Search found 1244 matches

by Mdcastle
January 15th, 2025, 12:25 pm
Forum: Suburbs
Topic: Suburbs - General Topics
Replies: 1145
Views: 429428

Re: Suburbs - General Topics

My assumption is that familes that can afford a detached house in Chisago County "sprawl" aren't going to want to live with shared walls and no private back yard in Hugo.

Building an apartment in Hugo probably gives young people starting out and others not able to afford a detached house an option ...
by Mdcastle
January 8th, 2025, 8:17 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Interstate 94
Replies: 415
Views: 192063

Re: Interstate 94

Fair point about smoke ventilation, although I imagine the costs could be reduced if it's built for emergency use only and not run 24/7/365.

I was talking to an engineer involved in the Winona bridge fiasco, and he told me costs for pedestrian facilities aren't that much cheaper than vehicle ...
by Mdcastle
December 31st, 2024, 9:45 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Interstate 94
Replies: 415
Views: 192063

Re: Interstate 94

Yes, the issue is exhaust removal. The Cascade Tunnel in Washington is close to 8 miles long and wasn't force-ventilated until they removed the electrification and started running diesel locomotives through.

Although it will be a long time until we have no more gas cars on the road even under the ...
by Mdcastle
December 31st, 2024, 8:52 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Interstate 94
Replies: 415
Views: 192063

Re: Interstate 94

I'll throw out the statistic that you can go two short blocks or so without needing forced ventilation.
by Mdcastle
December 30th, 2024, 11:38 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Interstate 94
Replies: 415
Views: 192063

Re: Interstate 94

The Hiawatha "not really a street, not really a freeway" under Minnehaha Park.
by Mdcastle
December 28th, 2024, 3:55 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Interstate 94
Replies: 415
Views: 192063

Re: Interstate 94

Now that we've determined the freeway is staying, we can start talking about lids

Has any groups outside of Rondo been advocating for one? If not, what's there for MnDOT to acknowlege?
by Mdcastle
December 26th, 2024, 11:46 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Green Line Extension - Southwest LRT
Replies: 5418
Views: 1462943

Re: Green Line Extension - Southwest LRT

What about running "West" trains as far as the U of M? Could the downtown area handle doubling the trains?
by Mdcastle
December 13th, 2024, 9:33 am
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: City Center
Replies: 410
Views: 111709

Re: City Center

Wasn't there a plan to build an indoor waterpark that would have been a huge draw on Block E once upon a time?
by Mdcastle
December 6th, 2024, 7:41 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: MN-121 "Lyndale Connector" Turnback and Redevelopment
Replies: 46
Views: 10710

Re: MN-121 "Lyndale Connector" Turnback and Redevelopment

This one is kind of fuzzy as to what you want to call it, considering it started life in planning as one of these expressways, but wound up being built as part of I-35W when it was finally built, but was not initially built to interestate standards there being at-grade intersections at 58th and 73rd ...
by Mdcastle
November 15th, 2024, 8:58 am
Forum: Suburbs
Topic: Bloomington - General Topics
Replies: 381
Views: 178761

Re: Bloomington - General Topics

I've had extensive conversations with the city council and engineering staff over the years. My impressions:

Council is officially non-partisan but unofficially fairly liberal, they're still being restrained somewhat by the grumpy old people contingent, the best example of this is how they managed ...
by Mdcastle
November 14th, 2024, 11:51 am
Forum: Suburbs
Topic: Bloomington - General Topics
Replies: 381
Views: 178761

Re: Bloomington - General Topics

So, if people want more retail vitality than a cell phone store on 700 American, what do people think of the idea of the city having let Hy-Vee build like they wanted to. Seems like convenience stores always have a lot of traffic, foot traffic as well as car traffic.

I thought people wouldn't want ...
by Mdcastle
November 11th, 2024, 8:37 am
Forum: Suburbs
Topic: Bloomington - General Topics
Replies: 381
Views: 178761

Re: Bloomington - General Topics

https://www.startribune.com/downtown-minneapolis-bloomington-494-office-vacancy-space-turnaround/601179020

Strib article about how the Bloomington Strip office market is recovering, with many companies citing free, covered parking as a factor in their choice to locate there.

But unlike downtown ...
by Mdcastle
November 2nd, 2024, 11:53 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Freight Rail News and Happenings
Replies: 268
Views: 156086

Re: Freight Rail News and Happenings

We charge freight operators to access highways via motor vehicle registration and fuel taxes.
by Mdcastle
November 1st, 2024, 6:59 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Freight Rail News and Happenings
Replies: 268
Views: 156086

Re: Freight Rail News and Happenings

If the government nationalizes my house so I now have to pay rent to use what I used to own outright and have put quite a bit of my own money into maintaining, are you claiming I benefit from this arangement because my property tax burden would dissapear overnight?
by Mdcastle
October 25th, 2024, 5:18 pm
Forum: Anything Goes
Topic: Sprawl
Replies: 124
Views: 17504

Re: Sprawl

Not everyone wants a single family detached house, my point is that someone that lives in the car suburbs probably don't want to live in a duplex like someone that wants to live in a walkable city might.
by Mdcastle
October 25th, 2024, 8:07 am
Forum: Anything Goes
Topic: Sprawl
Replies: 124
Views: 17504

Re: Sprawl

Yes, it's a choice. If I could afford to live someplace where I didn't need a car, I'd still choose to live in a car-dependent area.
by Mdcastle
October 24th, 2024, 6:14 pm
Forum: Anything Goes
Topic: Sprawl
Replies: 124
Views: 17504

Re: Sprawl

Whether or not I could walk a few minutes to buy milk and oreos is not something I ever considered when deciding where to live. Growing up my family would get a weeks worth of groceries at once at a local supermarket a mile away so I grew up with that mindset of "shop once a week". That infrequency ...
by Mdcastle
October 21st, 2024, 9:17 am
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: City Center
Replies: 410
Views: 111709

Re: City Center

Are we arguing that there's enough population living downtown to sustain a shopping mall now, or that if you just build a shopping mall suburbanites will swoon over and flock to it. Or that people living in say Armitage will go downtown instead of Southdale?

I'll defer to others if we're arguing ...
by Mdcastle
September 25th, 2024, 9:21 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Suburban Transit (Opt-out Services Providers)
Replies: 173
Views: 205082

Re: Suburban Transit (Opt-out Services Providers)

I mean, driving your car and being able to park for free right next to the bus stop, then having a bus drive directly there and drop you off right at your desitnation, when you don't need to carry anything other than a briefcase is something that suburbanites have already shown a willingness to do ...
by Mdcastle
September 20th, 2024, 6:21 pm
Forum: Suburbs
Topic: Bloomington - General Topics
Replies: 381
Views: 178761

Re: Bloomington - General Topics

I can't find the original post but I think someone asked about the status of the townhomes on Penn and 86th. There's an agenda item in the latest city council meeting to replat the land. Besides COVID I get the impression that bickering between the city and the developer over if any access would be ...