urbanMSP

http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2015 ... e-time.php

George Lucas and Mellody Hobson have unveiled the updated design for the proposed Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, but only a select few have received the privilege of getting a first look at it. According to Crain's Shia Kapos, the power couple hosted a small gathering last night at the downtown office of architects VOA Associates Incorporated where several other Chicago museum leaders were in attendance. Lucas and Hobson are apparently being cautious with rolling out the new design.

Coolest museum in the USA?

Chicago's downtown BRT is coming under fire:

Amongst the complaints:

• Only 7/8 stations will open on time (the 8th being delayed due to Loop construction)
• No prepaid boarding upon opening (will happen at "an unspecified time" next year)
• Not all buses will have level boarding (some are taller than others)
• Shelters' open designs (sounds familiar)

They should put their transit in tunnels.

Wait, some buses are taller than others? Not like our aBRT, where the platforms are an inexplicable mix of raised and not-raised, but the actual buses are nonuniform? Weird.

Not that I have a crazy amount of experience with other city's systems, but I feel like Metro Transit actually does buses waaaaaay better than most other agencies.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/chicag ... -minnesota

A new proposed TOD ordinance would nearly triple the amount of land in the city where denser development would be allowed and increase the land subject to reduced parking requirements tenfold

Go Chicago!

Did you see this at the bottom of the article??? (sorry if it was posted in a diferrent thread that I haven't reviewed yet...):
Private Firm Seeks to Build Minnesota HSR Line
In a move that has caught critics of the project by surprise, a private company is asking the Minnesota Department of Transportation for the exclusive right to lease air rights over a series of state highways in order to build an elevated high-speed rail line connecting Rochester with suburban Minneapolis using Chinese technology.

The Rochester Post-Bulletin reports that the North American High Speed Rail Group is seeking the exclusive right to lease the highway air space from MnDOT for two years. The company says the exclusivity agreement is needed in order for it to determine the project’s feasibility and line up private investors.

The corridor in which the company seeks to build the line closely follows MnDOT’s proposed “Zip Rail” high-speed line between Minneapolis and Rochester, but would employ dramatically different technology, and the company says that if it determines it could build a privately financed line, it would change its name.

Yes, here's the relevant thread on that:
https://forum.streets.mn/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=81

The consortium thread may also be of value.

For those who are big on Chicago development and history the October issue of Architectural Record has a large section dedicated to Chicago. Only had time to glance, but it looks like they get into the city's past development and what is coming soon.

That proposed ordinance, not much different than our new one, recently passed: http://chi.streetsblog.org/2015/09/28/n ... f-chicago/

And I'll second FMP's notion that, despite the fact that we're not a super dense central city(ies) with a fairly sprawling metro, our bus system on the whole is not a flaming pile of garbage. It's very easy to imagine our off-peak frequencies, fare integration, transfer policy, fares in general, heck even farebox recovery (given all those things), etc being much, much worse. It's one of the things that frustrates me when people who have never even ridden a bus blast the Met Council for being poorly run.

Just saw this in Politico.

The Suburb That Tried To Kill the Car
Evanston was failing as a suburb, so it reinvented itself as a mini city. Now the city of Chicago wants to follow its lead.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/ ... rks-213282
Not sure what role Jp Morgan Chase plays in editorial decisions of this article, but interesting read.

How in the world could you write an article about Evanston and wait until you get to the second page to mention that it's home to a major research university with 20,000 students, and then as sort of a throw-away comment?

How in the world could you write an article about Evanston and wait until you get to the second page to mention that it's home to a major research university with 20,000 students, and then as sort of a throw-away comment?

It's especially odd considering that both campuses sit within spitting distance of transit.

Evanston may be a 'suburb' of Chicago, but it's hardly suburban. I could envision our own Midway looking like this someday, if we double the population density.

Also, Great photo spread showing how crappy & rusty the El looks throughout most of Chicagoland. #rust

Loop Link service began today. It'll really be put to the test tomorrow during rush hour.

http://wgntv.com/2015/12/20/cta-loop-li ... ns-sunday/

I was wandering to a 711 last night and stumbled across the lane. I was like "hey, loop link!"

Too bad I don't have anywhere to go in that direction while I'm here.

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anyone else notice the SUV blatantly blocking the protected bike lane at around 00:56 in that video? aargh!

Too bad I don't have anywhere to go in that direction while I'm here.

You don't need a reason! Just ride!

I don't but my wife does. She'll only indulge me so far.

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Btw, Studio Gang is working on a number of cool projects in Chicago, which seem very relevant to Minneapolis. One that is especially relevant is her research into police stations, and how they could be transformed into community stations. It seems that Minneapolis should start a similar research project by our best architecture firms...

Police Stations


The other project is their boathouse along the Chicago River, which is part of Emanuel's drive to improve opportunities for recreation along the Chicago River. Minneapolis could similarly also create an initiative to improve access to the river, especially around Minnehaha Falls and above the falls.

Boathouses

Why are loop link buses moving so slow, and will they get faster?

Summary:

• People are standing dangerously close to the edge, so there's a temporary 3mph speed limit near stations
• Some operators are misinterpreting that limit and driving 3mph along the entire route
• Buses are allowed to use auto lanes to pass each other, but haven't been doing that
• Off-board fare collection will be piloted soon
• Cars are still getting used to the configuration and tend to block the lane when turning right