Minnetonka Blvd - Hwy 7/CSAH-25 - Excelsior Blvd

[COLSLAW5]

yes this has already started construction. they cut down all the trees in the area and started demo recently

[thespeedmccool]

Seems like MNDOT is planning a freeway conversion for Highway 7 from 494 to about Excelsior: recommended improvements

[rhettcarlson]

It was only a matter of time before it got the partial-freeway treatment after the work east of 494 ~10 yrs ago. I'm normally not a fan of double lane roundabouts, because the context is usually arterials where they take up 2x the space of a signaled intersection, but here they might actually end up being more compact than the existing intersections (Christmas Lake Rd, Oak St, Hwy 41).

[COLSLAW5]

I struggle to see how this is a good investment of MnDOTs money. This is so of the least dense house out past 494 and expanding capacity is only going to encourage development of the wilderness out that way

[Tom H.]

The east segment seems reasonable - Williston is a dangerous intersection, 101 is terribly congested, and some of the current signalized intersections (like Vine Hill) can easily be reduced to underpasses. The corridor is relatively narrow, though, so it would be interesting to see how they squeeze some of those interchanges in.

[Anondson]

Well I’m disappointed that the freewayification wasn’t extended as far as 169 because I yearned for excuses to bringing Excelsior Blvd and Minnetonka Blvd and Cedar Lake Road to safer saner designs and getting grade separate for Hopkins Crossroad and 5th.

But it was probably inevitable it wouldn’t since the Shady Oak and TH7 intersection was remodeled as a shit stoplight with stupid long waits.

[Anondson]

The draft concepts for Minnetonka Blvd from Vernon (TH 100) to Xylon are out for survey responses.

https://beheardhennepin.org/minnetonka- ... pts-survey

There are 3 draft concepts varying between how bike riders are accommodated.

Plus possible roundabouts at Vernon and at Louisiana (!) whoa!

[StandishGuy]

Do you have thoughts on the 3 options, as well as any thoughts about the newly completed section of Minnetonka Blvd?

[Anondson]

I posted elsewhere that I might be overly wow’ed over the change to the just-opened section. It very well could have found some even better design, but I’d grown so infuriated with the old 4-lane-death road style, with super narrow sidewalks right behind the curb, that with this new 3-lane design with wide multi-use lanes on both sides that I never thought it possible to have anything as nice as we got.

That said, I’m not looking kindly at the option that places the bike lane adjacent to the traffic, even though it’s behind a curb (option A). That’s because when winter comes, snow will just end up in the bike lane and experiencing Saint Louis Park winter sidewalk clearing, it’ll be 75% filled with chunks of ice for weeks.

Plus, comparing the experience with Cedar Lake Road’s bike lane behind a curb, drivers will find ways to park in those sections of lane. IMO, even though option B is a multiuse lane, the lanes are separated from motor vehicles traffic by a boulevard so seems more friendly to kid use and more likely to be clearer in winter and more likely to not have drivers parking in it.

[Mdcastle]

That said, I’m not looking kindly at the option that places the bike lane adjacent to the traffic, even though it’s behind a curb (option A). That’s because when winter comes, snow will just end up in the bike lane and experiencing Saint Louis Park winter sidewalk clearing, it’ll be 75% filled with chunks of ice for weeks.

As a casual bicyclist, nope, I would never use those. I can just picture myself hitting a rock and tipping over into a hot traffic lane, or a driver texting and jumping the curb right into the bicycle lane.

[daveybabymsp]

I think the shared use path on both sides is the clear winner, especially since that is the design on the new stretch of Minnetonka.