Not only do St. Paul shortcuts save me a lot of time, they seem to have really cool names and mostly cool sounding acronyms this hold true whether you are using the AMR (Ayd Mill Road) South of I-94 or whether you are using PBR (Pierce Butler Route) to the North.
The PBR starts at Minnehaha Avenue near Dale St. and winds along just south of the railroad tracks to the west until it runs into Transfer Road/Cleveland Avenue on the western end near the St. Paul Amtrack Depot. The benefits of taking this slick route are very similar to Ayd Mill Road in the previous post with a majority of the length being off grade compared with other major north-south routes which is very handy when trying to avoid State Fair traffic along Snelling Avenue. Unlike AMR there is almost no real reason to drive from one end of the Route to the other end due to it starting and ending basically at Minnehaha making the roadway more of a true shortcut and less of an alternative route.
PBR runs on the south side of the railroad tracks with Energy Park Way just to the north, which I argue isn’t a true shortcut through St. Paul due to the intersection conflicts and the relatively high amount of traffic it accrues. Even if you think PBR doesn’t seem complete with good enough access to provide any real benefits, with a much needed extension to the east will improve its popularity and use among locals.
Have you ever found yourself on Pierce Butler Route? Or seen the signs off of Snelling Avenue and wondered where it went to?
