Uptown - LynLake - The Wedge - News & General

[RailBaronYarr]

Lagoon was recommended by the PAC for improvements, so I really hope they do something fairly drastic through Uptown and all the way to Calhoun Pkwy. Speeding is rampant. It's really not hard to envision something better that would make living along Lagoon (or having a shop entrance) reasonable.

As for Bryant Ave south of the Greenway until at least 50th St, it should get protected/separated bike lanes and just nix the parking altogether in favor of street trees. It's the only non-park trail (which are one-way and thus inconvenient) bike infrastructure for N-S cyclists west of 35W. Yes, the city plans a bike boulevard on Pleasant and painted lanes on Nicollet south of 40th. But Bryant as a bike+bus connector from 50th to the Greenway that accommodates car travel isn't that outrageous. Only 1,800-3,000 vehicles drive on Bryant in this stretch, and but for maybe a couple block segments (notably 35th-36th) parking is maybe 1/3 utilized (or less) at any time of the day, easily handled by side streets. Bike counts are 400-900 in the area south of Lake St. If the city isn't going to do anything to make Hennepin or Lyndale better for bikes (they aren't), then this should be a good tradeoff.

EDIT: Matt's idea is also good, just a different approach. I think it would be easier to divert drivers along Bryant between Lake and 36th to Lyndale via calming or diverters than to convince MT to change bus routing. But either way something's gotta give to make things better in this area.

[grant1simons2]

Just yesterday I was thinking when we're going to hear something about a ped improvement on lagoon! They could get rid of one of the sides of parking. Preferably the right side. Just to widen the sidewalks out more

[EOst]

It's the only non-park trail (which are one-way and thus inconvenient) bike infrastructure for N-S cyclists west of 35W.

Except 1st and Blaisdell, of course, which are on the list for protected lanes.

[RailBaronYarr]

Except 1st and Blaisdell, of course, which are on the list for protected lanes.

Half of 1st is TBD in design, and they'd end at 40th St. Obviously, point taken, but if you think those are acceptable bike routes for people living anywhere from ~Harriet to Girard, fine.

[BoredAgain]

Except 1st and Blaisdell, of course, which are on the list for protected lanes.

Half of 1st is TBD in design, and they'd end at 40th St. Obviously, point taken, but if you think those are acceptable bike routes for people living anywhere from ~Harriet to Girard, fine.

I believe the point was that the original statement "It's the only non-park trail ... bike infrastructure for N-S cyclists west of 35W" was demonstrably false. No one was arguing that a single N-S option is sufficient, though it could still be a great option, depending on the final destination.

[EOst]

Half of 1st is TBD in design, and they'd end at 40th St. Obviously, point taken, but if you think those are acceptable bike routes for people living anywhere from ~Harriet to Girard, fine.

Oh, don't get me wrong, as a near-daily user (daily north of Franklin) I think they're pretty terrible. I just wondered if you had forgotten about them.

[Wedgeguy]

Biggest issues with moving the 4 is that Lyndale is now a two lanes with turn lanes that would cause a lot of delay for both cars and busses. There are plenty of delays as is on Bryant where there is less automobile traffic. I know I take the four a lot and it always seem 5+ minutes late at least. Plus you have retail nodes on Bryant which you want for the bus route to reach and bring in riders. To me it is another, not looking at the big picture, scheme before jumping off the cliff.

[mattaudio]

Lyndale is 60' curb to curb, right? The major problem right now is that both lanes, in both directions, are often blocked by turning movements. There has to be a way to restripe this segment, and even give a transit advantage by eliminating parking only during peak hours (and maybe only on one side).

[twincitizen]

We're talking about 31st to 36th only. Basically adjusting the point at which the 4 moves from Lyndale to Bryant. This is an idea I've had for a while, not only to better serve the neighborhood transit-wise, but also to allow for the improvement of the "Bike Blvd" on that stretch of Bryant, which actually sees a pretty high number of bikes. Since it lacks grass boulevards and boulevard trees, it feels extremely wide and unpleasant. Moving buses away from Bryant for that stretch would allow for narrowing of the street, etc.

