continue the connection to Wirth Park so it is more accessible from Golden Valley.
- Improve trail access along commuter lines, especially to downtown Minneapolis.
- Continuity of trails and transit. Walking paths, bike trails and transit routes are connected to one another and to other cities' systems
Traffic Management / Stations
- Golden Valley is used as a test site by the state and federal governments for innovative transportation systems, including personal rapid transit, light rail [2]
- Light rail along commuter corridors, connected to the metro system
- The tube - subway [4]
- Plan for normal use of Segway type transportation; Segway trails and stations [2]
- Multiple light rail hubs within easy walking distance
- A monorail operates on Park - Xenia
- Community helipads
- Support development of a magnetic railway
- Develop new types of transportation
- High tech bicycle trails that are enclosed and perhaps have some sort of assistive bike propulsion system (i.e. directional fans)
Fuel Design / Maintenance
- Plan for and encourage more fuel cell and gas/electric motor vehicles [2]
- Encourage development of self-repairing vehicles
- Hookups for electric bikes and cars Prepare Golden Valley by planning for fuel cell fueling stations; ready to accommodate the "hydrogen highway"
- Neighborhood electric vehicles
- Pod cars
Signal Management / Signs & Wayfinding
- Just-in-time wayfinding; visual maps that help people find their destination; use OnStar or GPS to help people get places [2]
- Improve signage to key destinations
- Post street names/signs before key intersections
Other
- Personal flyers (flying vehicles)
- Above ground flying vehicles are used (jet packs or small vehicle)
- If we have "Jetson" type of travel, develop air rights (maybe over existing roads)
- Beam people like in Star Trek
- Technology replaces some travel (photos, holograms, etc)
- A city wide pneumatic system to move things around Golden Valley
- Build on the pedestrian friendly and better road maintenance ideas by enclosing the city in an environmental bubble of sorts: Golden Valley...where you can wear shorts and t-shirts all year 'round!