Street, Road and Highway Projects

[Trademark]

Cedar Ave slated for Reconstruction between 24h St and Lake St in 2026.

Phase 2 engagement summary (PDF) (Fall 2023)
https://www.hennepin.us/-/media/hennepi ... mmary2.pdf

Open House Event:
Thursday, February 29, 2024
5 - 7 p.m.
Little Earth gymnasium – 2501 Cedar Avenue South

**lots of positive feedback for bike and bus lanes (especially from residents on Cedar Ave)
** "Overall, parking was not a priority, except for businesses." -from the pdf linked above

Love that there support for transit lanes, but once again MPLS is showing that they don't support transit and not adding lanes to reconstruction proposals.

[mattaudio]

Love that there support for transit lanes, but once again MPLS is showing that they don't support transit and not adding lanes to reconstruction proposals.

C is for Cedar. Extend the C Line from Downtown to MOA via Cedar Ave.

[J. Mc]

I was able to attend the MNDot Hwy 5/W. 7th Street Improvement Project open house yesterday. It doesn't appear they've got the highly detailed improvement concepts that were presented there posted on the project website yet. However there are lots of potential improvements to improve pedestrian crossings and calm traffic being looked at. Crossing medians/bulbs/signals, realigning the W. 7th/35E entry/exit intersections, redesigning the St. Paul Ave/W 7th intersection to a T design, wide or slightly less wide multi-use trail and retaining wall along the north side of W 7th from St. Paul Ave to Montreal Ave, a few intersection closures after St. Clair, etc. Adding dedicated bike lanes connecting in downtown St. Paul is also being included. I overheard one planner noting they had an additional section of bike lane replacing a street parking lane outside of downtown proposed, however it would probably not happen due to opposition from City of Saint Paul.

There seemed to be a fair turnout of area residents, with a mix of the usual 'NO!!', 'Ok but please keep some on street parking', and what seemed like a majority in favor of better pedestrian crossings and some intersection closures, complaints about the existing street being hard to cross or hard to see crossing cars/pedestrians when driving, add better lighting, repair the sidewalks, etc.

Timeline on construction for this has now been pushed back to 2028-2029. I asked about potential integration with the Riverview project and they are keeping in the loop on that. If one of those concepts actually becomes a certainty they will look to coordinate. However, at this point Riverview is simply a concept with different potential scenarios and not guaranteed to go forward. Repairs and improvements to W. 7th need to happen regardless so they are going forward with the planning of this and not delaying at this time. Final design is slated for Fall 2025.

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

EDIT: I didn't notice the PDF of Scoping A.A. was posted, that has a lot of details.
https://edocs-public.dot.state.mn.us/ed ... d=30563327

[angrysuburbanite]

Note to admins: If this kind of thing isn't allowed here, feel free to delete this. Anyways,

For a project I've been working on, I compiled a brief (ok, maybe not so brief) survey to determine people's opinions on where transportation funding and legislation should go. If you are interested in taking it (everyone loves filling out surveys, right?), please use this link: https://forms.gle/F8Yv8tJhxGv5HbNs7

Thanks a ton in advance!
(yes, I do realize that posting this on an urbanism forum may skew my results... )

[rhettcarlson]

Have full time bus lanes quietly been removed from the First & Hennepin project?

I could have sworn the design layout that was linked on the project site was "2023". Now it's "2024" and the layout shows TRANSIT PRIORITY LANE/PARKING and references part-time transit priority lanes. Am I imagining this or has it changed in the last couple months?

https://www.hennepin.us/residents/trans ... -and-first

[daveybabymsp]

Have full time bus lanes quietly been removed from the First & Hennepin project?

I could have sworn the design layout that was linked on the project site was "2023". Now it's "2024" and the layout shows TRANSIT PRIORITY LANE/PARKING and references part-time transit priority lanes. Am I imagining this or has it changed in the last couple months?

https://www.hennepin.us/residents/trans ... -and-first

I think they changed it last minute. I was looking at the plans earlier this year and I’m confident it didn’t say transit/parking.

[thespeedmccool]

I sure hope they haven't changed it last minute with no input.

The posted layout still shows "BUS ONLY" road markings, so it could be just an oversight and these are still planned to be bus only.

But the big text box that reads "ADDITION OF PART-TIME TRANSIT PRIORITY LANE" makes me think we've been bamboozled.

If I were able to be mad about this nonsense anymore, I'd be furious, but this is just par for the course at this point.

[rhettcarlson]

Thanks! So I'm not the only one. I emailed the project manager to see what he says. I've recently changed my stance on full time bus lanes and think parking will provide much needed traffic calming, but it's frustrating they can just change last minute and not publicize it.

[rhettcarlson]

I sure hope they haven't changed it last minute with no input.

The posted layout still shows "BUS ONLY" road markings, so i could be just an oversight and these are still planned to be bus only.

But the big text box that reads "ADDITION OF PART-TIME TRANSIT PRIORITY LANE" makes me think we've been bamboozled.

If I were able to be mad about this nonsense anymore, I'd be furious, but this is just par for the course at this point.

