Bicycle Infrastructure

[amiller92]

The reason they're not willing to go below 5 lanes is because they're convinced cars will back up across the LRT tracks during rush hours.

The tracks are three blocks away. That would be a lot of stacking.

[Silophant]

I was on a walk and talk with Bike/Ped Coordinator Matt and he explained some of the issues there. The reason they're not willing to go below 5 lanes is because they're convinced cars will back up across the LRT tracks during rush hours.

Assuming that 5 lanes is a requirement, there's no space for a protected intersection without taking away ped space, which is unacceptable since it's already narrow. Also, the SE corner of that intersection was reconstructed this year with a new building, so there'd be a lot of duplicative spending to rip out all that infrastructure again.

Personally, I think they could make this safe if there was a period of intense block the box enforcement at the LRT intersection after construction was finished. Maybe they could just do some general block the box enforcement for all of Downtown while they're at it.

Yeah, the solution to concerns about people breaking the law should be "increased enforcement of the law" not "comprising infrastructure designs". Especially when the location of the potential lawbreaking is literally adjacent to police HQ.

[RailBaronYarr]

And, again, I'd be very interested to even see if the traffic counts would put this intersection in a position to back up a full block, let alone more than one. I find myself riding up/down 3rd pretty often simply because it is *so* empty that I rarely have conflicts with cars or end up stuck behind a queue of them at an intersection waiting to turn. That might just be me.

[MNdible]

Since the city has apparently made great efforts to accommodate this new route, maybe you should consider the possibility that they actually have looked hard at this location and honestly believe that the layout they're showing is justified by the realities on the ground.

[mattaudio]

This is another strange example of how the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County have rapidly flipped regarding who is progressive and regressive on bicycle and pedestrian priorities. It's time the City of Minneapolis gets a reminder from elected officials of what our city's priorities are.

[Nick]

Who is which?

[MNdible]

Whichever doesn't do the thing that Matt thinks needs to happen is bad.

[mattaudio]

On the few projects I've been involved with recently, it's Hennepin County engineers now pushing the boundaries and making *me* look like a moderate defender of the motoring public. What a sea change.

[RailBaronYarr]

Since the city has apparently made great efforts to accommodate this new route, maybe you should consider the possibility that they actually have looked hard at this location and honestly believe that the layout they're showing is justified by the realities on the ground.

I guess, isn't it just as likely that Public Works' Overton Window hasn't shifted much, and as a result they still overstate the need and likelihood of intersection failure? In their mind, they already compromised as much as possible elsewhere on this corridor, but a non-protected extra wide mixing zone bike lane was the best they could do here? Things like making this particular intersection a showcase of safe bike infra doesn't even have an input in their model, let alone ped/bike LOS or safety.

I'm willing to hear a more detailed description of why they were unwilling to go lower than 5-lanes. I already said so. My gut tells me it can be challenged, but shouldn't the conversation at least happen?

[amiller92]

Since the city has apparently made great efforts to accommodate this new route, maybe you should consider the possibility that they actually have looked hard at this location and honestly believe that the layout they're showing is justified by the realities on the ground.

It's possible, but then again this is also the public works department that was about to tear out pedestrian medians that were just installed without really telling anyone about it, so...

[EOst]

It's possible, but then again this is also the public works department that was about to tear out pedestrian medians that were just installed without really telling anyone about it, so...

Who has ultimate authority over Public Works anyway? Hodges?

[froggie]

with PM peak hour N/S counts in the 700-900 range, most of them going straight.

This is probably why. A general rule of thumb for signalized intersections (depending on how much green time the movement gets compared to the total signal cycle length) is in the neighborhood of 500 vehicles per lane per hour.

[EOst]

Worth noting: Public Works' protected bike lanes assessment (from March of this year) stated flatly that "protected bike facilities are not feasible between 11th St S and Washington Ave within existing curbs." Their report clearly preferred Marquette/2nd.

[mattaudio]

We shouldn't be designing our streets around the 1 hour afternoon rush of car commuters leaving parking ramps. We should be designing them for 24-hour safety and vitality.

[Anondson]

The medians are getting removed before winter, but promises of a redesigned median to come next year... maybe...

http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis- ... 333117891/

And a warning to stay out of the comments. The stupid burns.

[EOst]

Well, fuck a duck. Why can't this wait until the "new designs" are ready?

[mattaudio]

Because then Public Works would have to plow around medians all winter, and that's just too difficult for those bumpkins.

[amiller92]

The medians are getting removed before winter, but promises of a redesigned median to come next year... maybe...

http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis- ... 333117891/

And a warning to stay out of the comments. The stupid burns.

The lack of comment from the city council is concerning to me. Where is the leadership on this?

I wrote to Quincy too, who has not responded. I guess maybe that's normal, but having lived in Goodman's ward until just now, I was kind of used to a response to me emails (even if it sometime (always) came with a dismissive tone).

[billhelm]

I wrote to Quincy too, who has not responded. I guess maybe that's normal, but having lived in Goodman's ward until just now, I was kind of used to a response to me emails (even if it sometime (always) came with a dismissive tone).

it's normal. I've not found him to be responsive to anything.

[Scottie]

I emailed Andrew Johnson earlier this week about the removal. I've found him to be pretty responsive whenever I've emailed. He basically just said he reached out to public works and they've agreed to engage the community about their future before any removal takes place.