urbanMSP

I would say there are a few things that Metro Transit could learn from agencies that have been operating rail for a lot longer: --Have two different shuttle routes, one running directly between the endpoints of the closure, and another that makes intermediate stops. --Have appropriate capacity. The ...

This weekend was the first shutdown that I've had to experience here-- can anyone shed any light on whether this is how Metro Transit has been dealing with rail closures in the past? No matter how you do it, shuttle buses are inconvenient, but having dealt with closures in other cities before, I hav...

Yes, but did Greg Brick ever actually get to the cave or just plagiarize it?

When two ego maniacs meet head-on...

The huge cassions they are putting in here seem crazy for a 30-story building. I wonder if the site has weird soil conditions?

how many Big Ten, or even FBS, schools have a NFL stadium within a couple miles of their campus? Northwestern (they sometimes play at Soldier Field for big games) I hate to participate in this conversation, but Northwestern is a full 15 miles from Soldier Field, without a direct freeway connection....

I live in Bridgeport (well, most of the time),and yes, both Orange and the Dan Ryan Branch have horrid station placement, but that's kind of been the reality of ROW acquisition since the mid-20th ccentury-- since the only available ROW is along freeways and rail corridors, it's rare to be able to pu...

They went before HPC as an information item a couple weeks ago. The reception was mixed.

A note on http://goziprail.org/stay_informed/ from 1/29/2014 states: "A second round of public meetings are planned for Spring 2014." Has anyone heard anything on this? Meeting dates are now up on the Zip Rail site for the end of the month in Rochester, Inver Grove Heights, and Kenyon. Th...

I like the design, but would it kill them to add a splash of color? This area is already on tan overload. For better or worse, that's kind of what's proscribed by the design guidelines for the historic district. Not tan in particular, but I think "a splash of color" would be a tough sell ...

We'll see how it feels once they pull the scaffolds away and open the sidewalk, but looking at it lately, I'm hopeful that I'll be pleasantly surprised by how the tower meets the corner on the Nicollet side...

Fencing and barriers are going up today and cranes are onsite, so it looks like full steam ahead for the ramp contract at least.

Saw the Antonov fly over on what I believe is the approach to 12L. What a plane!

I was out of town this weekend, so I went to Saint Paul and back after work today. My eastbound run took 54 minutes (12 slower than scheduled) from Government Plaza to Union Depot. My westbound run, on the other hand, only took 35 minutes (4 faster than scheduled!) from 10th St to Nicollet.

Yep, the one I'm on is displaying it properly as well. Unfortunately I think we may have sat through multiple light cycles at 280 (over 4 minutes stopped)?

I was on a car that was ticket-checked a few weeks ago. I think I've been checked a total of 3-4 times over the years, but I don't think they've ever actually had me tap my go to card, just moved on when I pulled it out.

They're out tearing up pavement on 4th. Big shipment of steel on-site, presumably to retain the streets while they demo the ramp. A couple smaller cats onsite, I'd expect a pile rig soon.

Looks like they're using real brick (not just veneer) for this. It also sounds like the first two floors may be cast concrete rather than stick.

Sounds promising, hopefully this is well executed.

Edit: I should specify that I was talking about phase 2. Phase 1 is pretty much standard issue.

I think the cranes for the parking ramp/air rights and for the apartments on the west end of the yard won't go up until after at least a couple of the Vikings cranes come down. As cool as 11+ tower cranes on the same development would be, there's a lot of demolition work to be done on those two bloc...

It looked like the base of a tower crane was going up on the west block this morning.

They actually set two tower crane bases on the west block.

Interesting. I wonder what large spaces are available in the immediate area? My rough math leaves them looking for about 150,000 sqft if they keep the Public Service Center, and about 260,000 sqft if they move everything. The language in the RFP sure makes it look like what they really want is new c...