urbanMSP

While we're on the subject, I don't see the point in using a streetcar vehicle in the Greenway. For the sake of operation/maintenance/parts efficiencies, why not just run single car LRT vehicles? There is a lot to be said, from a fiscal standpoint, for not introducing yet another vehicle type. That...

they should study rerouting the 21 to the trench. Doubt the politics will work with that idea though.

And I hope it stays that way! A bus would be really inappropriate in the Greenway. I can't imagine riding a bike in a trench next to buses. It really does not sound pleasant.

Just sharing my own experience, not necessarily disagreeing with your conclusion. A bus trip from West Lake LRT to Hiawatha is easily a 30-40 minute trip This is highly variable. When I ride the 53 at either 8am or 8:30am from Uptown, I get to downtown St. Paul in 45 minutes, so it can't possibly ta...

Just came from a meeting where a Northsider asked why this isn't running on Broadway. He meant ALL the way down Broadway, not down Penn. Yes, I had the same question a year ago. The answer I got from Hennepin county was, "it's too slow." Bollocks. This thing should go down Broadway and Was...

Hopefully this headline works out as is. This would allow the blue line extension to go forward. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/12/18/regional/golden-valley-considers-approval-of-bottineau-rail-reoute/ Head the version of this before the vote. I was particularly struck by the quo...

Yes. A wasteful use of valuable land in the CBD. They aren't going to capture the magic of Rice Park or even Peavy Plaza.

Couldn't have said it better.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a Greenway streetcar. I just want to make sure it's the right decision. I've said before that I'm worried about it taking business away from Lake Street, but I think if done properly, we could mitigate that. I've always hoped that a West Lake to Hiawatha line w...

I have a feeling that we might be able to consolidate Nicollet and I-35W stops by placing it somewhere btwn 1st Ave and Stevens.

You'd want to keep the Nicollet stop as a transfer to a N/S streetcar line.

C'mon, give me a little credit. Central Corridor gets its own right of way. Which does what, exactly, for speed of service? I drive University during rush hour regularly and traffic hasn't really been an issue since all the lanes reopened. No way this is going to get this, and no way it's going to ...

If it runs down Lake Street, it's going to be no faster than the 53. Why bother?

Capacity. People asked the same question about LRT on University and they got the same answer.

Really, the 53 isn't all _that_ slow. I take it all the time from one end of the line to the other.

To think we had dedicated electrified rail transit right of way from 31st and Irving all the way out to downtown Hopkins up until about 60 years ago... Actually, all the way from downtown St. Paul through the U and out to Lake Minnetonka! It was the Central Corridor of its day, the backbone of the ...

I believe the depot is being used as an office for the Twin Cities & Western, though their main location is out in Glencoe. Maybe there are two depots. The one I'm talking about is now a coffee shop run by kids from the high school. It is east of 169, which I had forgot about. It wouldn't make ...

1. Agreed, how much did that skyway cost? That's the one they re-installed and had an effing ribbon cutting for, correct? Yep. The ribbon cutting was a bit excessive. Is this skyway such an important link that St. Paul spent public $ to build a "temporary" one, albeit long-term temporary?...

News items for today: 1. Another Patch opinion piece , this time by an old Hopkins business owner that doesn't get it. The comments are spectacular though (no sarcasm). Well, the author does have a point. Because of where it's routed, not too many LRT riders will even *see* downtown Hopkins, much l...

Parking doesn't bother me, as long as it's not subsidized and as long as it's not done in a way that diminishes the inherent value of adjacent land uses. I'm pretty sure this whole thing will be subsidized. It's likely a parking ramp will be part of this. I just hope they don't screw it up like the...

I would far prefer closing 5th street through this section and landscaping it heavily than to have two full block parks. The current county uses (Jail, huge parking ramps, Judicial Offices etc.) facing these game-day plazas, *oops, I mean 'parks', aren't going to change, nor add any vitality to suc...

It's a good bet that all surface parking in the area from 5th to 11th Av, and from 3rd to 6th St will be gone by 2016. How does everyone here feel about structured parking as part of this project. It's pretty prominent given the MinnPost story today, which has Rybak singing the praises of parking r...

Yikes is that skyway just intended to be temporary?

Depends what you mean by temporary. It's permanent until someone comes along and develops that parcel.

It is "visually jarring," shall we say?

At this point I definitely don't want to start all over again, but if I had my way, the LRT line would have gone down Excelsior Boulevard. I think an extended Como-Harriet line would work very well. Much of the original private right-of-way is still intact and in public hands. It would make a nice ...

I don't want to be all critical.

I REALLY like how you incorporated a"BRT" and/or streetcars in a way that's doesn't crowd things too much.