urbanMSP

Side note: The street name "Market Plaza" sounds so 1970s- era strip mall, and I wish it could get changed to something more related to the new, urban context. Something like extending Bde Maka Ska Boulevard or renaming it to York or Xerxes (whichever street it aligns with on the street gr...

Well, that's disappointing to see that extensive list of BRT routes serving mostly low-density, car-oriented suburbs. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul are growing and becoming more densely populated and deserve transit improvements beyond a handful of ABRT lines. Minneapolis, in particular, already has...

So, the regional transit expansion plans are coming to fruition with Green Line extension underway, the Orange Line about to open and the Gold Line coming close to construction. Obviously, the Blue Line extension, Purple Line and Riverview are still in planning stages, but appear to be moving along....

Ridership projections of 12,000 per day and costing $1+ billion is pathetic. I believe the Gold Line has projections of around 10,000 per day for BRT at a cost of $530+ million. There have got to be more impactful transit improvements that can be done with such large amounts of money. ABRT has flaws...

Pre-pandemic the Green Line had ridership exceeding 40,000 and the Blue Line had 30,000 per day- all with 3-car trains. What kind of ridership is projected with a single-car Riverview Streetcar? It sure doesn't sound worth 1 billion let alone 2 billion.

In theory, I very much want the North Star Line to succeed, but remain frustrated that almost nothing is being done along its route to make communities less car-oriented. It's the same old sprawl development paired with highway expansions making driving the most convenient and logical choice for com...

I live close to Cedar Avenue and E. 38th Street, and my sense is that everyone around here uses Cedar to get to the Target, Home Depot, etc. quite a bit. However, I find Cedar to be an awful street with fast traffic and high numbers of vehicles- very unwelcoming to pedestrians and bicyclists. I woul...

The latest article in the Star Tribune about new investors coming in to prevent the foreclosure mentioned a November opening. This must mean the food hall in the basement is opening, right? Are there any other retail tenants? I'm hoping Banana Republic eventually decides to open a store, but I just ...

Any one here have knowledge of hydrology near the chain of lakes? Wondering whether the drought conditions we are facing currently might help to improve the issues with the high water table with the Kenniworth tunnel construction. It would seem to me that things would be drying out a lot this summer...

Where did you find the final numbers? I couldn't locate them on the Census website.

Minneapolis' population density remains just shy of 8,000 per square mile. Pretty good for U.S. cities, but quite low for global places like Stockholm, Paris, etc. St. Paul's density is just 5,600.

Meh! This entire project down the middle of a freeway in Minneapolis and through car-dominated sprawl through the suburbs is the opposite of what Metro Transit should be spending millions of dollars on. IMO it was just a strategy by MNDOT to make the I35W rebuild more palatable. I despise this proje...

I've noticed that the 21 bus is so much faster between Uptown and E. Lake Street lately. It used to be so painfully slow. It appears that car traffic congestion is down (perhaps due to I35W construction in the area?). Also, it is so nice that the bus doesn't stop at the Chicago Lake Transit Center a...

Anyone have a sense of Congressional support for this line? Is it accurate to assume that Rep Pete Stauber is opposed because he is a Republican? There would be a Congressperson representing NW Wisconsin, as well as Tom Emmer, Ilhan Omar, and two Democratic Senators (Smith & Kobuchar). This is m...

The chairs may have been stacked in preparation for the Aquatennial Parade that takes place next weekend on Nicollet Mall. ;

Wow! This project is so depressing and frustrating. There are so few resources to build good transit, and the funding that is available is being wasted on an expensive tunnel and wall that do nothing to improve service. At this point would it be cheaper to buy out the TC&W and/or the townhouses ...

Agreed. Use the extra space gained from removing a traffic lane to add red bus 'jump' lanes at intersections to speed up that alternative. As was mentioned earlier, car traffic isn't some natural phenomenon like water that needs to be continuously accommodated at all costs. Automobiles are driven by...

The Star Tribune reported that the MN Legislature approved a $7+ billion Transportation Bill for the next two years. Does anyone know of a source besides the actual legislation that would summarize how those funds are spent? For example $57 million goes to ABRT and $10 million is directed to the sec...

Lyndale will be fine, as it isn't the only route motorists can take. I care about the "heat" politicians feel when human beings are struck by vehicles and injured or killed anyways. Both the intersections with Lake and Franklin are some of the most dangerous in Minneapolis for pedestrians....

The nearly $100 million crash wall got me thinking that a shallow tunnel might cost a similar amount and be less obtrusive in that section. OBviously, that's not going to happen and it's far too late to consider such an option. It's just incredible how expensive this project is due to the geography ...

Just went through all 23 pages of this thread wanting to understand the situation of passenger rail through this corridor, and found this article from 2018 describing how a couple MN State Legislators were able to cancel study of High Speed Rail between St. Paul and Chicago: https://www.startribune....