Fantasy Road and Trail Maps

[DanPatchToget]

Not sure how often this thread will get used, but I figured it'd be nice to have a place for ideas about roads and trails like we do for transit. I'm assuming for roads most of the ideas will revolve around traffic calming, freeway removal, freeway capping, and similar.

To start things off, here's my idea for a roundabout at Bush Lake Road and the entrance into Bush Lake Beach in Bloomington:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Lj78nmcGGjALw6BE6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ToLg5H1sJNiKcYY47 (what it looks like today vs. what it would look like with a roundabout)

I frequently use the existing crosswalk with the rapid flash beacons while biking, and although the flashing lights are a slight improvement over before where it was just a sign, there's still some issues. Some motorists only slightly slow down and I can't tell if they're actually yielding to me, and I'm not going to assume they are if they're going at a high enough speed, and other motorists just blow through even when the lights are flashing. There's also a blindspot looking south from the crosswalk, and with traffic going 40-45 miles per hour there isn't a lot of distance between where the blindspot ends and the crosswalk. A roundabout would force traffic to slow down to 20 miles per hour or less, making it much easier to cross, and with a refuge island pedestrians and cyclists can cross one lane at a time rather than having to fully commit to crossing the whole road once they've started crossing. I also widened the trail leading to the beach.

[Korh]

Of the top of my head
-an additional bike crossing from west Bloomington to Savage/Burnsville between the ferry bridge and 35W,
-there's an abandoned(?) rail spur that could connect to the river trail that goes in front of Valley Fair all the way to Burnsville Center (I assume its abandoned because they took out the bridge on Lynn ave years ago)
-traffic calming on France and a protected cycle track that connects where it ends at 90th in Bloomington to the cedar lake trail
-midtown greenway extension to St. Paul (it might as well be a fantasy with how little progress there is)
-Grade separation of HW 7, I actually think you might be able to get away with tunneling under texas, blake, and 169 and do something like a few European counties where the have some bike infrastructure above
-Traffic calming on excelsior west of 169
-Various improvements to the Mississippi river trail

[DanPatchToget]

That rail line I consider unofficially abandoned, since in addition to the removed bridge you mentioned, the rails at almost every grade crossing in Burnsville have been removed, plus there hasn't been any vegetation management/herbicide treatment on that line in at least 20 years. However, the railroad company still owns the property, so officially it's not abandoned. Some years ago Dakota County was interested in buying the right-of-way for a trail (part of the Lake Marion Greenway project), but the railroad said no. Some people have speculated the railroad wants to eventually use that line again (as time goes on the more I doubt that). Supposedly the railroad makes money from that property because of the fiber optic cables buried under their right-of-way, and since the track isn't being used by trains the railroad may be exempt from paying property taxes on it. If the railroad ever did finally decide to abandon it, it'd be nice to plan the corridor out as rail-with-trail, so regional passenger trains could use it.

On the subject of France Avenue, I wonder how much, if any, change there will be at 494. I've gone across the bridge on my bike only a couple times because it's so hellish biking along that stroad. It'd be nice for there to be a trail bridge over 494 somewhere between France and Highway 100.

I wouldn't be opposed to more grade separation of Highway 7, though I'd want Excelsior Boulevard to also be calmed east of 169.

[DanPatchToget]

Shortly after BNSF made it clear they weren't interested in having the Blue Line Extension next to their tracks, I made this map of a potential trail that could run alongside the BNSF tracks instead:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit? ... sp=sharing

That map was included in this article I wrote:
https://streets.mn/2021/09/27/bnsf-said ... o-a-trail/

My thinking was this could be a good northwesterly regional trail, which assuming the Blue Line Extension was built could tie into that. Admittedly it wouldn't be the calmest trail to be on since it would parallel Bottineau Boulevard for much of its distance, but there aren't many road crossings to deal with, and it provides a nice connection to Theodore Wirth Park and Elm Creek Park. If a double-track light rail line could fit alongside BNSF's tracks, then I'd imagine it would be very easy to fit a 10-foot wide mixed-use trail instead.

The article caught the attention of CP Railway's PR department, which interpreted my phrasing as encouraging people to trespass on railroad property and giving them a free pass if the legal route is too long and unpleasant. That wasn't my intention, and I think they missed the point entirely, and when I tried to give my viewpoint they weren't interested in hearing me out. I was trying to balance stating it's not safe and it's illegal to trespass on railroad property, while also explaining that certain routes today, while legal, doesn't mean they're safe, and trails alongside railroad corridors can provide a route that's both legal and safe.

[Korh]

Does seem to overlap the Crystal Lake Regional Trail a bit, but with the amount of crossings on that trail and iirc it cuts out at Wilshire blvd so could be a better alternative.

Also I was reminded of the old three rivers 2040 map and obviously it would be best if they would make the entire map, but if I had to pick 3 that I'd like to see first, I might go with
1.The north-south trail that seems to be cutting through both cedar lake trails, the nine mile and the luce line.
2. The east-west trail that seems to connect Lake Rebeca to Baker, and all the way to Crystal.
3. The trail that seems to connect the North Cedar like trail with the Dakota (and maybe foes as far north as
Dayton/Rogers).

