urbanMSP

Anyone make it to the open house last night? Any major new updates?

Not excited to see that there won't be a stop on the riverfront (e.g. Hennenpin/1st and 2nd or Main) not great for access to those destinations or transfer options in NE. Central & University/4th are both pretty hostile intersections and I don't trust MNDOT to improve them anytime soon (even with ABRT).

Will they make transit only lanes for this line? I could see a big benefit of true transit only lanes on University/4th and Henn. Not only for the E Line but all of the other local and express routes using the same L shape route.

It's a bit of a complex route, but the rationale does make sense and it hopefully will still be fairly straightforward to navigate with the exception of the segment between France and Hennepin. Hopefully they have a concrete plan to keep the buses moving through that section smoothly, because that's a lot of turns and intersections.

One thought I had following this process is that, someday in the semi-distant future, it may make sense to have rapid lines on both France and Xerxes. Both have destinations and density, enough so that they are keeping the 6 with ok-ish frequency. In that scenario, I think it would make a ton of sense to have the France line rerouted slightly to go down Excelsior towards Uptown, and the Xerxes line follow this route from 44th to Hennepin.

It's a bit of a complex route, but the rationale does make sense and it hopefully will still be fairly straightforward to navigate with the exception of the segment between France and Hennepin. Hopefully they have a concrete plan to keep the buses moving through that section smoothly, because that's a lot of turns and intersections.

One thought I had following this process is that, someday in the semi-distant future, it may make sense to have rapid lines on both France and Xerxes. Both have destinations and density, enough so that they are keeping the 6 with ok-ish frequency. In that scenario, I think it would make a ton of sense to have the France line rerouted slightly to go down Excelsior towards Uptown, and the Xerxes line follow this route from 44th to Hennepin.

I agree about France & Xerxes both needing BRT, but a France line going north of 44th St. is basically going where there is zero density or demand. You’re basically going along & through a large private country club. If that ever got redeveloped, I could see the point, but otherwise, no.

Historically, streetcars went along 44th (hence its density), westward past France to Hopkins & Excelsior. If we ever got a grid-based transit network, rather than our spoke-and-hub system, then a France BRT line going north past 44th might make sense.

So there’s 2 strikes against it, in my mind.

"Zero density or demand"? Along France north of 44th perhaps, but when you get to Excelsior it picks up again, especially where Excelsior meets Lake Street.

Route the 6 up Xerxes, then west of Bde Maka Ska via West Lake Station and Uptown Transit Station like this https://goo.gl/maps/LdrByqo3yBcL1aJX6

Provides additional benefits vs keeping the route east of Bde Maka Ska colocated with the E Line:

- 1/2 mi walk to West End
- Allows for Southdale/Xerxes > Green Line > SW burbs reverse commute via transfer at West Lake
- Allows for Uptown > Green Line > SW burbs reverse commute via transfer at West Lake

I’ll put in that a line going along France to the West Lake Station would make transit from Hopkins to Southdale worth considering.

Maybe in the future a SWLRT to (whatever transit we get from West Lake to Uptown) to E-Line is faster than the 70-90 minutes a Hopkins to Southdale transit option is today.

Grids are inherently inefficient. You want a hub and spoke system. What we're missing is a couple radial lines to allow moving from one spoke to another spoke without going all the way in to the hub.