Actually, most major streets in Minneapolis, especially outside downtown, were once roads -- including Nicollet and Hennepin. Fortunately, they grew into streets long before engineers got involved and started designing access management, turn lanes, 40 mph design speeds and so on.What is the most helpful way to turn a "road" into a "street?" Is that even possible? If not, how do we avoid the worst of stroadiness?
I think the critical question is when a road being a road is no longer practical, does it become a stroad or a street? Think of streets in places like Maple Grove, that we see reconstructed from 2-lane rural highways to 5-lane suburban megastroads. This is where their fate is sealed, for the foreseeable future.
Excelsior Blvd is a stroad, but not a particularly hopeless one. From France Ave to Louisiana, it has a pretty traditional, prewar grid (probably the single most important factor, because it's hard to change). The (periodic) on-street parking, wide sidewalks, ped-scale lighting, and extensive greening all help a lot too. The only things that feel especially stroady are the very wide lanes and the full protected left turn cycles. I suspect cars speed even faster through Minneapolis's section through the Minkahda golf course (less stroad, more road) than through Excelsior & Grand.
