Talk:Minnesota Drive Expressway/GA1

GA Review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Reviewer: Hahc21 (talk · contribs) 00:41, 22 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Review

Infobox

And the map?
- Maps, like other media, aren't explicitly required by the GA criteria, which specify that they should be included where possible. Since so few project members are versed in using GIS to create maps, there aren't maps for every article yet. Imzadi 1979 → 01:35, 22 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  - I know. I'm not demanding the map. I just wanted to know why there isn't the map. Anyway, thanks for the comment :). —Hahc 21 01:40, 22 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Lead

Good.

Route description

~~Too long for a single paragraph, consider splitting, please~~.
(additional comment) It'll be better of the image is moved to the ~~right~~ left.
~~"Almost immediately after the turn is the exit for 100th Street"~~

Both reference maps says "Avenue" instead of "Street".

~~"The highway passes over 100th Street, and continues past a large neighborhood."~~

Per above.

Each sentence begins with a -way word, wich becomes redundant when reading more than 4 sentences. Consider the use of substitute words. Since we're talking about the road on the entire paragraph, it is unnecessary to specify it at the beginning of each sentence.
"Almost immediately after the turn is the exit for 100th Avenue.[6] The highway passes over 100th Avenue, and continues past a large neighborhood."

Consider merging those two sentences into a single one.

"The expressway continues, reaching an incomplete interchange with Dimond Boulevard, where the expressway's frontage roads terminate."

Merge with the two above into a single one. Too many periods separating a single idea that could be perfectly expressed on a single sentence.

"The highway continues past several large neighborhoods, with an exit for the neighborhoods on the western side of the highway"

The second use of "neighborhoods" is redundant. I suggest a substitute or rewording. As an example: "The highway continues with an exit to several large neighborhoods on its western side."

Traffic

"a yearly average of approximately 260,000"

260,000 vehicles?

"with an average of 47,157"; "22,209".

Per above.

History

Ok.

Future

Ok

Major junctions

Ok.

References

Ok.

Verdict

Well, i'll put the article on hold until the issues are solved. Regards. —Hahc 21 00:41, 22 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Reviewer: RadioKAOS (talk) 02:52, 22 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

Article title

Its common name (and possibly also official name) is "Minnesota Drive," not "Minnesota Drive Expressway." The "Expressway" suffix would appear to me to be an embellishment. I haven't bothered to check whether that's due to an interpretation of Google, or just flat out OR on the part of an editor. The naming of numerous Alaskan roads on Wikipedia, either with regards to official or common names, appears rather suspect to me.

Lead

The expressway includes a small portion of O'Malley Road - Requires clarification. O'Malley originally ran eastward from the (Old) Seward Highway. While the east-west portion of Minnesota may be signed as O'Malley Road, it is actually the southernmost part of Minnesota, ending where O'Malley begins at Old Seward, as per reference #2 of the article. The first section of the highway was constructed around 1950, and the entire highway was upgraded to expressway standards by the year of 1985. - Factually inaccurate. Minnesota began around 1950 as a local street in Spenard. For most of its pre-expressway existence, it ran between Hillcrest and Tudor along a quarter-section line, and as such served as a boundary between adjacent subdivisions. The expressway was originally constructed in 1967 as the Spenard Thruway, a bypass route for Spenard Road between downtown Anchorage and Anchorage International Airport. Between what I can recall and what I can Google, details are rather sketchy on the history. It appears that the original expressway also ran as far south as Tudor Road, and was extended to International Airport Road in 1972. The expressway definitely ran only to International when I first began visiting Anchorage in 1977/8. It was extended beyond International in 1985.

Route description

The photo caption is incorrect, describing the wrong end of Minnesota. The area depicted in the photo is actually where Minnesota splits into I and L Streets.
The "large neighborhood past 100th Street" is actually a large trailer park called Dimond Estates. A lot of the rest of this area remains undeveloped, which I presume is due to the greater financial expense involved in tearing up a peat bog as opposed to more solid ground.

History

Speaking as someone with firsthand knowledge of the subject, most of this section reads as if it were made up. Or, to be kind, there are more than a few items which aren't necessarily supported by the sources. Specifics are discussed in more detail in comments on the lead.

Future

As I'm sure with every state, Alaska has plenty of politicians who clamor for attention, introducing legislation designed to grab headlines. Until this is actually passed into law, it may represent undue weight (or free publicity) to give it such extensive mention. Also, there is POV baggage inherent in mentioning that Hickel was Secretary of the Interior, yet not mentioning that he was also governor of Alaska for a much greater length of time. Hickel and his family owned and/or developed large portions of land along the route (or, whatever wasn't developed either by Pete Zamarello or by Larry Carr and Barney Gottstein). I wouldn't expect our crackerjack journalistic corps to point that out, but I felt it deserved mention. Besides, we already have the "Hickel Highway." Since that was a major low point in Hickel's political career and Wikipedia editors have a tendency to be too favorable towards the subjects they write about, you won't find much information about it on here (certainly not beyond what mentions I've made of it).

Major junctions

The locations of the freeway and expressway sections are transposed. Technically, the entire route could be termed an expressway, even though there are side streets and driveways throughout the Spenard portion.

In general

It's "Dimond" Boulevard, as in Anthony Dimond, not "Diamond"

Final verdict

Per my unresolved comments and RadioKAOS rationales, i'll fail this article as not meeting the GA criteria. When the issues are solved, the article can be remominated. —Hahc 21 19:42, 7 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.