urbanMSP

The Met Council will release 2021 population estimates for metro cities in May. https://metrocouncil.org/Data-and-Maps/Research-and-Data/Annual-Population-Estimates.aspx Do folks here have a guess about whether Minneapolis will continue to grow at a good clip like in the last decade? The City grew b...

There's no doubt that the "Can of Worms" is at the end of its' life cycle, but maybe it doesn't need to be replaced with those over-engineered freeway interchanges. What else could be done in Duluth for $300+ million that would result in homes for people, productive land uses like small bu...

It hit me the other day that downtown Minneapolis lacks a museum like most other large cities which usually have art, science or children's museums in the central business district. Mill City Museum is pretty close, but not exactly central downtown. Both the Walker Art Center and MIA aren't that far...

The traffic signal at Cedar avenue and E. 40th Street IS there because of the bike boulevard. I use it as a pedestrian periodically too since it's nearly a/2 mile between 38th and 42nd Streets and Cedar Avenue has extremely high traffic speeds.

There's another project in Duluth related to an I35 freeway interchange that reportedly will cost north of $300 million. I think it is known as something like "the tangle". My jaw drops every time I read about it considering Duluth only has 86,000 residents and the Twin Ports metro has few...

Let's try that again... Put yourself into someone else's shoes and imagine crossing a street on foot with a roundabout. IMO the existing MN roundabouts encourage high traffic speeds making it dangerous and uncomfortable for a child, blind person or senior to cross. Dutch-style roundabouts sound nice...

The discussion around removing stop lights/ installing roundabouts appears to be solely framed from the perspective of car drivers. Just because people own and operate a motor vehicle doesn't mean that they need to be moving at all times, especially at the expense of other road users. My question is...

I used to have a condo near Excelsior Boulevard at Quentin Avenue and relied on the #12 bus to get to work in Uptown. Is it accurate that the entire route is suspended? I sold it 10 years ago, but at that time it had pretty decent ridership. I know lots of people in Hopkins and SLP rely on that bus.

Two churches partnered about 10 years ago to redevelop the parking lot at W. 28th Street and Lyndale Ave S. They built affordable housing atop ground level retail, which now includes the World Street Kitchen and Buffalo Exchange. IMO this is one of the best developments to take place in Uptown.

The Star Tribune is reporting that CP and KCS have agreed to host a second passenger train to Chicago if their planned merger receives Federal approval. It also could mean a faster timeline than the anticipated 2024 launch. Now that it's 2022, however, 2024 doesn't sound that far away. :) https://ww...

Ha! I also took the bus to Ikea from central Oslo when studying at the University... just in 1994. I guess we're different generations, huh? IMO the Green Line is somewhat frustrating between Oak St and downtown St. Paul because it is so slow and the stations are so close together. Does it appear th...

The Orange Line is expected to serve 8,000- 10,000 riders per day with a capital cost of $150 million. The Gold Line is projected to serve 6,000- 8,000 daily riders for a cost of $540 million. We'll see if those projections come close or not in the coming years hopefully following the pandemic. Base...

Meh. Ridership on this $150 million project better be good to justify the huge cost. I'm pretty frustrated with Metro Transit service lately on regular routes. The Route #23 down 38th Street continues to be delayed by detours including the never-ending rerouting around George Floyd Square and constr...

So, the Our Streets and Harrison Neighborhood Association effort is sort of the very first step towards advocating for major changes to Olson Highway/ 55. I can assure you that MNDOT is not yet close to being on board with such a concept, let alone renaming or redesigning it. MNDOT refused to even c...

This is a fantastic idea- replacing Olson Memorial Highway through north Minneapolis with a surface boulevard bringing back 6th Avenue. https://kstp.com/news/activists-say-get ... s/6305281/

My buddy lives about two blocks away from the Franklin Blue Line station, just to the east of Minnehaha. He gave up using LRT there a few months ago because the crossing at Franklin and Cedar is so hostile to pedestrians from aggressive drivers. The area was already pretty scary with all the shootin...

Does anyone on this forum pay attention to the Met Council proceedings, and if so, has that agency discussed what they might do with a portion of the $800 million in transit funding coming to MN? A recent Star Tribune article suggests that the Purple, Gold and Blue Line and more ABRT routes will use...

This Railway Age commentary is quite pessimistic about improved passenger service in the Midwest following passage of the Infrastructure Bill. It includes a nugget about the proposed schedule for the second train to Chicago, which seems like new info. The author is quite critical that the 2nd train ...

These slightly larger MPHA developments are a great idea resulting in more affordable units spread throughout the City. However, I was told by someone at St. Stephens that Congress in the 1980s or 1990s passed a law limiting the number of public housing units to whatever the highest number of units ...

Side note: The street name "Market Plaza" sounds so 1970s- era strip mall, and I wish it could get changed to something more related to the new, urban context. Something like extending Bde Maka Ska Boulevard or renaming it to York or Xerxes (whichever street it aligns with on the street gr...