Is Minneapolis a city where people can get easily lost? (St. Paul: high crime, how much)

[jazzymentality]

what maps should I study online??

[xz2y]

[quote=Ben Around;3772687]You don't have to drive on the freeways to get anywhere in the metro, if you don't want to. There are lots of parallel routes. Except in rush hour, it will take longer, though.
QUOTE]

I just returned from a few days in Minneapolis, and not having been there for over 25 years, I was astounded at the huge, sprawling burbs that have developed around the city. I, too, was scared to drive on the freeways around the city. I tried to find a good east-west route in that part of the city (other than highway 62) to drive cross the city and couldn't find one! Anyway, I found all of the big highways in Minneapolis a bit overwhelming, trying to drive and navigate at the same time by myself.

[Katiana]

When I went to visit my daughter in college, I found Minneapolis fairly easy to navigate. Only got lost a few times, and if you remember where you've been, you can get "found" again pretty easily.

[moving123456]

You can get a TomTom One GPS unit for about $150 or less now. It would be a good investment if you are bad with directions or maps.

[JenLee]

If you go to Google Maps and just put in "Minneapolis, MN" it will bring up an overview of the Twin Cities. Study where the freeways run and you will see that they are basically a grid with 494 and 694 basically circling the whole metro area. Just look at how the main highways run North/South and East/West. As long as you stay inside the 494-694 circle, if you DO get lost just keep heading the same direction and you will run into 1 of those 2 freeways eventually (it's somewhere around 30-35 miles across at the widest point). Now just enlarge that map a bit until you see the city blocks in MPLS and keep playing with the maps and you can see how well this town is laid out.

[Astron1000]

You really need to get over your anxiety. You are creating a monster in your own head that doesn't exist!

Learn to turn your anxiety into an asset: The Twin Cities are huge, yes, but that gives you so much more to experience and be pleasantly surprised with. You'll find nooks and crannies that are fascinating places. You'll discover stores you've never heard of and cuisines that will become new favorites. You'll meet people that will become new best friends. You'll experience some of the very finest recreational amenities of any city in the nation (c'mon, how many other metros have such an extensive parks, lakes and bike systems?).

Just take it slow. Plan your route on a map first. You'll soon realize you won't need the map anymore. You might even find it fun to just get lost on a nice Sunday afternoon. Just keep a map handy when it's time to find your way home.

As someone suggested (excellently), drive around early on Sunday mornings when traffic is minimal. Just explore and have fun with it.

Originally Posted by jazzymentality

what maps should I study online??

You mentioned something about the bus in your first post. Metro Transit governs the mass transit system of the Twin Cities. There are maps here:

Metro Transit - Twin Cities Area map

I'd skip the "interactive map" since it seems to be rather slow. Just save a copy of the PDF version. You can also use their "trip planner" on this site as well.

And remember, the Hiawatha Light Rail train is part of the transit system, so you can transfer between the bus and the LRT. It's cheap and reliable. Trains run every 7 minutes at peak times and 15 minutes at off-peak times. So if you are in downtown Minneapolis and want to go to the Mall of America, the Hiawatha LRT is pretty much a no-brainer way to do it. And if you just want to hop a bus within the downtown zone, the cost is only 50 cents.

P.S. If you are attending MCTC, you are lucky to be in one of the most vibrant and safe downtowns of any Midwestern city. Check out Bar Lurcat, or Joe's Garage rooftop dining on Loring Park, just a block from MCTC!

[Moonbeamie]

I agree that with Minneapolis, the best thing to do is to get a map, and study the area and where you'll be, and keep in mind the streets that you're passing as you do it. I interned in Uptown Minneapolis last fall (I currently live in Central Minnesota), and got lost a few times, but after I got a map, and starting paying attention to what streets connect to other streets, and everything else, I was ok.

The only thing that isn't fun is some downtown driving because of the traffic, and how Hennepin goes from a one-way to a two-way! This really confused me! I do also agree that Minneapolis is easier to get around than downtown St. Paul because of all the one-ways in St. Paul!

[DCguy03]

Driving around on a Sunday morning is a great way to get to know a city...but with gas prices these days...I don't think so!

Whenever I'm new to a city, I get so confused by those one-ways and intersections in the city. While interning earlier this year I accidentally got onto the HOV-only lane!

TomTom has a new GPS (the GO 930) that makes navigating quirky city roads much easier. I just tried it over the weekend and it has this feature called Advanced Lane Guidance. It shows you in advance what lane you need to be in so you don't miss your exit. Def made my city driving experience a whole lot more stress-free

[jazzymentality]

Originally Posted by DCguy03

Driving around on a Sunday morning is a great way to get to know a city...but with gas prices these days...I don't think so!

Whenever I'm new to a city, I get so confused by those one-ways and intersections in the city. While interning earlier this year I accidentally got onto the HOV-only lane!

TomTom has a new GPS (the GO 930) that makes navigating quirky city roads much easier. I just tried it over the weekend and it has this feature called Advanced Lane Guidance. It shows you in advance what lane you need to be in so you don't miss your exit. Def made my city driving experience a whole lot more stress-free

Thanks for the advice. I'd probably get there on a Sunday probably at 10:00AM and start driving a little bit around as I move into my apartment

[jazzymentality]

Since we are on this topic anyway, I found this information on the net about Minneapolis interestates, does this seem true for any of you?


Minneapolis, St. Paul and Minnesota lost millions of dollars of Federal freeway funding because they insisted on the local need for too many freeway entrance and exit ramps located too close to each other, insisting that each major street have direct access to the freeway system. So, they lost the Federal money and built a system that is dangerous with short accelleration ramps, crossings of traffic lanes to get off or on the freeways, and dangerous merging of freeways with high accident rates. Be careful driving and study the maps before planning a trip around the metropolitan areas. Minnesota has a very short road construction season because of the harsh winter weather, so driving in construction/road repair zones is constant in the good weather months. This does not make driving any easier, with barriers, detours, reduced-speed zones and round-the-clock roadwork. The harsh winters produce what is known as 'frost-heaves' on the roads from freezing water cracking and uplifting the road bed, so repair is a constant need.

Over 50 years ago, before the Federal freeway system, Chicago made this similar mistake with the old Congress Street expressway that goes from Michigan Avenue under the main post office building. They fixed the problem by permanently closing many of the entrance and exit ramps, reducing traffic accidents substantially. Minnesota should do the same around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.