urbanMSP

I love how post modern those signs are. It totally screams skyway to me. Their 80s and 90s heyday. Absolutely love them.

Yup, looks like a part of a mall or airport! Maybe that underwater thing they had at the MOA back in the late 90s?

Unless they fill out with some stores or office space, this looks like generic gerbil tubes to me. Very big let down. I want to see skyways like those in the Baker Center and the NorthStar which has several sores and shops lining them. You can feel much safer and more welcome in that kind of environment.

I'm actually thankful these are downtown-fringe-style gerbil tubes... It means less competition for storefront retail/services/dining where they belong: on the sidewalk.

In the mid 2000s, the city of St Paul's skyway signage was looking pretty tired and since the city stopped exercising control building owners used to put new signs up that often just made it more confusing.

Just prior to the 2008 RNC St Paul standardized and redid all the skyway signage. It is once again very visible and uniform. Time for Minneapolis to do the same. I get that the water background is a nod to Minneapolis meaning "water city", but I prefer the old signage ala the sign in TCF Bank Building. Helvetica on a dark background somehow always looks clean and modern.

Bet it'll happen the summer before the Super Bowl. Hopefully with entry/exit signage too.

I don't know if that will be a reason to update the signage. The skyways close at 6 on Sundays.

That could also be changed. And likely will when the Super Bowl is here.

Aesthetics aside, the Minneapolis signage is poor, especially in comparison to St. Paul. People who need signage need to know more than which building is next, and, as Silophant, people need to know how to get in and out of the system.

The problem with that is that building owners/operators really seem to want to discourage entry/exit from the street.

^^^^^ This, plus clear signage indicating the entry/exit hours of operation.

The worst is the Nic on 5th's skyway entrance. Clear signage specifying that the door is only open during skyway hours, no indication whatsoever of what those hours might be.

Although it's kind of a moot point as long as it remains a dead-end without a single business in it.

A fluff piece today on the value of our vaunted skyway system, from the point of view of someone who despises both cars AND bikes being allowed downtown.
http://www.startribune.com/some-like-it ... 365776581/

I agree with just about everything he said. Especially the ending:

"How can the skyways be improved? The non-uniform opening hours have burned me more than once as have the limited weekend hours. There needs to be better grocery options and more places to sit. And I still feel passionately about retrofitting the Nicollet Avenue light rail station to be enclosed and skyway-connected, effectively making the airport and Mall of America skyway-connected."

He seems like kind of an asshole to me. Deep down I always knew bros who wear shorts in the winter did it for attention, but now I have written confirmation by one of the narcissistic 'halfwits' themselves.

I agree with just about everything he said. Especially the ending:

"How can the skyways be improved? The non-uniform opening hours have burned me more than once as have the limited weekend hours. There needs to be better grocery options and more places to sit. And I still feel passionately about retrofitting the Nicollet Avenue light rail station to be enclosed and skyway-connected, effectively making the airport and Mall of America skyway-connected."

He's also dead-on about the safety factor. I've never been almost hit by a car in the skyway.

The worst is the Nic on 5th's skyway entrance. Clear signage specifying that the door is only open during skyway hours, no indication whatsoever of what those hours might be.

Although it's kind of a moot point as long as it remains a dead-end without a single business in it.

It also connects only to the 5th Street Towers, which at least used to be out of conformance with the rest of the system and entirely closed on weekend. Not sure if that' still the case.

But yeah, there should be uniform hours, which should extend later at night if we want our hospitality industry to thrive.

5th Street Towers' skyways are open normal hours on the weekends.

I'm still (unreasonably) optimistic that the Nic's skyway problems will all get fixed when the Xcel connection opens and a thousand-some people start passing through daily.

I haven't been there in awhile, but the Nic's escalators were broken down half the time.

The skyway connection to Ling and Louie's is open now.

I agree with just about everything he said. Especially the ending:

"How can the skyways be improved? The non-uniform opening hours have burned me more than once as have the limited weekend hours. There needs to be better grocery options and more places to sit. And I still feel passionately about retrofitting the Nicollet Avenue light rail station to be enclosed and skyway-connected, effectively making the airport and Mall of America skyway-connected."

Count me in agreement as well.

Recent example: My Wife and I recently went to Dinner followed by a show at the Pantages on a Saturday Night. Living Downtown getting there was a simple, comfortable walk, a $50+ meal, followed by a show that was at least that much in additional spend. The only issue? the Show ended at 11:00pm, which meant a 6 block walk home in -10 degree weather.

In the Summer months of course this is no issue (although even there I'd argue that a heavy rain would dampen the evening), but given the climate the Skyway system keeps selling itself way short by hours of operation that actually discourage downtown patronage of the Food, Arts & Entertainment scene, lousy mapping/directions, and a generally highly disorganized, our-little-secret attitude to it's existence.

The irony is that the very businesses that seem to resist the promotion and support of the system are failing to realize that I'd be spending more $$$ downtown if I had better "shirtsleeves" access to things after hours and on weekends.

It's going to have to change as the Urban Influx continues.