urbanMSP

Or we could go back even farther in time and run light rail down the 35W median to Burnsville like we planned to in the 80s.

If the train went through Uptown there'd be StarTribune commentors saying no one from the suburbs is going to ride it to their jobs downtown because of the long, slow detour through Uptown instead of a fast direct route. Or to the university because of the transfer.

NickP wrote: July 15th, 2026, 11:54 am All things named Northstar in MN seem to end up in Texas. hahah

Guess my North Star Highways web site is going to go to Texas next.

How many people in the suburbs really think specifically "I want to eat at Owammi tonight."

It's "I want eat somewhere tonight. Owammi I'd have to take the train or pay to park but Culver's has free parking and is by a freeway exit, so I'll go to Culver's instead to eat".

They're probably not thinking about "the politics of city borders" so much as there's a freeway exit right next to Southdale so it's easy to drive to and park right in front of for free without having a difficult drive, paying for parking, or having to ride transit.

So have the businesses specifically said their customers coming in and parking in front are from Eden Prairie as opposed to Minneapolis?

It would be interesting if we had some actual data on how many suburbanites visit Uptown, Lake Bde Mka Ska, etc. I never do it and don't know anyone that does to it, but people here diagree with me.

As for transit across Bloomington, remember there's that spitballing about full time bus lanes on ...

It's essentially impossible to cross Lyndale at 102nd at rush hour and that's also a school bus stop. I've suggested a pedestrian bridge at 102nd combined with a refuge island and a HAWK or RRFBs at Lyndale. The city does seem to be considering a pedestrian bridge in the area but at 99th or 100th ...

People are going to use it a lot to go to work or Vikings games, but I don't see people from the suburbs going to Uptown much anymore like it's the 90s, and how far away is the nearest station from Uptown again? And it's not especially convenient to downtown Hopkins either.

Can't really see a ...

I went to Minneahaha Academey which the oldest parts dated back to 1912; while there had been cosmetic upgrades the same basic lack of air conditioning, almost zero connection to the outside, and long hallways with square classrooms remained. After the building was rebuilt following being destroyed ...

And of course no one is thinking about moving the transit center to the median of 35W when the bridge needs to be rebuit in a decade or so.

I see they're not putting layouts on the submissions in such a way the public can view anymore.

Even at this point we could probably buy the IDS building to reopen the observation deck for less than the cost of building a new tower.

Always a pleasure sharing my snark.

If there's no demand for ground floor retail and no demand for remodeled office, any chance of converting the whole building for housing. Maybe just using the outside perimeter with windows and the inside can be a self-storage facility?

If we don't care what goes in, maybe now that they're thinking of legalizing adult bathhouses they can put one of those in, as well as an adult bookstore, mattress shop, plasma donation center, thrift store, check cashing service and Dollar Store.

I don't pretend to understand the building ...

Worth noting that E-ZPass is reversing their policy that they're only using the expensive, active IAG protocal and everyone that wants to be compatible with them has to switch to that. Some of their agencies are now starting to issue 6C RFID sticker tags themselves, which are a lot cheaper and ...

Not sure what a cause of action would be in a lawsuit. Maybe a recall campaign would be more appropriate?

At least on 35W and 394, we are (were?) paying lip service to the notion that we're selling extra capacity to single occupant vehicles in the HOV lanes rather than granting an exception to carpoolers in the toll lanes, so the "carpool exemption" isn't going to go away regardless. Bypassing traffic ...

Really disappointed Starbucks isn't coming in since I've been wanting a drive-thru coffee shop near my house for decades, but at least with Chipotle I can stop going all the way to Valley West and having to park and go inside.

Cub is towards the end and then in back rather than right in the center like Barnes and Noble so it would be easier to build around them. Or alternatively Cub has shown willingness to go into ground floor mixed use developments.

Barnes and Noble's current model for new and relocated stores is ...