Street, Road and Highway Projects

[Scottie]

Interesting...so the city at some point in recent history added another 4-way stop to this collector street? Wild.

I could be wrong but I swear there wasn't one at 51st when I moved into the neighborhood. I can see why they are both there and as strange as it is to have 3 4-way stops in a 4 block stretch I'd like to see them stay. I find it is a very pleasant area to walk and bike around and I've never had too much delay caused by them when driving. They make it very easy to cross and seem to slow down traffic. Of course if you ask most of my outstate relatives I'm very anti-car

[nBode]

Fun fact: In the 2016 Streetview imagery for this intersection, you can see a really ugly early-80s Cadillac blowing through these lights with another waiting pedestrian.

you also get to experience ignoring the pedestrian; apparently that's what the streetview car did too!

[mamundsen]

Did we know 94 was getting work done this summer from Lowry Tunnel up past 694? I had no idea. I'm glad I don't go this way very often.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projec ... oklyncntr/

Resurfacing about nine miles of pavement on I-94 between Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis and Shingle Creek Prkwy in Brooklyn Center

Construction: Spring 2017 into summer 2018, weather permitting

Cost: $57 million

[MNdible]

Yeah, this coupled with the upcoming 35W reconstruction means that traffic through the heart of Minneapolis is going to be hosed for the next five years. Grim.

[amiller92]

Could be an interesting natural experiment.

[Silophant]

Funding cycles are what they are, (and, y'know, federal funding for LRT is no longer a sure thing) but it would have been nice to hold off on this until BBLRT was complete.

[billhelm]

28th Ave and 34th Ave are just jokes of collector streets with all these damn 4-way stops. I can't think of a similar street elsewhere in the city that carries >6,000 AADT and stop signs every 1-2 blocks. Can you imagine Bloomington Ave or Chicago Ave having 4-way stops every 2 blocks? Not a chance.

No, I can't imagine it, but as someone who walks along Chicago between 46th and the Parkway on a regular basis, I wouldn't mind seeing people slow down a bit. Just on Sunday we were at the corner of 47th and Chicago with our toddler. We pushed the activation light for the pedestrian crossing and were flat-out ignored by a lady going at least 35mph northbound after turning onto the street half a block south of us. The southbound car patiently waiting even honked his horn at the other driver, but she was completely oblivious.

Unfortunately quite common at that intersection. I get off a sourthbound bus there and cross Chicago almost every workday. compliance with that blinker is quite low. I try not to be the crazy pointing and waving guy but sometimes I can't help myself. I struggle with a better solution - a stop sign would probably not be warranted.

[MNdible]

Strib story on the latest round of transportation funding, which includes this spectacular rendering fail:

[EOst]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/06/us/p ... .html?_r=0

Great NYTimes article about the structural difficulties that transportation projects can run up against. Inefficiencies (even ones that cause massive traffic jams) can have their own constituencies.

[Anondson]

I got the email survey a while back and took it. Now the Strib is reporting on the MNDOT survey for what to prioritize in the 62/494 highways between the airport and 212.

http://www.startribune.com/the-drive-te ... 414207023/

Go take the survey and give your views over what you would spend your traffic planner dollars on in these two corridors for maximum bang for the buck.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projec ... nd62study/

[Anondson]

The pro-property rights, anti-big government voice strangely inverted to demand homes be seized and destroyed to widen highways in the comments. (Shocked face)

[mattaudio]

The state has a solution to their Hwy 53 'problem' in Virginia MN. A 220M bridge over a quarry-

http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/283107421.html

It could be a stunning landmark for the range, but looks to be a very tall freeway bridge.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/d1/projects/ ... .11.14.pdf

Aaron Brown provides an update. http://minnesotabrown.com/2015/08/highw ... -zone.html
and says...

True statement: State is bonding $240 million Iron Range bridge for idled mine owned by company that might go bankrupt.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxfwRMLYSxs[/youtube]

[grant1simons2]

Proposed 8th St S layout

http://minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/pub ... 196149.pdf

[seanrichardryan]

Seems there are several large downtown street projects going on. Is there any unified street lighting/ furniture plans for these? Or for that matter, all of downtown. It's a terrible hodgepodge now.

[mattaudio]

Street lighting policy shows performance standards etc called out for CBD, but not any particular fixture selection.
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups ... 255412.pdf
I'm guessing downtown would mostly use the standard LED shoebox fixture alternating with the LED faux-acorn, like we've seen in newer Downtown East project areas.

[BoredAgain]

Proposed 8th St S layout

http://minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/pub ... 196149.pdf

Why do the proposed corner bumpouts (a good thing) at Park and Portland block the bike lanes?

Otherwise, it looks like a nice impovement, although it would make the dream of a two-way street more difficult.

[grant1simons2]

Don't think they do if you look a bit closer. Butt up against them, yes.

[BoredAgain]

Don't think they do if you look a bit closer. Butt up against them, yes.

Looking again, I now see that it is only the concrete gutter pan and not the actual curb that intrudes into the bike lane. Not as tragic, but still not good. The seam from gutter pan to main road is uncomfortable to ride on at best, and often dangerous due to poor maintenance. Also, this means a biker moving at speed will pass within inches of a pedestrian waiting to cross.

[Tcmetro]

Any thoughts on making 3rd and 4th into two-ways downtown? Seems like with all the residential construction on the east end it would be nice to make the street level more amenable to retail. Also, 3rd could reconnect to 11th St, and the ramp from 35W/122 could be removed. Perhaps the freeway traffic on the west end would require the streets to be one-ways west of Marquette or Hennepin.

Unrelatedly, there should be some consideration of converting the few blocks of Glenwood/2nd Ave N (including the bridge over 394) that are one-way into two-way.

[PhilmerPhil]

4th Street will be reconstructed in 2018.

Fill out this survey and share your thoughts! http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/3383217/4 ... on-Project

The City presented a few options at a recent open house that kept it as a three lane one way. That's unacceptable to me, especially with how light traffic seems to be on much of that street (anecdotal, but I work in the area). While it's highly unlikely that they'll turn it into a two way, one of the option presented showed a 2-way protected bike lane, which would be pretty great, especially if it preserved wide sidewalks by dropping one of the three lanes.