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Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 6:53 pm
by Aville_37
Be interesting to see how feasible it is to keep the fire pits. I am still upset the fireplaces in the downtown library never have been turned on.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 7:57 pm
by John
The spiral seating benches at the Central Library will make a great retail space for drug dealers, not to mention a nice hangout for gangsters and panhandlers. ;)

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 8:05 pm
by grant1simons2
Don't know if serious..

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 8:06 pm
by David Greene
:roll:

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 8:35 pm
by Anondson
Also known as "renters" by some in the Wedge.

I kid...

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 8:40 pm
by MplsSteve
The new design seems a little too cluttered, too "architectural". People just want trees and greenery, comfortable places to sit - it's really not rocket science. Changing the name is really more of a marketing ploy on the part of the architect. So often architecture is more salesmanship than anything else. The only part I really hate is that island thing at 7th street. It's chops up the space into a bunch of completely unusable little strips.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 8:41 pm
by minnyapple
Maybe what there going for with the Nicollet Mile is Minneapolis's version of Chicago's magnificent Mile. Or maybe not.

Anyways Kare has a brief story of the revamp. http://www.kare11.com/story/life/2014/0 ... n/9096175/

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 8:44 pm
by minnyapple
The new design seems a little too cluttered.
lol Thats what the designer said about the current Nicollet Mall in the Kare story i just posted.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 9:16 pm
by John
Don't know if serious..
Not completely, but I think the large amount of public seating and places to congregate in this renovation project need to be well thought out in terms of public safety. The whimsical fire pits and fancy benches look pretty in the renderings, but who is going to really use them with any frequency? The Central Library already has problems with people loitering, drug dealing etc. I think part of the solution is having a better police presence, but more importantly making sure these spaces are purposeful with structured programming and events that actually make Nicollet Mall more inclusive to attract to a wider variety of people.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 9:40 pm
by sushisimo
I don't understand how this city deals with trees. Especially in this case where we are finally seeing some maturation of trees on Nicollet Mall in its current state. Are they just gonna plow everything under and start from scratch? Meaning, saplings? Or, will we see what happened in Gold Medal Park and get semi-mature trees from the start? The renderings don't fool me.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 9:48 pm
by woofner
This image seems to show the flared intersections that have been mentioned as a substitute for a north-south separated bike facility on the mall:

Image

It looks like they're being designed so that buses will not be able to pass other buses. This means that all they serve to do is give cyclists the perception of a faster trip. In reality very few cyclists ride faster than a moving bus on Nicollet, so it'll just make cyclists uncomfortable and slow down transit trips. It would be nice if they could add 5 feet or so and allow buses to pass other buses at these flared intersections to remove a significant source of bus delay.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 14th, 2014, 9:56 pm
by FISHMANPET
Ugh just build a tunnel under Nicolet like the Seattle Transit tunnel and run buses on it. Then someday we can run streetcar or light rail or subway or trolley bus or water taxi or whatever in a completely grade separated transit way.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 15th, 2014, 6:42 am
by mullen
oh god forbid we'd take our glorious buses away. how would people ever adjust? i guess our "leaders" have never traveled our bothered to see how true pedestrian streets thrive in europe. pedestrian street, people meander, take early evening walks or late night walks after dining out. i'm not a fan of the yellow color scheme in this concept renderings. it would get dated quickly similar to the teal color scheme from the 80's. it does appear they're trying to jam every idea into the spaces.

taking a bus down nicollet mall is a little bit of mental torture.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 15th, 2014, 7:52 am
by IllogicalJake
oh god forbid we'd take our glorious buses away. how would people ever adjust? i guess our "leaders" have never traveled our bothered to see how true pedestrian streets thrive in europe.
You can lead the Americans to the European water but you can't make them drink.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 15th, 2014, 7:52 am
by mattaudio
Are we going to regret the design of this the day it opens? It does not seem compatible with good transit, bikes, etc nor does it create a European pedestrian street as Mullen describes. This seems to be a failure to do anything well.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 15th, 2014, 8:37 am
by twincitizen

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 15th, 2014, 8:40 am
by mattaudio
At least we didn't do what Detroit did to Michigan Avenue
http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/201 ... venue.html
Bonus, however, is that they could easily convert it to a multiway boulevard.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 15th, 2014, 8:44 am
by seanrichardryan
Corktown is in Detroit. That is Detroit.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 15th, 2014, 1:02 pm
by Didier
I think it's important to quote this line from the F&C story, just because people here tend to toss out the "just dig a tunnel!" option with great regularity.
James Corner, the firm’s founding partner, said the project is challenging from a technical standpoint because there’s a lot of utilities below grade.

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Posted: May 15th, 2014, 1:17 pm
by FISHMANPET
Sorry, the age of easy infrastructure is over. I think the Hiawatha line, with a pre-existing ROW was the last "easy" project we've had, and even that had challenges. Infrastructure is hard. Let's not stand down from challenges.