Street, Road and Highway Projects

[mattaudio]

Other than the interchange with I-35W, I'm curious why this is a MnDOT project? Doesn't T.H. 47 end at Central?

Also, if they are redoing the interchange bridges, I wish it would allow the freeway onramps to braid underneath the next block. e.g. turning left from 4th to southbound 35W, the ramp would go under University. One more freeway ramp per side, but would get more traffic off of the grid and onto the freeway without crossing a busy walk/bike route.

[EOst]

It's confusing that University will be a one-way bikeway from Central to 10th and then a two-way bikeway from 10th to Oak. Why even bother with a 4' boulevard? You'll never get a thriving tree in that narrow of a space. Just cut that and make it two-way the whole length, especially since they're already looking at 9' in-street bikeways on the reconstructed bridges.

I also assumed that the added section from Bank to Central is to better line this project up with the other MnDOT University Avenue study, but they seem to be looking at two one-way bikeways on that Hennepin to 1st NE segment of University and this presentation shows no bikeway on that stretch, just lane realignment.

[Wezle]

I think the reason for the two way bikeway between 10th and Oak is due to it being a path that will see a lot of bidirectional use by college students. At the 15% stage, there is still plenty of opportunity for change there. They're having quite a few community engagement events in the next couple of months and the BAC/PAC will offer their input as well.

[EOst]

I guess my point is that I don't see how this area would get any less bidirectional use than the area further east. It's not likely that people heading westbound on University are going to navigate a bunch of big intersections to move over to 4th or that they'll even understand how they're supposed to do so.

[MNdible]

Also, if they are redoing the interchange bridges, I wish it would allow the freeway onramps to braid underneath the next block. e.g. turning left from 4th to southbound 35W, the ramp would go under University. One more freeway ramp per side, but would get more traffic off of the grid and onto the freeway without crossing a busy walk/bike route.

I'd be surprised if there's enough run to drop and get clearance before you have to go under the University bridge.

[MidwayLuke]

Cedar Ave Reconstruction 24th St to Lake St:

Initial Concept:
https://mc-379cbd4e-be3f-43d7-8383-5433 ... B31714D35F

of note:
Separated bike facility on the east side of the road between 24th and 28th St.
*between Cedar Field Park and 26th St, the bike facility will be a shared use path, otherwise it will be fully separate.
No bike lanes or path between 28th and Lake St.
Wider boulevards.
Cross traffic restriction at 27th St.
Bump outs.

[EOst]

That separated path/shared use path combo is very over-designed given the actual pedestrian numbers and land use along this stretch of Cedar; I can't imagine that actual real-world compliance will match the design intent here. I also think an 8' two-way bikeway right at the back of the curb is fairly undesirable for a major route like this. Purely from a biking perspective, I think I would much prefer this to all be a 10' or 12' shared use trail and would consider this design a downgrade from that.

With all that said, though, I wonder looking at the map if the county's decision making here has been driven more by a desire to avoid taking out trees on the east side of the street. It looks like the existing sidewalk on Cedar is well short of the ROW line, so building the shared use path along the entire street would've required either removing a lot of encroaching retaining walls and gardens or cutting down the trees.

[MidwayLuke]

That separated path/shared use path combo is very over-designed given the actual pedestrian numbers and land use along this stretch of Cedar; I can't imagine that actual real-world compliance will match the design intent here. I also think an 8' two-way bikeway right at the back of the curb is fairly undesirable for a major route like this. Purely from a biking perspective, I think I would much prefer this to all be a 10' or 12' shared use trail and would consider this design a downgrade from that.

With all that said, though, I wonder looking at the map if the county's decision making here has been driven more by a desire to avoid taking out trees on the east side of the street. It looks like the existing sidewalk on Cedar is well short of the ROW line, so building the shared use path along the entire street would've required either removing a lot of encroaching retaining walls and gardens or cutting down the trees.

I agree. I was confused a bit when I first looked at the plan. I would prefer a consistent bike path the entire length, but you're probably right.. this design avoids tree removal, which is nice. This street currently has some nice, mature, shady trees.

If I get a chance to attend one of the open houses, I'll make the case for some kind of protection for the curbsided two-way path. Otherwise, this will just be a delivery truck parking lane.

[mattaudio]

Those bus stops at 26th better be sufficient to support C Line ABRT extension down Cedar.

[EOst]

Those bus stops at 26th better be sufficient to support C Line ABRT extension down Cedar.

Southbound should be fine, but northbound could be a little tricky with the shared use path; you'd either have to shrink the path to 6-8' behind the station or have trail traffic running between the station and the street. Metro Transit/Ramsey County will be doing a mixture of these on Rice Street with the G Line.

[thespeedmccool]

Interesting tidbit here

"As Rainville has explained to the North Loop Neighborhood Association, [Hennepin County] initially supported these flashing signals and pedestrian refuges, but then withdrew that support because they intend to reconfigure Washington Avenue in a few years to allow for Bus Rapid Transit lanes."

[Silophant]

Hennepin County PW continues to unexpectedly be the best of the three agencies that build and maintain roads in Minneapolis. It occurs to me that we might have bus lanes on the downtown section of Hennepin if it hadn't been turned back to City control.

[EOst]

Does that explanation strike anyone else as a little strange? I can easily imagine new bus lanes on the current 5-lane section southeast of N 3rd Ave, but the rest of Washington has no BRT routes coming at the moment and needs that space anyway for the planned protected bikeway up to Plymouth. I don't see how bus lanes would impact median refuges up at 6th or 8th unless Hennepin intends to drop the bike lanes (or all the parking, but that seems even less likely).

[Silophant]

With the Route 3 now extended to 10th and Washington, and a LRT station (probably) being built on the next block, I'm wondering if they're planning on having the H Line run to 10th and Washington instead of cutting over to terminate in the B Ramp. Looks like Washington is 100' wide from building face to building face, just like Hennepin, so they're maybe planning on replicating that design? (Possibly with off-peak parking in the bus lanes like on Hennepin/1st NE, until such time as Ward 3 gets a less car-brained CM.)

[Wezle]

https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/download ... tation.pdf

MNDOT 15% presentation on the 2028 upcoming Central Ave reconstruction for the Minneapolis bicycle and pedestrian advisory committees. Plans look like they'll include sidewalk level bike lanes and bus lanes from the river to 37th Ave as well as the tried and true 4-3 lane conversion.

Northeast's roads will look very different by 2030 between all of the upcoming and current projects there.

[Silophant]

It's taking a long time, but it's really good to finally see NE making progress towards being as bikeable as it's made out to be. Hopefully the bike and bus improvments continue at least a little ways into Columbia Heights and don't just cut off sharp at 37th.

[trkaiser]

MNDOT is currently finalizing the Central rebuild up to 694, and the current vision will likely include a slight road diet up to somewhere around 44th - give or take - and should include a significant upgrade for bikes and pedestrians throughout the corridor. It's currently looking pretty good given the constraints, and that the F-line will be coming through at the same time. The project was delayed to coordinate the efforts.