Green Line / Central Corridor construction thread (archive)

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby mulad » August 30th, 2013, 4:53 pm

I've noticed some segments of chain-link fencing going in along the guideway in a few spots. I think it's being used in places where crossovers prevent the use of the bollard-and-chain barrier that's used along most of the line. Fortunately it is painted black, but I really hate chain-link in general and don't think it's appropriate for use along the guideway.

On my way home this evening, I saw this sign put in by the local watershed district describing the 5-mile tree trench system used for runoff mitigation along University Avenue.

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Tom H.
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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby Tom H. » September 3rd, 2013, 4:02 pm

Article in the MN Daily about a fare-free zone on the U campus, including West Bank, East Bank, and Stadium Village stations.

http://mndaily.com/news/campus/2013/09/ ... -continues

Met Council wants the U to pay for the loss of fare in these stations, which seems to be the sticking point. Seems like this could allow the U to cut out a few of the Campus Connector routes, and pay the Met Council with the difference.

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby Silophant » September 3rd, 2013, 7:56 pm

Kinda a dumb point to get stuck on. Between U-Passes and students just plain not paying, I don't see the Met Council making much money off station-to-station trips within the U anyway. Does anyone know if the Airport pays for that fare-free zone?

Also, I would be absolutely content with the Connectors just making a loop around the stadium and getting back onto the transitway, letting students take the train the rest of the way, though I suspect people with tight classes on different campuses might not be.
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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby Nick » September 3rd, 2013, 8:47 pm

A shocking number of terrible, terrible students do take the bus between the East and West Banks, and I imagine that will continue with the train.
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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby FISHMANPET » September 3rd, 2013, 8:49 pm

When your schedule is so tight that you've got 15 minutes to get from Blegen Hall to Keller Hall...

And then the buses will bunch and 15 minutes late 4 will show up at once.

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby Nick » September 3rd, 2013, 9:34 pm

Unless you're on crutches, you really should be able to walk from Blegen to Keller in 15 minutes pretty easily. I was a campus tour guide for three years and have a pretty decent sense of (forwards and backwards!) walking distances on campus...you ought to be able to walk from Hanson Hall at the bottom of the West Bank to Folwell Hall at the top of the East Bank in less than 15 minutes.
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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby Silophant » September 3rd, 2013, 9:42 pm

Oh, I didn't mean that students won't take the train between the banks. I took the bus over the bridge all the time when I had a U-Pass, and I'd be even more likely to on a train. I'm saying that, unless there start being a lot more cops on trains to enforce ticketing, students will ride it across the river without paying.

ETA: The only time I've had trouble getting from one class to another in the 15 min was Cooke Hall to the Rarig Center, and that wasn't so much a transit time thing as a clothes changing time thing.
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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby seanrichardryan » September 3rd, 2013, 10:15 pm

Arriving late to a lecture at Blegan is usually preferred.
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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby talindsay » September 4th, 2013, 8:16 am

Unless you're on crutches, you really should be able to walk from Blegen to Keller in 15 minutes pretty easily. I was a campus tour guide for three years and have a pretty decent sense of (forwards and backwards!) walking distances on campus...you ought to be able to walk from Hanson Hall at the bottom of the West Bank to Folwell Hall at the top of the East Bank in less than 15 minutes.
The enclosed portion of the bridge is exactly 0.25 miles. Blegen to the Rec Center is only a bit over 0.5 miles. It's just a mile from Blegen to the far side of the stadium. The average adult walks about 3.5 mph so yeah, pretty much everything on the main campus is within a 15 minute walk from pretty much anywhere else.

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby RailBaronYarr » September 4th, 2013, 9:15 am

Yeah, never had a problem making it from the bowels of the ME building to Blegen Hall by foot with time to spare. Pedestrian connectivity and distances throughout campus are good enough that the 15 minute mark was never an issue

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby Tom H. » September 4th, 2013, 9:54 am

I had a student who told me he had a class on the West Bank immediately prior to the one I was teaching (in the STSS, literally the closest building on the East Bank to the West Bank), so he might be late occasionally. After two straight classes where he was 20 minutes late, I told him that was unacceptable and would start to count as absences. (This was a lab, so absences could drag down his grade.) He was never late again, and was often one of the first to class 5 minutes early.

So what I'm trying to say is, college students are lazy. I was lazy as a college student, and I'm guessing most of you were too. They'll take the train if it's free.

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby FISHMANPET » September 4th, 2013, 10:09 am

I always avoided walking across the bridge if I could. Still do in fact, because it's such a boring walk.

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby mattaudio » September 4th, 2013, 10:28 am

Yeah, taking the bus/train is lazy...

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby widin007 » September 4th, 2013, 12:28 pm

Try Carlson to Folwell in 15 minutes by foot, ain't happenin'!

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby talindsay » September 4th, 2013, 1:53 pm

Try Carlson to Folwell in 15 minutes by foot, ain't happenin'!
#9 Bridge would probably make it work!

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby mulad » September 4th, 2013, 1:57 pm

Maybe. I doubt it's any faster than taking Washington.

I plunked CSOM to Folwell into Google Maps's pedestrian mode and it spit out a time of 18 minutes. Google's algorithm seems to be slightly faster than I can walk (at least when it's calculating walk time for transit directions), so it may be pretty tight. But hey, this calls for a real-world experiment!

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby FISHMANPET » September 4th, 2013, 2:14 pm

To get from Carlson to Folwell you have to walk to the Blegen Hall bus stops no matter what. If you got lucky you could catch the 2 or Washingington Ave Bridge Circulator to drop you off close to there, or otherwise just take the connector from Blegen to Coffman and walk from Coffman to Folwell.

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby Silophant » September 4th, 2013, 11:03 pm

Maybe. I doubt it's any faster than taking Washington.

I plunked CSOM to Folwell into Google Maps's pedestrian mode and it spit out a time of 18 minutes. Google's algorithm seems to be slightly faster than I can walk (at least when it's calculating walk time for transit directions), so it may be pretty tight. But hey, this calls for a real-world experiment!
I'll got time to kill on Friday. I'll test both routes, though I doubt Bridge #9 will be quicker than Washington Ave. It might be a shorter distance, but there's a fairly significant elevation change.
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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby RailBaronYarr » September 5th, 2013, 7:30 am

Ultimately, the point is that the ridership in a fare-free zone between EB and WB should be pretty darn low for those that NEED it. Of all the many students on campus, the odds that people have 2 classes with the conditions described are extremely slim, and even then my experience is that if you're 1-5 minutes late it might not even be a big deal. Headways on the LRT will be 10 minutes during the day, not sure if the timing will align with class schedules or not. Will taking it even save people time when you consider going out of the way to reach the LRT (or current circulator) stop? Not saying people shouldn't take the convenience (hey, anyone getting accustomed to using frequent, reliable transit in urban areas is good), just saying the riders who NEED it aren't exactly in the thousands per day...

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Re: Green Line (Central)

Postby mulad » September 11th, 2013, 1:51 pm

Catenary arms are starting to be attached to poles in downtown St. Paul now. There was a crew working along Cedar Street right in front of MPR this morning. Catenary wires still hadn't reached Rice Street as of this morning, and tensioned wire is still only in place up to about Snelling. Tensioning seems mostly done on the stretch from Snelling to Syndicate (in front of Target).


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