urbanMSP

I couldn't seem to read the second journal article for some reason. The first one entitled "Underground Station Design Issues for Light Rail Transit in the Twin Cities Geography" was pretty interesting. It was written in 1992 and describes challenges with constructing LRT tunnels in three ...

IMO the Minneapolis Transportation Action Plan (TAP) that was approved in 2021 should have included at least a mention of either/ both the possibility of constructing a downtown LRT and bus tunnel I submitted feedback to that effect, but Public Works folks did not address the ideas in the 10-year pl...

Agreed. The LRT route through downtown is painfully slow due to traffic signals and the Nicollet and Hennepin stops being so close together. Cities including Dallas, Austin Edmondton and Portland are either planning or constructing tunnels through their downtowns. It seems the concept isn't even on ...

This is fantastic! The 38th St. Station area, aside from the LRT platform, is pretty bleak. There's something about the circular design to accommodate bus turn arounds that doesn't leave enough space for 3 bus shelters despite the fact that Metro Transit considers there to be 3 gates. Of course, my ...

Maybe this belongs in the Fantasy Maps thread, but someone asked about the best route to connect Minneapolis to Sioux Falls in this thread. IMO a route to Willmar, MN goes too far north before connecting with the BNSF line through SW MN. The Twin Cities & Western railroad angles southwest and co...

It doesn't make sense that the project is 70% done, but the remaining 30% is expected to take until 2027 to complete, an additional 5 years. It is understandable that the Kenniworth tunnel is complex, but it is only .5 miles long and very shallow. Anyone here know why this is so hard to build and wi...

Any thoughts about whether NLX will get funded this year at the Legislature now that the DFL is in full control and there is Infrastructure Bill money/ a huge surplus? Considering the project already has a FONZI (?), construction could begin quickly if funded by MN with Federal funds following. This...

Don't worry! Mayor Jacob Frey is pulling together a task force of downtown leaders to figure out a strategy for retail revitalization... in December 2022. IMO the Macy's closure in 2017 may have been the time to pursue this...

I dunno. My bus, the #23, has now been cut back to once an hour at off peak times and weekends. This is abysmal bus service, which is nearly unusable. So, I'm not so excited about anything Metro Transit is doing right now including the D Line. :( The #23 is a major cross town route and I'm still sho...

As a somewhat frequent rider of the route #23 bus on 38th Street, I feel like sharing the frustration with detours over the past few years. Anecdotally, it seems like ridership is down, possibly due to this and the reliability issues the detours cause. The main, permanent detour avoids George Floyd ...

Ummm... I would want to see some documentation before buying that Minneapolis has more households now than 1950. There were thousands of homes destroyed to construct the freeways and huge numbers of apartments / SRO's were demolished in and around downtown during urban renewal. There remain a huge n...

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Minneapolis has a long way to go to reach the peak population of 520,000 from 1950. The City is likely just back to the 1970 population of 434,000. On the other hand, St. Paul surpassed their peak population in the past few years, but obviously could grow signif...

Up-zoning around station areas should be a requirement of these expensive transit (and somewhat questionable) transit projects.

IMO maybe the owners of the Dayton's Project should consider converting at least some space into housing. The huge floor plate probably makes that pretty challenging, however. ..

Oh, I wish the planners would hire transit expert/ consultant Jarret Walker to improve this project. He has advised many bus system reconfigurations across the country with positive ridership results including in Houston. Walker uses a philosophy around "freedom" (of movement/ access/ mobi...

I biked this on Monday, and the parks and creek are indeed delightful. The central water feature will definitely benefit from buildings surrounding and framing it, as the area feels like a ghost town with no buildings.

Apparently, no one at the Minneapolis Public Works or Community Planning & Economic Development (CPED) Departments could conceive of doing something else with this prime plot of land in the middle of downtown. Once a freeway, always a freeway. It really bothers me that this project is going to c...

Doran is the main partner building 270+ units of housing at Seven Points. They are not affordable units.

Meh! They should remove this connection altogether considering there are nearby entrance and exits to and from I394 nearby at 3rd Avenue N. and 4th Street N. This bleak expanse of asphalt and weeds should be redeveloped into something productive like housing and commercial uses. It's just so overbui...

On August 25 the Minneapolis City Council Public Works & Infrastructure Committee endorsed a plan by MNDOT to reconstruct the I394 & Washington Avenue intersection. It includes some improvements including removal of the pork chop island, bump-outs and narrowing the crossing at a cost of up t...