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Kathy and I are heading to Marquette, MI this Sunday for our summer vacation.  And we’ve been setting up several dinners/events with people we know in the area.  The surprising thing is that most of the events are within walking distance of our hotel.

CNN and Money Magazine seem to agree.  They have named Marquette the best city in the nation in which to ride out the current gas crisis.  High on the list of reasons for Marquette’s showing is the town’s 8.93 minute median commute time.

Excerpt and link:

It’s lucky that residents of the biggest city in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula don’t have far to drive - they get more than 140 inches of snow per year.

Northern Michigan University, and a local hospital, and medical center keep road-time to a minimum for many of the locals who work within its 11.4 square miles. Compare that with Jacksonville, Fla., the nation’s biggest city by area, which covers a whopping 757.7 square miles and has an average commute time of 21.9 minutes.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/moneymag/0807/gallery.bplive_gas_crunch.moneymag/index.html

Note: Many of Michigan’s cities and downtown areas were built during the age of trains with pedestrian access in mind.  Just think about the incredible sidewalk systems in both Monroe and Adrian.  This can be a competitive advantage for older Michigan towns and cities.

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