If this did go the way of Hennepin South and they are just part time, I hope the times for bus-only are generous. I've also thought about dynamic signage so that they could enforce bus-only during high traffic events downtown.

[Wezle]

I have the files from the 2022 preferred design and rather than "transit priority lane/parking" it just says "12' transit lane". Nothing mentioned about parking that I can find before the 2024 layout.

[rhettcarlson]

Good call on saving. Were 24/7 lanes ever promised?

[Wezle]

Got a response for my email to the project manager.

"Thanks for your email.

Based on the project goals, it was determined by the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County and Metro Transit that transit lanes are heavily needed Monday – Friday from 6AM – 7PM.

This is based on data that shows transit use peaks during these times. Data also shows that parking is in highest demand in the evenings and weekend when transit use is less, and making parking more readily available at these times best supports the businesses and residents in the area."

I can't tell if this was something that they had planned from the beginning but it does feel very similar to the transit lanes on Hennepin in Uptown. As long as parking enforcement is strict between 6am-7pm, I don't really have too much of an issue with it. Otherwise, it'll be a huge hassle for busses to have to pull in and out of the lane every time someone is illegally parked outside of hours.

[thespeedmccool]

Sounds to me like a certain Boy Mayor's administration heard from a business or two about parking and intervened.

If the transit lanes really are A. bus-only for the entire work week and B. actually enforced then this isn't a serious problem. A shameful telegraphing of the mayor's and county's priorities, yes, but a serious problem, no.

Unfortunately, I seriously doubt there will be any enforcement whatsoever and kinda doubt that these will actually be all-day bus lanes through the whole work week. Seems possible to me that it will get watered down further yet to rush-hour bus-only lanes, which would make them essentially meaningless.

[Nick]

What are inside the red circles with the lines through them?

[COLSLAW5]

old timey cameras

[thespeedmccool]

What are inside the red circles with the lines through them?

I think those are rendering errors

[Wezle]

Regardless of the possible changes to the transit lanes, I'm really excited about this reconstruction. It narrows lanes, includes bumpouts, adds protected bike lanes, expands pedestrian space, reduces parking, adds part time transit lanes, and removes a slip lane and the 5th St crossing of Hennepin and Central to give space to pedestrians/cyclists. Plus there is a lot of green stormwater infrastructure being added to what is currently a lot of pavement!

This is going to be a huge upgrade in an area that sees a lot of pedestrian activity. I've personally found parts of this area to be a bit treacherous as a pedestrian so I for one can't wait!

[Nick]

old timey cameras

That’s what I thought but figured that couldn’t be right.

[DanPatchToget]

This might be a long shot, but does MnDOT or any other place have info on the timeline of freeway development in the Twin Cities? I'm curious how long it's taken to get to the freeway route mileage we have now, and for that matter what is the exact freeway route mileage in the Twin Cities.

[Tcmetro]

This table from the FHWA has freeway miles and freeway-lane miles. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformat ... 2/hm72.cfm

Note that this table uses Federal-Aid Urbanized Areas, which are different definitions than CBSAs. It's incredibly interesting to look at how different metros stack up - it also reveals how car-orientated the Twin Cities are. The Twin Cities provides more roadway per capita than any other metro, although freeway lane-miles are more in line with the population size.

Here's the stats for the MSP area, and ranked to 42 metros over 1 million population:

• 2.65 million population (16th largest)
• 1,022 sq mi (13th largest)
• 2,594 people per sq mi (26th highest)
• 68,079,000 daily vehicle miles traveled (14th highest)
• 23.1 daily vehicle miles traveled per person (16th highest)
• 14,612 miles of roadway (12th highest)
• 1.8 miles of roadway per 1,000 people (highest)
• 381 miles of freeway (12th highest)
• 30,390,000 freeway daily vehicle miles traveled (14th highest)
• 8.1% of all roadway miles are freeway miles (31st highest)
• 49.7% of DVMT are on freeways (19th highest)
• 79,845 annual average daily traffic on freeways (32nd highest)
• 2,010 total estimated freeway lane-miles (16th highest)
• 15,121 average daily traffic per freeway lane (measure of congestion) (29th highest)
• 7.6 miles of freeway lanes per 10,000 people (I added this measure to look at how much freeway is provided) (15th highest)

Here's the top ranked for areas over 1 million population for each of those categories:

• New York - 18.4 million people
• New York - 3,450 sq mi
• Los Angeles - 6,999 people per sq mi
• New York - 278,774,000 daily vehicle miles traveled
• Orlando - 29.2 daily vehicle miles traveled per person
• New York - 44,301 miles of roadway
• Minneapolis - 1.8 miles of roadway per 1,000 people
• New York - 1,254 miles of freeway
• Los Angeles - 122,798,000 freeway daily vehicle miles traveled
• Kansas City - 16.4% of all roadway miles are freeway miles
• San Francisco - 64.1% of DVMT are on freeways
• Los Angeles - 190,845 annual average daily traffic on freeways
• New York - 7,347 total estimated freeway lane miles
• Riverside - 22,026 average daily traffic per freeway lane (measure of congestion)
• Kansas City - 14.4 miles of freeway lanes per 10,000 people