urbanMSP

What does total removal look like? Does that mean no road there at all? Not even a city street? If the area is going to be redeveloped at all, I'd imagine to some degree some infrastructure would need to be built. Remember that 94 today through St. Paul is only one block wide. Really, you wouldn't ...

https://finance-commerce.com/2024/04/effort-to-revive-minneapolis-2040-plan-moves-forward-in-minnesota-house/ Dueling lobbyists at the end of it. The lobbyist against the bill clarifying that city plans do not need a deep environmental review claims there are not enough votes in the house to pass. ...

I'm also still very unconvinced that there's any scenario in which MNDOT's 'boulevard' would be "a truly desirable parklike transportation corridor, with real transit service." It remains exceedingly more likely that MNDOT would build a six-lane stroad akin to Olson Memorial Highway. My gu...

I think the Met Council is lobbying for J, K, and L funding in the bonding bill this year, but I think they're only getting the remaining funding for the H Line.

Not to mention that Dibble is trying to make bus projects even more expensive. Last year was two steps forward; this year is one step back.

And complaining about residents monitoring/measuring a public works project in their neighborhood? That's how it's supposed to work.

That is not, in fact, how it's supposed to work.

Per an email from Friday: F Line construction will begin in 2028 instead of 2025, to take advantage of MnDOT's broader work on the whole Central corridor. That will probably mean that the line will launch with the final pick of 2029 instead of the final pick of 2026, although Metro Transit notes th...

If they had eminent domained her off the property, she would've gone crying to the Pioneer Press complaining about that too. Really though, they are doing her a favor. Once the Gold Line is completed, she'll be able to sell her lot for far more than 200k. There will be TOD to support this station (...

If they had eminent domained her off the property, she would've gone crying to the Pioneer Press complaining about that too. Really though, they are doing her a favor. Once the Gold Line is completed, she'll be able to sell her lot for far more than 200k. There will be TOD to support this station (a...

File this under "Articles slandering the Met Council for a perfectly reasonable decision."

The Met Council is a nationwide model and that means it's very hard to convince DFLers to neuter or significantly change it. The GOP just wants it dead, so Dibble and Co. have to convince their fellow partisans of any changes and that's hard. Shifting LRT construction management to MNDOT as is curre...

I think it's worth pointing out, though, that operations and ridership are rarely what anti-transit people care about. They get exceedingly angry at the planning, engagement, design, and construction processes, but mostly go away when the service is up and running. They don't care if the service is ...

Legislature may give cities the option to establish land-value taxes: pages 12 and 13 of the Property Tax Division report.

The utilities/municipal systems argument was the best one against the Missing Middle bill/s, and even that one was weak. Here's some thoughts that would make the bill much more palatable: Make it (or the strongest measures) apply only to 'metropolitan' cities. In this case, take metropolitan to mean...

The DFL trifecta is not a foregone conclusion -- in fact, the house and senate are always teetering on the verge of flipping, and the apparent solidity of the governorship may only be a mirage created by the GOP nominating terrible candidates. I think the approach of tackling a few meaningful polic...

Yeah these plans are better than our previous LRTs, but there's still lots of room for improvement. I'm still skeptical that the right decision was to route along 21st, but the transit mall they've drawn up is pretty cute. I am concerned that we may be including too much extraneous road reconstructi...

The state created cities. In a political sense they don't even exist if the state doesn't want them to. All their authority is just state authority that the legislature has granted to them . Without state-granted authorities, mayors and city councils are just HOA boards with fancy titles. Cities don...

Washington County is discussing how to spend its transit sales tax dollars this week, and their agenda packet confirms Metro Transit is going to implement a microtransit service to connect Woodbury with its Gold Line stops.

Hooray

Yeah, I just looked at the system map and not much has to be changed. The only thing I really see outside of Woodbury is the Sun Ray Transit Center, which really should be relocated a block south. I would really like Metro Transit to consider something other than microtransit in Woodbury. Land use ...

Two questions: 1. Will nearby local and express routes be restructured similar to the Orange Line? 2. Is the Woodbury express service (and the 323, I guess) going to be relocated to the Woodlane P&R or will it continue to operate out of the theater parking lot? 1. Pre-pandemic, there was a plan...

And let's all be thankful that Lake Minnetonka physically precludes just about any feasible idea for a third ring road. Funny you should mention it. I doubt I could track it down, but some years ago in MNDOT's Corridors of Commerce request, they asked for money to plan "I-894", an outer b...