Is Minneapolis a city where people can get easily lost? (St. Paul: new house, transfer)

[jazzymentality]

It makes me nauseated just thinking about driving down to Minneapolis and not even truly know where I'm going. The highways are like interstates. Are there even such things as regular roads out there?? I went out there with my mom and it was a nightmare. Ironically, I keep having reoccurring dreams about living in Minneapolis all alone, and then finally meeting people at MCTC, yet continuously being uptight about how I'm going to get home. How am I going to get home from the movies?? When does the bus come, where at, and how do I know where it's going? Will I always be uptight about the streets? About two nights ago, I kept having a dream that I was driving up a winding interstate in Minneapolis, and people were going more than 100 mph, and I kept having brushes with death! It's sad to think that just a few months ago, I thought Minneapolis was such a great city. I haven't even lived there yet, and I'm worried sick! It's hilarious that I can't even drive on the interstate where I'm at now because of anxiety. Just think about Minneapolis interstates.

[MNNative]

Carry a map with you!

I am the same way...I get nervous (not nightmare nervous though ) about driving downtown (I'm directionally challenged my husband says...). I found that getting out a map (beforehand) and realizing how simple the layout was helped me to kind of get over that. Golfgal's right, as long as you know how to count and know your alphabet you have a head start!

I admit, I still don't like "downtown" just for the one-ways...but that's more of a convenience issue.

[Thegonagle]

It's pretty easy to get the hang of if you know some simple rules.

So grab a street map (or bring it up on Google, etc.), read, and learn. While I'd disagree that it's just like Sioux Falls, it's not that much more complex, either.

1: In and near downtown, on both sides of the river, the street grid is tilted diagonally, following the river, rather than straight N-S or E-W.

2: With very few exceptions, the addresses follow a 100 per block rule, so 1st Street would be the 100 block, 2nd Street would be the 200 block, and so on. The zero block is generally the block closest the the river, or one of the division streets such as Hennepin or Nicollet. (The address numbers get higher as you move away from the river, or the dividing streets.)

3: There's a difference between Streets and Avenues.

4: There's a directional (N,S,E,W,NE, or SE) associated with almost every street, especially any numbered ones.

5: Learn the different areas that the directionals refer to, and learn where the "zero lines" are that divide them.

-----5a: The area east of the river contains Northeast and Southeast Minneapolis

-----5b: The dividing line between Northeast and Southeast is East Hennepin Avenue.

-----5c: The area west of the river contains North, South, and Downtown Minneapolis.

-----5d: The dividing line between North and South in Downtown is Hennepin Avenue (note the absence of the East designation, which only applies to Hennepin on the opposite side of the river).

-----5e: Moving west from downtown, from the point where Hennepin turns south, the dividing line between North and South is Dunwoody Blvd, a railroad track, and West Chestnut Avenue.

-----5f: South Minneapolis, being the biggest section of Minneapolis is further divided between east and west.

-----5g: The dividing line between east and west is Nicollet Avenue South, beginning at Grant Street and going south.

Important: The east section of South Minneapolis is not to be confused with Southeast Minneapolis. It's OK to refer to the western portion of South Minneapolis as "Southwest," but east of Nicollet, it's just called "South," never southeast. (Southeast refers exclusively to the other side of the river.)

In South Minneapolis, streets that run N-S are named or numbered as Avenues, and the streets that run E-W are (generally) named or numbered as Streets.

For example, Lake street runs E-W through South Minneapolis. 3001 E Lake Street would be east of Nicollet, at 30th Ave South. 700 W Lake Street would be west of Nicollet, in this case at Lyndale Ave South.

Lyndale is the 700 block (in both South and North Minneapolis), and moving west from there, the named streets are in alphabetical order, generally following the 100 per block rule. Aldrich Ave is the 800 block, Bryant Ave is the 900 block, Colfax is the 1000 block, and so on. The street names generally continue in this fashion (Dupont, Emerson, Fremont, etc.) all the way to--and past--the city limits.

This is all of your "need to know" stuff. It's really not that much to learn. Once you start navigating, you'll really start to get it.

There's some other stuff, but you can figure it out pretty easily looking at the street names on Google maps. (Check out Street View while you're at it!)

For the hell of it though, here's a couple of other pointers: In North Minneapolis, most of the streets are Avenues, but the named ones run N-S, and the numbered ones run E-W.

In Northeast, the numbered E-W streets are called Avenues, and the N-S streets are generally named, and are called Streets.

Broadway is the 1100 block in NE. Because of the way the street grid is laid out, the addresses on some N-S streets skip from 700 to 1100 at Broadway.

