U.S. Highway 52

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
EOst
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby EOst » November 26th, 2014, 1:57 pm

Yeah, I've always thought those were a relatively elegant solution. Here's another one on the Mass Pike (otherwise an absolutely awful road, constantly congested despite aggressive tolling): https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2976628 ... a=!3m1!1e3

mattaudio
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby mattaudio » November 26th, 2014, 2:14 pm

I've always liked the ones on 90 in IL that span the freeway. I'm sure they're not cheap to build, but then they can have gas on each side but an enclosed amenity space that serves both directions of travel.

Like this: Belvidere Oasis https://goo.gl/maps/A5NFo

Mdcastle
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby Mdcastle » November 26th, 2014, 2:44 pm

As one of the people who want to stop at a McDonalds or gas station by a freeway exit without driving into town, I'd be fine with the idea of service plazas. That's in fact what I normally do when traveling in Chicagoland or the northeast.

Mdcastle
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby Mdcastle » November 26th, 2014, 2:46 pm

As for why the exit was there- 1) Avoid impacts to existing property, 2) Hospital wants to replace their badly outdated facility on a new site, 3) Putting it south enables more accesses to the south to be closed.

mattaudio
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby mattaudio » November 26th, 2014, 3:02 pm

Great, another case of a hospital within a walkable urban core moving out to the fringes. What a way to promote health for staff and visitors, force them into a car to get to a fringe location.

beykite
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby beykite » November 26th, 2014, 3:55 pm

Gotta love this quote from the Post Bulletin regarding the Cannon Falls interchange:
What is up with all these retarded roundabouts. Did they hire pot-smoking architects from Denver?
If I could shoot me one of them damn commie roundabouts you bet I sure would. But seriously, please tell me thats one of you guys just trolling...

mattaudio
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby mattaudio » November 26th, 2014, 4:40 pm

I'm known to troll, but I'd never use the R word. But it may have been another frequent troller.

Mdcastle
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby Mdcastle » November 28th, 2014, 5:06 pm

Looks like there was no chance of the hospital being able to rebuild on the same site- no big parking lot to build a new building in while the existing building stayed in service. But there are cornfields just on the other side of US 52 that the hospital could have rebuilt on.

mattaudio
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby mattaudio » June 6th, 2015, 8:00 pm

I wasn't able to get a pic, but exit numbers were added at a few exits (confusingly including the new Cannon Falls exit). This involves a GIANT NUMBER sign above the Exit sign, rather than the traditional Exit above number above arrow. I've never seen anything like it, definitely a weird retrofit.

Mikey
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby Mikey » June 6th, 2015, 8:53 pm

You saw those too? I also noticed one on the County 9 "suicide" exit. Maybe they are adding them to all the exits going forward.

I wonder if they'll ever raise the limit from 65 to 70 as freeway portions are completed?
Urbanist in the north woods

mattaudio
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby mattaudio » June 7th, 2015, 7:17 am

Speaking of Hwy 52 and the new County 9 exit, the old Wastedo School is closing at the end of this school year, and is for sale for $195k.
http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/19162590 ... -Falls-MN/
"3/4 of a mile from new interchange" and "Township prefers light traffic uses" seem to contrast in a special way.

froggie
Rice Park
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby froggie » July 8th, 2015, 11:03 am

I wasn't able to get a pic, but exit numbers were added at a few exits (confusingly including the new Cannon Falls exit). This involves a GIANT NUMBER sign above the Exit sign, rather than the traditional Exit above number above arrow. I've never seen anything like it, definitely a weird retrofit.
Saw those too. That style was standard in Alabama in the 1990s. Basically the "cheap way".

mulad
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby mulad » September 17th, 2015, 6:02 pm

I'm down in Rochester for the evening. On my way out of St. Paul, I was surprised to discover that the southbound span of the Lafayette/US-52 bridge is now open. They have some work yet to do with the ramps/links from East 7th Street and I-94.

VAStationDude
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby VAStationDude » September 17th, 2015, 6:16 pm

Could you tell if the pedestrian path was open over on the northbound span?

Mikey
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby Mikey » September 17th, 2015, 8:53 pm

No it's not. They still have the temp median on the NB bridge until they finish the permanent median and other details. With no shoulder NB, they still have the signs sitting on the future path
Urbanist in the north woods

Mikey
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby Mikey » November 10th, 2015, 12:52 pm

Didn't know it was in the plans, but there's LED under-lighting along the center river spans.

Also, the NB on-ramp from Plato is finally open. Didn't notice if the trail was open yet
Urbanist in the north woods

mulad
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby mulad » November 10th, 2015, 3:06 pm

The bridge officially had its grand opening today with an event held over at Metro State University. I plan to wander over to the trail after work this evening to check if it's open, at least on the downtown side (doubt I'll try to cross the whole bridge).

pannierpacker
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby pannierpacker » November 16th, 2015, 10:55 am

I biked the bridge yesterday. My review will be based on that experience:

Pros:
-The trail felt very wide, perhaps excessively wide.
-There is a good view not only of the river valley but also of the downtown St. Paul skyline.
-The benches at the 2 lookout spots on the bridge are pretty nice. I actually debated taking a nap on one of them it was so comfortable. Had I done so, I'm sure no one would have known I was there. Other than a few cyclists using the new bridge, I didn't really see anyone on it yesterday afternoon. My friend and I were the only pedestrians.

Cons:
-There is a bit of a jog where the trail goes around a maintenance shack on the north end. Not the end of the world, but it could have been designed better.

Other comments:
On the south end, they have a trail effectively following the retaining wall of 52 from Plato Blvd to Fillmore, adjacent to the service road. There is also now a bike lane following the 1-way service road. When you get to Fillmore, there is basically nothing there. At Plato there are some sidewalks to connect users to the western portion of Plato where there are businesses and other things.

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. If a bike trail was added to that bluff bridge it would work better. As it stands today, the bike trail is probably useful for individuals living downtown who work some kind of industrial job in the flats or someone trying to access Holman Field. It's also provides a beautiful view of the area!

froggie
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby froggie » November 17th, 2015, 7:31 am

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 is a path heading up the bluff over Concord Ave and through Kaposia Park which works if one is south of Butler Ave and east of Robert St.

Mdcastle
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Re: U.S. Highway 52

Postby Mdcastle » November 17th, 2015, 1:19 pm

Not related, but one thing I noticed on the map is that there's no off-road trail planned between Hastings and Red Wing or Cannon Falls, creating an obvious gap between the Twin Cities and the Southern Minnesota / Western Wisconsin trail networks.


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