Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

[Tom H.]

You’re not imagining it. More transit construction is snarling travel in the Twin Cities.

Byline: "As Metro Transit’s network expands, major transportation projects are tearing up roads across the metro. Businesses say there’s not enough help to weather the disruption."

Very disappointing choice of framing. The byline could just have easily been "Road reconstruction projects are piggy-backing on transit projects to kill two birds with one stone." Tons of these projects are using transit dollars to do long-overdue street repairs.

[Anondson]

Yeah, disappointed at that framing, though there is a seed of a point. And that is that there are layers and layers of different governments that could coordinate better but what they do is just coming across as chaos.

In the Blake Road example, the county rebuilt Blake Road, then MNDOT rebuilt the 169 bridge over Nine Mile Creek, immediately followed by LRT disrupting, immediately followed by Trilogy starting development, immediately followed by MNDOT reconstructing the 169/Excelsior intersections.

It’s been about a decade of detours and intersection closures from one government or another, with stealth notices.

While Blake Road is nearly done, the cold Storage site isn’t done and surely more lane closures are coming as Alatus resumes the project?

[COLSLAW5]

Don't know if this is new news but Metro Transit plans on identifying 3 new corridors for BRT in 2025. Fingers crossed the 18/nicollet ave makes the list first.

Also 2025 openings

Gold line - Saturday, March 22

B Line - Saturday, June 14

E Line - Saturday, December 6

[minntransplant]

Don't know if this is new news but Metro Transit plans on identifying 3 new corridors for BRT in 2025. Fingers crossed the 18/nicollet ave makes the list first.

Also 2025 openings

Gold line - Saturday, March 22

B Line - Saturday, June 14

E Line - Saturday, December 6

That would make my year if they announce BRT for the 18! It deserves the upgrade.

[daveybabymsp]

If they just followed the order based on rankings from the previous study, it would be Johnson/lyndale, Nicollet, and Randolph/east 7th, since broadway is now going to be light rail. Could definitely make sense to do Nicollet first since the streetcar is dead and it would be better spaced between the D and E lines than Lyndale

[daveybabymsp]

If they just followed the order based on rankings from the previous study, it would be Johnson/lyndale, Nicollet, and Randolph/east 7th, since broadway is now going to be light rail. Could definitely make sense to do Nicollet first since the streetcar is dead and it would be better spaced between the D and E lines than Lyndale

After thinking about this more, I would bet on West 7th replacing Randolph/east 7th since the Riverview Street Car is dead


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tcmetro]

The Purple Line is also in limbo at this time and they may be considering a letter bus line replacement.

Nicollet is a no-brainer.

For Brooklyn Park they should consider extending the C Line along Brooklyn Blvd to Starlite and extending the D Line to Shingle Creek Library or up to 69th Ave.

[Silophant]

Yeah, despite Johnson/Lyndale's high score, I have trouble believing that they'll do a route that parallels other BRT routes within a half mile for most of its length while there's still so many areas with no BRT service at all.

I'm guessing the Nicollet corridor will certainly become the J Line, but it's harder to predict what they'll do for K and L. Once the Blue Line Extension and F Line are in place, a Lowry BRT starts to make a lot of sense, with 5 BRT connections. Gotta do one in St Paul too, but I don't really have a sense of whether it would be better to do Randolph/E 7th (despite the Purple Line uncertainty), Grand (despite having the same 'half mile from a parallel BRT line' issue as Johnson/Lyndale), or just throw up our hands and do the W 7th Line that was supposed to be in service back in 2016.

[Tcmetro]

I think that W 7th St is likely going to be the front runner for a lettered "BRT" line now that Riverview Streetcar is off the table.

Lowry is interesting, and would have a great network effect. It's not quite there on ridership or service levels yet. For what it's worth, the 2 on Franklin used to have 45 min frequencies on weekends in the 90s, so it's definitely possible to develop the ridership.

[twincitizen]

Yeah, despite Johnson/Lyndale's high score, I have trouble believing that they'll do a route that parallels other BRT routes within a half mile for most of its length while there's still so many areas with no BRT service at all.

I'm guessing the Nicollet corridor will certainly become the J Line, but it's harder to predict what they'll do for K and L. Once the Blue Line Extension and F Line are in place, a Lowry BRT starts to make a lot of sense, with 5 BRT connections. Gotta do one in St Paul too, but I don't really have a sense of whether it would be better to do Randolph/E 7th (despite the Purple Line uncertainty), Grand (despite having the same 'half mile from a parallel BRT line' issue as Johnson/Lyndale), or just throw up our hands and do the W 7th Line that was supposed to be in service back in 2016.

