urbanMSP

The Burlington Coat Factory has made significant progress. The inside looks completely done and they are starting to move in furniture. They have pushed their opening date back to "Spring 2015". I grabbed a few snaps when I was over there this past week. I'm slightly disappointed in the la...

Thanks for sharing the pics. The frontage by Byerly's looks pretty good, but how is the walk to the front door? Seems like fairly blank walls facing the sidewalk. Also don't love the porkchop / free right across that new sidewalk for the new 71 France driveway. But it's definitely miles better than...

I decided to do some urban exploration on France Ave during a beautiful October weekday afternoon. It was about 65 and windy with few clouds which made it a very good time to walk and take pictures! Here is some eye candy for your benefit. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-FRIRb6SrypY/VGAg9_LTmlI/A...

mamundsen,
I mean curbside parallel parking. Does that make things more clear?

The former Country Side restaurant in Roseville is getting replaced by a brand new building, a Pizza Luce! Who would have thought an urban chain like this would have made it's way out to Roseville? Hopefully, it does well, since restaurants in this location have struggled historically. Pizza Luce ha...

I've noticed that most suburban retail comes in the form of large strip mall or big box developments that lack curbside parking to the building. I know some suburbs are creating urban nodes where private streets contain parking bays adjacent to buildings (ex: Arbor Lakes). However, in cases where th...

I used to visit the Westside Village apartments on a semi-regular basis. It was funny because we hardly ever walked to any of the nearby businesses during that time. I think once we walked across Blake to a store and just ended up crossing at the Excelsior/Blake intersection. It's interesting to see...

Yep, that's the spot. I am not sure how much empty space there will be back there after the new store goes in. It looks like there is another space about the size of the previous Northwestern Bookstore that is almost completely adjacent to it and adjacent to Cub, but I am guessing the bays in those ...

Per Har Mar management, it looks like the mall will be getting a new "Burlington Coat Factory" in the former Northwestern Bookstore location. This will be opening it's doors before the holiday season. I snapped some pictures of them remodeling the interior at night when I walked past there...

What the hell is wrong with a short 45 mph segment? Honestly, the amount of angst and political capital we devote to speeding cars is outrageous. I'll take a 45 mph landscaped freeway any day. I'm with you on this. If I'm driving through a busy area, I'd prefer a slower speed, one where I can have ...

What if you bored two 3 lane tunnels for just one direction? You'd remove the weave for the folks going west/north, but you could leave the old tunnels in place for those going east/south. Then you have 6 lanes of capacity in both directions.

Wow, I won't even go into all the assumptions you're making there, but I will note that we need decent transit options running across the city before we take away decent auto options. Except those auto options haven't existed since the city retimed the lights. I now actively avoid 26th because it's...

Lastly, I just wanted to say that I think arterial BRT extension up Snelling/Hwy51 is an excellent idea, even with the challenges at integrating with both universities. I think that the cost wouldn't be very much in the long run and that other places would benefit as well. In Arden Hills at Connelly...

I can offer insight in regards to both of the universities: 1) I was a Bethel student. When I attended there, I became very familiar with the term "Bethel Bubble". I was one of the freshman who found a way to keep his car near campus and not on campus. This was how I escaped the bubble. To...

I couldn't find a thread on this topic, which I found surprising (maybe it was on the old board?). It appears the government authorities are hoping to make some transit and access improvements along the I35W corridor: http://www.35lake.com/ Given their plan to build out the Lake Street interchange, ...

But we all know The Interchange is not a transit project. A- frickin' -men. Wish the city/county would admit that, one second thought I don't because it would be a PR nightmare. Be nice if they focused on substance rather than style though. What does that mean? Do you think they are just trying to ...

But think of the children. Alright, I'm the bad guy. Carry on. Build the bridge so that the people in this disconnected cluster of apartments can walk through the giant parking lot to get to the mall. There is actually a sidewalk that extends all the way to the edge of the mall by Herbergers. That ...

If a bridge would cost about 3 Million how much would a tunnel under the road cost? Waiting until the next road resurfacing couldn't they basically place a 8-10 ft. concrete pipe under the road. Dig a few drain tiles string a few lights and wires for outdoor usage to weather the elements maybe a fe...

Let's say hypothetically the 36/51 interchange needed complete replacement and was programmed into a future budget. What would people like to see here to accommodate a modern pedestrian/transit friendly development? I'd like to see a single point urban interchange or the elimination of ramps on one...

Realistically, how many people do we think might use this on any given day? Related, what would be the minimum number of users necessary to justify building it, assuming, say, a $3 million price tag? The only relevant number here is the cost of the Snelling interchange. MnDot made the choice to bui...