[DanPatchToget]

Connecting the North Cedar Lake Trail and Dakota Rail Trail is high up on my trail wishlist. I made this a few years ago of my ideal routing for such a trail:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit? ... sp=sharing

I don't know if they'd ever extend the 2-way cycle track along Lake Street east of Broadway, but I'd prefer either that or bike lanes from there to Circle Drive rather than trail users being tucked away behind all the shops and restaurants as I originally proposed on that map.

[DanPatchToget]

With the new-ish bus service along Normandale Boulevard and the difficulty of crossing the street to get to/from the bus, I was reminded of this concept I made a few years ago for a new signalized crosswalk roughly midway between the signalized intersections at 102nd Street and Old Shakopee Road:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SSUz6YQwshRnC5CC7

I think it's an okay attempt at trying to provide better access across Normandale, and it's supposed to remove the ability to turn left so it's less of a 4-lane death road, but I'm sure there's drivers out there who would swerve around the median into oncoming traffic to turn left into a side street, or make a U-turn around the median so they can still turn left onto Normandale. A better fix might be making it a 5-lane road like they did north of Poplar Bridge Road, but unlike that rebuild this would include more ways to cross Normandale.

[DanPatchToget]

There's a T-intersection on my drive to work in Shakopee that has very little traffic control in terms of signage and seems like a bad accident waiting to happen, so I replaced it with a roundabout:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/43gdm7zEaLjeim9p6

As it is now only traffic coming from the east has to stop at the intersection. All other traffic has to wing it in terms of who has the right-of-way. If you're going slow enough then in theory there won't be issues, but if someone is going too fast or not paying attention then there could easily be a collision.

I also included mixed-use sidewalks/trails on both sides of the roads, and my redesign doesn't show it but it's implied that the 4-lane segments of road would become 3-lane.

[fehler]

How well do large trucks navigate roundabouts? Seems like a big-truck area.

[DanPatchToget]

Just northeast of there on Stagecoach Road they built a couple roundabouts, and that road looks like it has a significant amount of truck traffic. A warehouse was completed there recently, and looking at aerial photos there's about a hundred truck trailers in the parking lot surrounding the warehouse.

[DanPatchToget]

Extension of Normandale Boulevard across the Minnesota River between Bloomington and Savage:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kbGNTnDCSAWYo4YF7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ERvGzZPSvTdgKD527 (before vs after)

I didn't go into super detail since this is something I definitely wouldn't support, but I assume Normandale's existing 4 lanes would continue south of Old Shakopee Road all the way up until it meets Highway 13. From there I'm not sure how that would look as it's a tricky location to put an interchange. I also assume this would only happen if the railroads abandoned the long-unused stretch of track between southern Bloomington and northern Lakeville. A trail is included on the west side of the road, and that would tie into a rail-trail using the abandoned railroad right-of-way south of Savage.

I forget who it was and how much detail they put into it, but I recall there being a study not long ago on what to do with the old Dan Patch Line Bridge and options included a new road crossing over the river. Makes me wonder if NIMBYism would be as tough as it has been over using the Dan Patch Line for some kind of passenger rail.

Motorists would be the big winner with this, trail users would also get a decent win (at the price of Normandale becoming much busier), and for transit users... I think it would be little to no win out of this.

[DanPatchToget]

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit? ... sp=sharing

Multi-use trail along CPKC Railway's mainline between North Minneapolis and Medina. There's a few existing short trails in Plymouth along this railroad, and this would tie them all together for a nice regional trail that links with the Grand Rounds.

[quagga]

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit? ... sp=sharing

Multi-use trail along CPKC Railway's mainline between North Minneapolis and Medina. There's a few existing short trails in Plymouth along this railroad, and this would tie them all together for a nice regional trail that links with the Grand Rounds.

CPKC now strictly prohibits any new trails within their ROW, and this idea almost exactly parallels Three Rivers Park District's proposed Sarah Creek Regional Trail along Schmidt Lake Road.

[twincitizen]

Extension of Normandale Boulevard across the Minnesota River between Bloomington and Savage:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kbGNTnDCSAWYo4YF7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ERvGzZPSvTdgKD527 (before vs after)

I didn't go into super detail since this is something I definitely wouldn't support, but I assume Normandale's existing 4 lanes would continue south of Old Shakopee Road all the way up until it meets Highway 13. From there I'm not sure how that would look as it's a tricky location to put an interchange. I also assume this would only happen if the railroads abandoned the long-unused stretch of track between southern Bloomington and northern Lakeville. A trail is included on the west side of the road, and that would tie into a rail-trail using the abandoned railroad right-of-way south of Savage.

I forget who it was and how much detail they put into it, but I recall there being a study not long ago on what to do with the old Dan Patch Line Bridge and options included a new road crossing over the river. Makes me wonder if NIMBYism would be as tough as it has been over using the Dan Patch Line for some kind of passenger rail.

Motorists would be the big winner with this, trail users would also get a decent win (at the price of Normandale becoming much busier), and for transit users... I think it would be little to no win out of this.

From 2015: https://www.startribune.com/bloomington ... /328346211