urbanMSP

Why does the article almost dismiss what the experts who planned the route had to say and instead paint the Metro Transit planners as stupid and incompetent? It's gotta be so frustrating for the BRT planners, who spend lots of time modeling and making trade-offs only for that work to be taken at a ...

SWLRT is such a different project that I don't think 12 months of it in operation would be worth anything in regards to "proving" that Bottineau LRT is worthy of more infrastructure. As much as I support SWLRT, I highly doubt that it will perform well enough to drum up more support for LRT for many ...

EP does better with multi use paths than most suburbs, for sure. The rapid succession of Flying Cloud Drive, the mall ring road (cars do not slow down to wait for you), and the janky staircase up to the Target entrance definitely needs some work, though.

Eden Prairie Center is too important to the ...

I'm looking forward to visiting for the first time as soon as that train gets going :)


I described it in probably the least flattering way possible in that post but it is a nice mall, worth spending some time in. It feels more occupied than the numbers look. Absolute pain to walk or bike to ...

Both Eddie Bauer and Francesca's have exited Eden Prairie Center as of this past month. By my count this past weekend there are now 16 vacancies in the mall. Wings Financial moved into a spot near Target that has hosted the seasonal Northwoods Boutique previous years. Northwoods now has a permanent ...

https://www.metrotransit.org/media/b4fldd2w/appendix-a-update-8-20-26.pdf

More detailed info on individual route changes. It looks like route 48 might still be serving Bassett Creek Valley Station as originally planned.

In regards to making transit faster, I think this update--and the Green Line ...

https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetings/Committees/Transportation-Committee/2026/August-24,-2026/Info-1-_-Network-Now.aspx
Preliminary changes for the Network Now update were presented at a Met Council meeting, and contains a whole bunch of changes related to Southwest Light Rail, and overall ...

Network Now has it running via Vernon Ave to Opus Station, but only during peak hours for some reason. I hope their upcoming Network Now amendment evaluating existing and new SWLRT connecting service at least gets this up to all-day service. This version is super useful for residents of Eden Prairie ...

One thing I tried doing, and part of what inspired the thoughts outlined above was literally going on Google Maps to the center of major American CBDs and just looking up "stores" and see what pops up.

What I noticed immediately about both Portland and Seattle is that their main downtown retail ...

More broadly, I get that there is online shopping, plenty of fairly successful suburban malls nearby, etc. etc. but a quarter million people live within a few miles of downtown! Based on local discourse I assumed urban retail was a dead thing everywhere but I've visited several other cities in the ...

The section of Nicollet between 9th and 12th Streets is actually doing pretty well. That section isn't even fully occupied but goes to show you really don't need much space leased out to create an activated street. It's just unfortunate that none of the property owners to the north of that segment ...

https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetings/Committees/Transportation-Committee/2026/July-27,-2026/Info-2_Quarterly-Service-Change-and-Workforce-Upda.aspx
August service changes:
Better Bus Route 14 (part 2) splitting 14D branch into route 48 (which will eventually connect to SWLRT at Basset Creek ...

I'm generally anti-vacancy tax, however maybe it could work on Nicollet Mall if the proceeds of such a tax could be directly returned to activating and improving Nicollet Mall or even granting money back to the property owners to meet certain objectives. Make the fees of the stick tie to the ...

I've been thinking a bit about how to improve the Nicollet Mall lately, and I think I've got some ideas!

The biggest question mark is always going to be: do we move transit off of it? I’m of the opinion that transit should remain on Nicollet in some capacity, but that there are just too many routes ...

For Bassett Creek Valley Station (fka Van White), it really seems like there should be a new circulator route connecting Near North to Loring Park via Van White / Dunwoody. The problem with a direct connection to the station is the platform lies below the middle of the bridge, which wasn't built ...

There isn't a good place for operator layovers at 21st Street for bus drivers so I'd imagine that isn't being considered. Outside of West Lake and Blake stations the planned bus connections as per Network Now are underwhelming. They missed several really obvious connection points, like the 705 being ...

This is a really pedantic disagreement here. I think the primary motivations for people when they go out to eat generally revolve around the desired type/quality of food first, and transportation second. I realize I am a transit nerd but I have never once chosen to go to a fast food place nearby ...

I don't think there have been any comprehensive studies on this, but I do know that plenty of suburbanites frequent the chain of lakes for recreation, meeting up with family, etc. I also know several suburban high schools have had their proms in venues like the Uptown Theater in recent years ...

Via a very gross AI-sloppy announcement, Harold's Chicken is officially coming to the former Daisy's space:
https://bsky.app/profile/daviss.org/post/3mqcyljnrks2z

Unfortunately, it does appear to be operated by the same people as Daisy's so it could just become the same fake bar thing all over ...

I think you might have missed the broader point I was making with those examples: for lots of residents it is definitely a viable option for things other than going to downtown, they just might not realize it.