I think Lyndale from 31st to 36th is actually quite capable of handling transit, with little (or no) changes to curbs. Some far-side stops, some near-side, depending on the intersection, but it seems pretty doable. Have a look around Lyndale & 34th to see what I mean about how easy it would be to put bus stops in: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.941313, ... 312!8i6656 Far-side stops would slide in perfectly, as parking is already restricted at intersections. Near side stops would not interfere with through-traffic, only with right-turning traffic as it does at every other bus stop location. Here's a ready-made far-side stop at Pizza Luce - parking is already restricted near the intersection: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.944791, ... 312!8i6656

Route 4, if reconfigured in this manner would now serve the Lyndale & 34th node more directly, and it would still serve Bryant & 36th as it transitions to Bryant there. I think Lyndale is a far more prominent commercial corridor than Bryant, between 31st and 35th. Bryant has that Canteen coffee shop at 33rd and a vacant space at 32nd and literally nothing else. Lyndale has Pizza Luce at 32nd, the whole node at 34th, along with more businesses at 35th and 36th. Again, Bryant & 36th would still be served directly as the bus turns there.

EDIT: As an added bonus, the existing stops at both Lyndale/31st and Bryant/36th don't need to be moved, as they're already in the right places for this minor change. Only 32nd, 33rd, 34th and 35th need to be moved over to Lyndale. (And in a perfect world with 1/4-mile stop spacing, just add stops at 32nd, 34th and 36th - delete 33rd and 35th!)

[xandrex]

It's the only non-park trail (which are one-way and thus inconvenient) bike infrastructure for N-S cyclists west of 35W. Yes, the city plans a bike boulevard on Pleasant and painted lanes on Nicollet south of 40th.

Just curious...are these near-term projects? Couldn't find the information and my computer always gets bogged down on the city's huge planning PDFs. Especially curious since I'm a Grand Avenue resident, so I'd be a block away from a new bike boulevard should it come in the next several years...

[MNdible]

Cool new mural on the back of the Rainbow Building. Looks like most of this brick had already been painted (with the possible exception of the 2nd-3rd story right at the corner), so no scolding is necessary.

[seanrichardryan]

Actually they did a careful restoration of the brick last year. The mural is painted on panels of fabric that were then attached. Up close you can see the seams.

[twincitizen]

Hornig added another 7 buildings / 192 units to their portfolio (presumably all 7 are in the Uptown area): http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/m ... ments.html

They own an enormous share of older buildings in the Uptown market. Having searched quite a bit before my last move, Hornig's properties seem to be reasonably priced for the area. It probably wouldn't kill them to spring for a better website.

[seanrichardryan]

So, traffic was absolutely jammed all morning on Lyndale and Hennepin heading north into the bottleneck. Is this commuter traffic coming in from Hwy 7 as a result of the 394 paving or was something else going on? It looked awful.

[Wedgeguy]

So, traffic was absolutely jammed all morning on Lyndale and Hennepin heading north into the bottleneck. Is this commuter traffic coming in from Hwy 7 as a result of the 394 paving or was something else going on? It looked awful.

Sounds like I'll have to take the 17 to get down town. the 4, 6 , 12 will all be running well behind posted times.

[twincitizen]

The 394 construction/delays stuff seemed to be *very* well publicized over the last week / weekend. I wouldn't be surprised if people more people were going this route. Luckily the duration of the project isn't too long...

There could potentially be a nasty conflict with the set-up for Uptown Art Fair on Aug. 7 (they set up starting very early Friday morning, Art Fair begins Friday afternoon)

[maxbaby]

So, traffic was absolutely jammed all morning on Lyndale and Hennepin heading north into the bottleneck. Is this commuter traffic coming in from Hwy 7 as a result of the 394 paving or was something else going on? It looked awful.

There was a rollover on 35W this morning.

[seanrichardryan]

It was the same way this afternoon. Looks like nb lyndale is closed (as it is stupidly part of the closed 394 ramp. All traffic through the bottleneck is being directed onto Hennepin. Those wishing to go nb on lyndale have to go up to the basilca and turn on n 16th. What a nightmare.

[Didier]

In related news, 35W north to 94 east was not half bad this afternoon.

[clf]

Might want to get used to it. They will be working on the area for a while.