The "Presidents Series" of streets goes in the order of our first 32 presidents. Quincy Street is named after John Quincy Adams, and Benjamin Street is named after Benjamin Harrison. Delano Street, in the Northeast industrial area, is only one block long. It's named after our 32nd President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

[Haver]

Minneapolis is pretty easy to navigate, but you can still get lost sometimes.

Here's my simple 5 second rule.
1. Carry both a normal map (plastic works best) and a map book.
2. Memorize the freeways and major local streets.
2. If you get lost, then every time you run into a larger street take it. Eventually you'll get to a freeway. Then you will know where you are, and you can start over.

[Sarah Maske]

I'm a Realtor here in Mpls and I drive all day every day and having lived here all my life I STILL sometimes get lost! I would invest in a navigation unit - it really helps!

You'll do great here. Mpls is not that hard to drive. Most of the time there are road jams so you don't have to worry about people driving too fast. Eventually, you'll wish you were driving faster than you really are!

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Minneapolis is easier to navigate than St. Paul. I still get lost driving downtown there.

[SoDak11]

I felt the same way you did just months ago, and I still am not 100% sure of myself, but I'm no longer terrified to drive in Minneapolis. My wife and I are moving to South Minneapolis in less then 3 weeks now, so we will quickly get even more experience!

The key is really just to know the main streets/highways/interstates and where they are in relation to the others. For my wife and I, we've got I-35W/E, 494, Hiawatha, Cedar, 62, and Lake down. We also clearly understand the numbering system for South Minneapolis (knowing where it goes from E to W, knowing that Lake is the 3000 block, etc.) so we are confident driving around in the area by our new house. As for outside Minneapolis proper, we'll get it down someday...

As for the busy highways with 4+ lanes and metered ramps, you'll get that down too. Just drive more aggressively and drive with the flow of traffic, regardless of what the speed limit is, and you'll fit right in.

[chilaili]

One thing I did when I was trying to learn the Minneapolis streets (living in St Paul at the time) was drive there early Sunday mornings. The downtown area is empty at that time and it's a lot easier to drive around and not worry about other drivers getting mad at you. The whole avenues and streets thing in downtown used to confuse the heck out of me, but with practice and Mapquest I was able to figure out the basics and at least have a few destinations that I always knew how to get to.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by jazzymentality

It makes me nauseated just thinking about driving down to Minneapolis and not even truly know where I'm going. The highways are like interstates. Are there even such things as regular roads out there?? I went out there with my mom and it was a nightmare.

Well, this could be said of any new area that you are unfamiliar with.

Highways are like interstates? There are over 3 million people that live within the (Greater) Twin Cities area, what did you expect? A rural farm community? You can't move that many cars along a two-lane highway.

Yes, there is an entire city and many suburbs worth of plain 'ol roads.

Originally Posted by jazzymentality

Ironically, I keep having reoccurring dreams about living in Minneapolis all alone, and then finally meeting people at MCTC, yet continuously being uptight about how I'm going to get home. How am I going to get home from the movies?? When does the bus come, where at, and how do I know where it's going? Will I always be uptight about the streets?

Minneapolis is a breeze to navigate by bus and even more so if by foot or bike. Basically, if you are moving in the general direction that you want to go, you will eventually run into your destination. Minneapolis is essentially laid out in a grid. Not every street, mind you, but the city does not have the amount of winding roads and dead-ends that plague other major cities. So yeah, as long as you are heading in the general direction, I find it impossible to get lost.

However, because of the amount of one-ways, driving can be a pain.

Originally Posted by jazzymentality

About two nights ago, I kept having a dream that I was driving up a winding interstate in Minneapolis, and people were going more than 100 mph, and I kept having brushes with death!

Sounds like you just have the big-city jitters.

Originally Posted by jazzymentality

It's sad to think that just a few months ago, I thought Minneapolis was such a great city. I haven't even lived there yet, and I'm worried sick! It's hilarious that I can't even drive on the interstate where I'm at now because of anxiety. Just think about Minneapolis interstates.

You had a better opinion of Minneapolis before you even stepped foot in this city?

The problem with driving on the freeways around Minneapolis are the number of places where a bottle-neck is created due to merging freeways/highways which tend to cause traffic to back up during rush-hour. Other then that the highway system is actually laid out pretty well.

[Ben Around]

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.

I live and work in St Paul. To drive from my home to my office (6 miles), it's about 10-12 minutes on the freeway. To drive on local streets, it's about 15 minutes. To ride my bike, it's a little over 30 minutes. To take the bus (which I usually do), it's about 30-35 minutes, counting walking to/from the stops.

My wife works in Roseville (about 11 miles). She hates the freeway, so she drives local streets. It takes about 20 minutes. She would take the bus, but she'd have to transfer and wait 15 minutes between buses, plus the schedule is lousy. It would take her 45-50 minutes. Sometimes she rides her bike--takes her about 45-50 minutes.