urbanMSP

I don't think banning nasa is really appropriate. He's certainly not the only person on here slinging the mud and during all the years of Minnescraper he's shown that while he doesn't back down from his opinions, he knows where the boundaries are. I really don't think it would be fair to single him ...

I know I'm probably dreaming but how awesome would it be if that tan stuff in the render was that sexy limestone on target field? But probably it's concrete board. I really don't think it is. If you look at it closely you'll notice the silver channel-shaped spandrels... compare that to the facade o...

Sexy renderings, but I'm seeing a ton of cement board, including some off-color spandrels....

Like Elf said, the fountain and stairway stuff on the Greenway in the center block looks great!

There's two major former surface streams that pass under that area-- Trout Brook, which drains Lake Como and McCarron's Lake, and Phalen Creek which drains the Phalen chain of lakes. It's actually those two streams that built that area. The large flat area down there was originally a big swampy delt...

^I'm fairly certain there'll be multiple trailers arriving as this gets fully underway. Just because the trailer there now is small, that doesn't mean there won't be several more arriving once things get cooking.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, a refresh or two will fix it for me.

My map shows using the Green Line to 11th Ave, where the University connector would follow the old MILW ROW diagonally for two blocks where it would then join the streetcar tracks at 9th Ave and Washington. This would mean that there would be no capacity issues as the Blue Line and the university c...

It would be difficult to extend it into downtown, because the capacity of that corridor is maxed out between the Blue and Green Lines. Once the Green Line splits off at the Metrodome, however, there should already be spacing built into the schedule for additional service. Even with grade-separation...

My idea would be to run it to the West Bank, but if at some future date we have grade separation on 5th, it would be nice to have one-seat rides from the Saint Paul campus and the fairgrounds into downtown.

Lately I've been wondering how much it would cost and what ridership would be like for a "Maroon Line" LRT running from the West Bank to Randall & Bufford via the U of M transitway and the Green Line. An intermediate stop could be at Como and possibly Raymond. Looks like about 2.5 mile...

Wow! Good find. My initial thought was that this was part of the old 2006 proposal, but looking more closely, I think this is something new!

I'm really not a fan of how a lot of the routes are competing with streetcar studies. I wish the city would be more proactive about tue streetcars.

I wonder if they would consider installing overhead power on some of these routes? Would be nice to get rid of some noise and exhaust.

I hope they don't build a big ugly bus terminal thattakes up close to half the block. We have a lot of them here in Chicago. In some places they're nessecary and serve a big need, like at 95th or Rosemont, but some of them just really suck-- they take up a lot of space and ruin the pedestrian experi...

It would be nice if they could come back with a plan to include a car-sharing service. I think the guess of 1/2 of students having cars is probably about right, but many of those are only used once a week for the grocery run. Do you really think it is that high at the U? I'm having a tough time bel...

I do like the idea of connecting Oak Grove to 17th. Although I think the Nicollet Bridge is going to get repaved very soon maybe next year? I don't think there is any demand to create a "land bridge" for retail given the entire area as it stands is pretty much vacant. Although I think the...

Maybe a spec/discussion thread on hotel development is warranted? Westin: 214 rooms Hotel Minneapolis (old Midland Bank Bldg): 222 rooms W (Foshay): 229 rooms Aloft: 155 rooms Ivy Hotel: 136 rooms Hilton Garden: 210 rooms Chambers: 60 rooms = 1,226 rooms FWIW, downtown MPLS has about 6,500 rooms and...

I don't see the attraction of island platforms. Realistically, how much extra time does it take to go down to the end of the platform and across? I see the convenience of a single platform, but I don't think that slight convenience is worth the cost... The limited dollars we have could probably be b...

IMO, the most exciting tower we've seen since Capella. Hell yeah!

Has Metro Transit considered the possibility of using four car trains? I'm curious as to whether this could work if they had the first and fourth train overhang the platforms halfway.

4-car trains are too long for downtown blocks.

I'm not sure that it's distance from the CBD is really that prohibitive - both Ogilvie and Union Stations are on the west side of the Chicago river and a solid 4 blocks from the center of the Loop, and people seem to do just fine with that. They're both still much much more in the middle of things ...