urbanMSP

East of Nicollet, 42nd is extremely wide. Concrete curb-protected lanes should be extremely possible.

It is so wide! Cars treat it like a 4-lane road, because it is effectively a 4-lane road, just without any striping. Drivers pass left-turning vehicles on the right constantly.

Just wondering if anyone knows what they are doing along 35w north of 4th st se and the pedestrian bridge. They have both sides of the highway embankment torn up and it almost looks like they are putting in a new footing for something.

This sounds like the pedestrian bridge replacement project.

That’s good. Wonder if the new bridge will be wider. Would like to see the bridge get some pedestrian scale lighting.


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Some visualizations of the bridge are on MNDOTs project website here,

https://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/proje ... index.html

Broadway NE (County Highway 66) open house coming up soon; May 14 at Able.

https://www.hennepin.us/broadwaystreet

Reconstruction of Lyndale Avenue through Richfield (66th to 77th) begins this week: https://www.richfieldsweetstreets.org/l ... nstruction

Has all the makings of a great project: 4-3 conversion, bike lanes, wider sidewalks with boulevards, mini-roundabouts at key intersections, and even on-street parking added in a few spots.

I don't get why they need the left turn lane from southbound Lyndale to BMO Harris and McDonald's. One of the great advantages of roundabouts is they make right-in-right-out just as functional. This left turn lane is midblock between roundabouts at 66th St and 67th St. It would have been much better to have a continuous planted median. Possibly with a mid-block crosswalk between City Bella's empty retail spaces and the BMO side. Both sides of the street will have on-street parking. A mid-block crosswalk would help activate City Bella's underutilized storefronts.

See p 10 on layout: https://www.richfieldsweetstreets.org/w ... yout-1.pdf

Because that's my shortcut to Allina

I can't argue with that, Matt. I'm not sure why that left-turn lane was retained when the roundabout more than accommodates that movement. I'm sure there had to be a pretty good reason they left it in though...Richfield Public Works was not shy about blocking left turns and making people do roundabout U-turns on other parts of this project. Needless to say, it's too late to change anything at this point with construction starting.

Broadway NE (County Highway 66) open house coming up soon; May 14 at Able.

https://www.hennepin.us/broadwaystreet

reading through some of the meeting minutes and it seems like they are really considering the 4 to 3 conversion. it even got an exclamation mark in the minutes. Sounds like it is more long term 6-8 years but a trial section under the BNSF bridge is being considered.

Interesting note that the county wont construct new 4 lane undivided roads

Whoa, the county link has a link to another county .pdf listing every 4–3 considered conversion.

Minnetonka Blvd in SLP west of France. Franklin Ave in Minneapolis. Hennepin west of Central.

https://www.hennepin.us/-/media/hennepi ... F255C7BA1B

Among a few others.

Whoa, the county link has a link to another county .pdf listing every 4–3 considered conversion.

Minnetonka Blvd in SLP west of France. Franklin Ave in Minneapolis. Hennepin west of Central.

https://www.hennepin.us/-/media/hennepi ... F255C7BA1B

Among a few others.

New blood at Hennepin County? This sounds fantastic.

On the same topic, East Hennepin is finally being 4-3'd in 2020 (partially) and the bike crossing is being fixed:

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/cip/fut ... -bike-blvd

On the same topic, East Hennepin is finally being 4-3'd in 2020 (partially) and the bike crossing is being fixed:

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/cip/fut ... -bike-blvd

That’s what I meant, east not west of Central.

Weird that it's just that .12 mile stretch. East to the county line has a maximum ADT of 15.9k, which is less than the stretch of Larpenteur that Ramsey County is 4-3ing this/next year (to say nothing of the 4-3 test coming on Maryland, with an ADT of 22.4k).

Re: NE Broadway, the conversation seems a little more nuanced than a straight 4-3. Page 24 of the meeting presentation seems to suggest that 3-lane layouts could happen between the major intersections, but those major intersections (even relatively low-traffic ones like Marshall) would have to remain 4-lane.

I've heard it said that the condition of the road base on NE Broadway would make a 4-3 difficult. The concrete joints would be right underneath vehicle tires, so the surface would deteriorate quickly.

I've heard it said that the condition of the road base on NE Broadway would make a 4-3 difficult. The concrete joints would be right underneath vehicle tires, so the surface would deteriorate quickly.

That wouldn't make much sense unless the longitudinal joints divided the street into thirds? The joints seem to roughly follow the striping right now. Even so, I think they're targeting Broadway for a full reconstruction in the near future, so that potential impediment could be fixed... just maybe not before the resurfacing this year.

It would be nice if the county would proactively do this before more people are killed. There is no justification for four lane designs on virtually all of these county roads. Almost all of them have ADT under 20k, and should be extremely easy fixes with few (if any) tradeoffs for drivers.

http://agenda-suite.com:8080/agenda/ram ... /36045.doc

"Amend the 2019-2023 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) to include the following 2019 projects:

1. Various County Roads - a comprehensive review of four-lane undivided roadways, as well as other selected roads, to determine the feasibility of converting them to three-lane or other configurations with increased pedestrian and bicycle safety...

In order to maximize pedestrian safety and operational efficiency of our road system, we propose a comprehensive study of four-lane undivided County Roads to determine whether there are safer lane configurations. The estimated cost of this study is $250,000...

The study to examine Ramsey County’s four-lane, undivided roadways demonstrates the County’s leadership locally and statewide that will have benefits for years to come."

Hell yeah.