urbanMSP

Access to/from 52 would be fine at that distance. The question/concern is access ACROSS 52, from one side to the other. That is where an overpass in the middle would be most useful and probably the least expensive option, especially given the topography and lack of roads connecting to 52 from the we...

That's assuming a north Pine Island interchange is built. I have my doubts, especially given some local opposition and the recent construction of a roundabout at the north ramps at CSAH 11. Furthermore, there's no way to get west of 52 until the Hwy 58 interchange, so your distance between is a bit ...

Extending the freeway section to Zumbrota may not be as easy as some may think. A (not-so-)quick breakdown: Currently, the freeway section effectively extends to the Olmsted/Goodhue County line. There are three private access points between the county line and CSAH 11...coincidentally all are on the...

Also, it looks like Union Pacific has built a wye between their mainline (ex-Rock Island) and their Flint Hills lead (ex-Chicago Great Western), possibly to move the mainline to the northern track crossing 52 in Inver Grove Heights. If this was the case, the southern bridges could be used to provid...

The 54 runs every 15 minutes Monday-Saturday and only every 20-30 minutes on Sunday's. And, as I understand it, is a well-used bus. Which suggests that (if nothing else) frequencies could be increased. 1. It is already a marginal corridor as far as ridership is concerned, so this saves money in str...

Correct...they could very well derail (pun intended) any potential dedicated lane transit use of West 7th...whether rail or BRT.

Ialways dreamed of this same exact thing. Lrt along 494 and even 35. It would be sooo beautiful floating past the congestion of 494 during rush hour. But where is the space for this? I spec'd mine out along American Blvd because that road is generally overbuilt and the space exists. You don't need ...

Not zero, but close to zero. The county calls it "Pavement Plus" and there's some possible funding for spot changes with significant returns. I'd presume "spot changes" = "pedestrian bumpouts" in this case. Any possibility of revising the median at 17th so that the bik...

Correct me if I'm wrong but there's ZERO intention of adjusting curbs on this project, yes?

Catching up from the past few days... I'm with MNDible regarding the Fort Rd Bridge. I believe the bridge will have to be replaced in order to have the structural strength to add a second deck, ESPECIALLY if we want to add heavy LRT vehicles to that second deck. I don't think the existing bridge cou...

I think that the bike trail over the river would be a lot more useful if there was some way to get off of the bluff (Concord Ave) and follow 52 down to the flat area. http://www.ci.stpaul.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/64917 (11.5mb PDF) Will tie into the existing MRT in South St. Paul, from which there...

I like using the RR ROW south/west of Randolph because beyond 35E it actually provides *better* economic development potential given the geography there. Time savings may be marginal (but still non-zero), but it also makes getting the line built more politically possible if they don't figure out wh...

When I envisioned my downtown St. Paul concept , I concluded that a single eastbound lane on 5th and converting 6th to two-way would be workable. However, the buses along 5th would have to be moved off, as it'd be better to have the LRT along the south side of 5th and there'd be no room for bus stop...

Since the forum software does weird stuff with what MnDOT put in that URL, here's a better link.

I'm also wondering if left turns onto 1st Avenue could/should be eliminated.

I'd say yes.

Obviously this wouldn't work between Nicollet and 3rd, but why not carry the advisory bike lanes concept east to Nicollet rather than have lanes that drop out at Grand? MnDOT's traffic maps don't go into block-by-block detail, but my guess is that the city determined that east of Grand is where 46t...

Speaking of wyes and reversing, I was walking under the Hiawatha intersection at Lake St last night on the north side, and stopped to read the Lake St History marker there. Turns out there was no direct connection between the tracks east and west of Hiawatha, a train would have had to pull into the...

It might be possible to turn Olson into a multimodal urban boulevard and still retain it's state highway designation and truck traffic needs. More on that later (yes, that's a hint).

I know Jim Grube (the Hennepin County highway engineer) personally and shot him an E-mail as a follow-up. He says the Transit/Access part of the project is not yet fully funded...the county and city are requesting $25 million in bonding to fill the gap.

Can anyone recall if the 35-Lake Access project has been fully funded yet? Or is that still waiting on a state commitment? The bridges from 26th St north are fully funded, as part of the Chapter 152 Bridge program (the SB 35W overpass over the NB downtown exit is legislatively required to be replac...