I agree that Johnson-Lyndale seems likely to get pushed back if Nicollet advances, due to proximity to other corridors, optics of investing so heavily in south, and ridership on the 4 not recovering as quickly as other routes. But OTOH Lyndale has a reconstruction coming up that would pair well with BRT construction, and it would be nice to see NE get a second line, so maybe.

West 7th seems like a lock to advance due to the timing of MnDOT's road construction project in 2028-29. They'll need to identify station locations pretty quickly.

The Purple Line may or may not happen in its current alignment but the project isn't officially dead yet. East 7th could remain on hold unless Metro Transit announces very soon that they are abandoning the Purple Line project. If they separate Cedar from Broadway, it's easy to imagine Cedar as a relatively short extension of the C Line, since the Cedar corridor they studied only goes to 38th before turning east to the Blue Line station. Lowry is a dark horse candidate to be included among the next 3, because it would make so much sense to open that in ~2031 with the Blue Line extension.

[Tcmetro]

To your point about Lyndale Ave, Metro Transit should really work with Mpls and St Paul (and the inner suburbs) to add stations of the same quality to any street with a regular bus line that is being reconstructed. There's something to be said for incrementally upgrading the entire system as other road infrastructure is replaced.

[angrysuburbanite]

Hope they consider trackless trolleys for future routes. Nicollet and West 7th are both good candidates because of how straight they are. Selby-Lake would have been a good one too.

[Silophant]

To your point about Lyndale Ave, Metro Transit should really work with Mpls and St Paul (and the inner suburbs) to add stations of the same quality to any street with a regular bus line that is being reconstructed. There's something to be said for incrementally upgrading the entire system as other road infrastructure is replaced.

Yeah. It's been a good outcome that the eastbound B Line station under the Blue Line was built with that redevelopment and has been serving customers since 2017(!) even though the B Line itself won't be operational until next summer.

With the Broadway half of the Broadway-Cedar corridor being preempted by the Blue Line Extension, I wonder if they'd consider extending the C Line on both ends? Adding both the Cedar/38th St and the 63rd/Zane segments would make for a route that's just shy of 18 miles, or 17 if they scrap the 724's jog over to the high school. A long route, still, but shorter than the D or H Lines.

[HuskyGrad]

Hope they consider trackless trolleys for future routes. Nicollet and West 7th are both good candidates because of how straight they are. Selby-Lake would have been a good one too.

A bus?

[angrysuburbanite]

A bus?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybus
Trolleybus!

[HuskyGrad]

A bus?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybus
Trolleybus!

There won’t be another one of those built. The technology is being supplanted by battery-electric buses. For the infrastructure costs, you may as well build a streetcar.

[Silophant]

Nicollet would be the ideal corridor to use trolleybuses on, if we were going to, with the depot right smack in the middle of the route. But, yeah, electric buses are getting there, there's no real reason to build catenary if you're not also going to build rail.

[Tcmetro]

Westbound Route 9 buses will move from 9th St to 7th St in downtown Minneapolis. Riders will be able to more easily transfer to METRO C and D lines and other local routes. Bus lanes along 7th St will lead to more reliable travel time through downtown Minneapolis. Riders will have better waiting facilities along 7th St, with real-time signage and heating.

From a rider alert - apparently Metro Transit moved the #9 bus from 9th St to 7th St on 12/21.

With the 7 moving to Washington, the 94 to be replaced with the Gold Line and moved to 8th St outbound, and the potential pedestrianization of Nicollet Mall, there's a clear effort to consolidate routes in the downtown area.

[daveybabymsp]

Westbound Route 9 buses will move from 9th St to 7th St in downtown Minneapolis. Riders will be able to more easily transfer to METRO C and D lines and other local routes. Bus lanes along 7th St will lead to more reliable travel time through downtown Minneapolis. Riders will have better waiting facilities along 7th St, with real-time signage and heating.

From a rider alert - apparently Metro Transit moved the #9 bus from 9th St to 7th St on 12/21.

With the 7 moving to Washington, the 94 to be replaced with the Gold Line and moved to 8th St outbound, and the potential pedestrianization of Nicollet Mall, there's a clear effort to consolidate routes in the downtown area.

Consolidation + bus lanes is the way to go


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Silophant]

Weird to do it two weeks after the big December service change, but it's a good change to make. Wonder if we'll ever get an 8th St bus lane to match the one on 7th?