Orange Line / 35W Downtown to Crosstown Project

[mulad]

Here's a Channel 9 article on the bus tunnel that's going to go in by the I-35W/I-494 interchange, which has a couple renderings:
https://www.fox9.com/news/four-years-of ... nterchange

It's not entirely clear when buses might start using the tunnel. That article says December 2021, though that might just be the overall Orange Line target date. Here's another article from the Sun Current:
https://www.hometownsource.com/sun_curr ... 8809a.html

[DanPatchToget]

And it was only a few years ago I saw 2019 as the intended opening year. Maybe they should just say "we don't know" when asked when it'll open, or put TBD for startup year. That way they don't have to try to dance around the fact that they're a couple years off schedule.

Rant over.

[SurlyLHT]

I found it interesting that within the Strib article below they state that MnDot is spending $68 million on stormwater. Motorists passing by the construction probably don't realize that part of what is going on is spending money to protect the highway from climate change.

http://www.startribune.com/weekend-warm ... fresh=true

[Silophant]

Very cool that the usual suspects in the comments are furious that the state is spending money trying to keep their highway from flooding.

[SurlyLHT]

35W would make a lovely seasonal canal every Spring. We could water ski and everything. Form a festival around it.

[Korh]

Anyone know how much has the project progressed in the past few months?
Cause just if it's still expected to open in 2021 I wonder if it might end up underperforming more than the red line did when it started service.

[Tcmetro]

There was originally supposed to be connecting bus plans published for public hearing this spring. That was withdrawn, and I haven't seen anything since.

I would imagine the Lake St and 494 projects are still underway. The other stations would probably be able to be built next year and still meet the end of 2021 timeline.

[DanPatchToget]

Work on the platforms at South Bloomington Transit Center began a month or so ago.

[MNdible]

Yes, the Lake Street station is really starting to take shape now, and this summer's closures at 494 are related to the construction of the Knox Ave tunnel, as near as I can tell.

[alexschief]

The arches for the Lake Street Station are up and construction on the station is in full swing.



Maybe I'm only speaking for myself, but this really slipped through my radar. This thing is huge, and it's on it's own span over Lake Street, not sharing a span with either NB or SB traffic. The visibility of this station will be immense, and the quality of the transit service, with multiple bus routes arriving and making a bee-line for downtown will provide connectivity to the CBD that is second to none from any other location.

[HKM]

Maybe I'm only speaking for myself, but this really slipped through my radar. This thing is huge, and it's on it's own span over Lake Street, not sharing a span with either NB or SB traffic. The visibility of this station will be immense, and the quality of the transit service, with multiple bus routes arriving and making a bee-line for downtown will provide connectivity to the CBD that is second to none from any other location.

I think a ton of people are sleeping specifically on the connectivity between downtown and Lake/35W. Combined with the B-Line project and the Kmart site, I have very high hopes for the Lake Street & Nicollet/35W area and hope we can hold any development to the Transit 15 standard (as everything between 28th and 31st between Blaisdell & Stevens is designated) in the Minneapolis 2040 plan.

[Nick]

I also unironically think it will be very nice to have a fast, frequent connection from downtown to the 494 strip. I don’t figure too many people will (the walking conditions aren’t amazing) but I definitely will take the Orange Line to REI, Best Buy, Dick’s, etc.

[alexschief]

Don't sleep on taking a fast, frequent bus to 98 Pounds Buffet.

[Mdcastle]

Golden Wok > 98 Pounds Buffet.

[Tcmetro]

Orange Line construction update from September: https://www.35wsolutions.com/get_doc.ph ... liance.pdf

Looks like construction is underway now at all stations (except Burnsville maybe?). 14 articulated buses arriving in Q3 2021.

[DanPatchToget]

I never understood why they're referring to South Bloomington Transit Center as 98th Street Station. Might that confuse some people who think 98th Street Station and South Bloomington Transit Center are two completely different locations?

[Tcmetro]

I think it could be confusing, but 98th St & I-35W is a better station name. Bloomington is relatively large and "South" is almost meaningless in the context of a specific stop.

[DanPatchToget]

I mean, they already threw logic out the window with Bloomington Central Station being on the eastern fringe of the city. It's not central geographically and it's not a major light rail station, but I guess that's marketing for you.

[Silophant]

I'm sorry, full-scale LRT TVMs are now up to $115,000 apiece? How can they possibly cost that much?

[Tcmetro]

TVMs have an insane cost. I believe that Cubic basically has a monopoly on the industry.