urbanMSP

You just need to add another segment to the train and another articulation joint. As long as the length between the trucks/bogies is fairly short, it'll work. Browsing through images online, Siemens makes longer vehicles for lines outside the U.S., but I haven't found an American service using them....

I think it'd work, but you just have to be willing to block traffic -- a pretty hard sell. However, the better solution is just to increase service frequency. But, on a related thought, I've often wondered why the new Siemens LRVs are being made the same length as the existing Bombardier ones. Since...

Looks like there's some activity going on in the Seward Commons area, a TOD site which is a bit on the fringe of the Franklin Avenue station area. There are several connected/adjacent buildings along Minneapolis's Snelling Avenue between Cedar Avenue and East 24th Street. Free Geek Twin Cities had m...

Taking a random outing on the Hiawatha Line today, I noticed that the road reconstruction project at 22nd Street East is nearly done, with striping on the road surface. A brand new intersection with Cedar Avenue just south of Franklin. It also includes reconstructing a little bit of Minneapolis's Sn...

It's been said in the past, but I'll go ahead and say it again -- Ideally, the skyway system can rougly double the amount of leasable frontage in the downtown core. It actually would have been really amazing if downtown was suffering from a shortage of good retail space and the skyways had come in t...

Two years ago, the Star Tribune ran a Whistleblower column and video on 33rd Avenue Southeast, way on the eastern edge of Minneapolis between Hennepin Ave and Como Ave, is one of the last unpaved roads in the city. Because it's mostly composed of dirt that has been oiled down considerably over the y...

2014 for the new light-rail platforms, roughly coinciding with the Central Corridor opening (though I'm doubtful it'll quite get finished by the time that's running). Who knows about Phase 2, though... I'm sure they'll try to get things timed so it will be operating by the time the next commuter or ...

No, the article was only talking about the purchase of land on the southeast corner of the intersection, across the street from the potential Trader Joe's site. Obviously, if they put a liquor store on the east side of the street, that would prevent TJ's or anyone else who develops the west side fro...

It's just a feature of the regular Google Maps app. I think you have to be physically at the location for it to work, though. I haven't really followed the ins and outs of what's going on with the next version of iOS. It was kind of sounding to me like Apple may loosen the rules to allow more 3rd-pa...

Google Maps has a special extra layer that appears when you visit the Mall of America. They should do something similar with the skyways. I'm not sure how many places they have in their indoor mapping system yet, though -- the MoA is probably the only place in the state right now.

Yep, Binh Le, owner of Lake Wine & Spirits. Sounds like the purchase leaves the old project at the site (by Don Gerberding of Master Properties Minnesota) a bit up in the air -- a plan for an 11,000 s.f. liquor store and a new 4,000 s.f. building for the Flanders Bros. Cycle company that's curre...

Meh. There's a Noodles & Co. in front of the University Avenue Target in Saint Paul. People go there.

It mostly just says that the Met Council finally submitted their funding request to DEED. The filing deadline had been extended by two weeks (until July 9th), and the date for awards is also expected to be pushed back by two weeks or more from the original early August timeframe.

Well, there's expectation and there's preparation.. As far as I know, there's only been one derailment of a Hiawatha LRV in revenue service that wasn't due to a collision, and it happened at 5-10 mph so there wasn't any damage. But when you're dealing with vehicles that weigh 50+ tons apiece, you ta...

I haven't heard much. The trains are Siemens model S70 or "Avanto" vehicles -- you might be able to get some idea for searching for photos, but they can be heavily customized (Metro Transit has requested over 1,000 modifications, many of which seem to be to get more stainless steel used on...

Yeah, hopefully they'll only use the second LRT platform area on event days.

My main complaint with in-unit cooling systems like these is that they often aren't positioned intelligently. These have to be placed along the outside wall and require a closet to be built around them, which often intrudes into the living space in an odd way. I'm sure that's been true of many types...

The thin vertical openings with glass already in them are clearly windows -- I think minneapolisguy's comment about the second photo has been interpreted as talking about the third photo. They're talking about the smaller openings positioned halfway up the wall.

Here's at least a version of the chart I was referring to, from this PDF. I guess it doesn't appear quite how I remembered it.

Yeah, I'm pretty much in the same boat with mnmike and go4guy. Maybe I'd feel a bit different if the site hadn't been encroached upon by parking lots to the extent it has been. I do find it a bit strange how older schools were often put on grassy plots, set relatively far back from the street -- kin...