Street, Road and Highway Projects

[alexschief]

An important question here that obviously won't get asked is whether it's a good thing that these areas grow quickly. Because adding lane miles will not have a neutral impact on that growth.

I thought we had a housing shortage in the area.

There absolutely is a housing shortage, but it doesn't follow that the best way to alleviate it is to plow under some farms over 15 miles out from the city core. Housing isn't just a roof over someone's head, it's also their access to goods, services, employment, and community. Nor is housing just a number tracked by the census bureau, it's also a long-term investment or disinvestment in environmental, economic, and social sustainability.

As the realtors say; location, location, location.

[Tyler]

I thought we had a housing shortage in the area.

sprawl is not the answer

[Trademark]

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/05/0 ... -to-duluth

The senate has prohibited MnDOT from spending any money on planning or engineering for the Rondo land bridge

[MNdible]

Just like the NLX thread, it's important to note that the Senate can pass whatever amendments they want, but unless the house passes the same bill and the governor signs it, they can't prohibit anything.

[COLSLAW5]

https://www.concreteisbetter.com/wp-con ... 0116RB.pdf

This road grinding they did on 394 6 years ago seems to have reduced tire noise by 47% so why is this not something MNDot has talked about doing for 35w or highway 62?

[MNdible]

As a relatively close (but not immediate) neighbor of 35W, the tire/pavement noise is essentially white noise that doesn't bother me. Jake braking and street racing are much more bothersome.

[Mdcastle]

35W and 62 are either covered with asphalt overlays or a newer lower noise finished concrete that they first started using in the late 90s (at the time they started using weighted AstroTurf rather than fine metal rakes), not the 80s vintage concrete on 394, and apparently aren't due for major concrete rehab.

[BoredAgain]

https://www.concreteisbetter.com/wp-con ... 0116RB.pdf

This road grinding they did on 394 6 years ago seems to have reduced tire noise by 47% so why is this not something MNDot has talked about doing for 35w or highway 62?

I know it's just a side effect of my tires, but when I drive through this section, I can feel my car shake and shimmy back and forth as my tire tread interacts strangely with the grooved road surface. It took my a few times to realize what was happening and it absolutely freaked me out. I assumed something catastrophic had happened to my car and I was about to die.

[DanPatchToget]

Construction has begun on a new interchange at Highway 13 & Dakota Avenue in Savage. When completed in fall 2023 the highway will go over Dakota Avenue, which has a lot of truck traffic due to it being an entrance to the Port of Savage.

[DanPatchToget]

Anyone know what's going on at Edina's former public works site? Kind of looks like they're building a bridge over the railroad tracks just south of Gus Young Lane, but I don't see any info about it on Edina's website.

[Anondson]

There’s a recent post about it in the Grandview District thread back in January.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... -site.html

[Hero]

I’ve long had a wild idea in my head in which 77 gets the flyover and 62 gets widened — but in exchange for supporting freeway capacity, Minneapolis gets a calmed and pleasant Cedar Ave. That is, the connection from 77 to Cedar is severed, the viaduct over Nokomis goes away, and the grid is re-established between the lake and the highway. Through traffic on Cedar will be routed to the Bloomington Ave bridge over 62 and the extra ramps to/from the highway at Bloomington get removed to discourage using it as a shortcut.

Cedar has been severed for about a week now.
https://www.dot.state.mn.us/news/2022/0 ... hwy77.html

[MNdible]

Can somebody please explain to me how removing pullouts for bus stops, with the political backlash and real reduction in capacity of streets, is possibly worth the very very nominal decrease in bus travel times that it generates? Prediction: when Chicago and Lyndale both reopen in their reconfigured layouts, people are going to lose their minds.

[mattaudio]

It's also about ride quality. Swerving in and out of traffic is one of the main reasons riding the bus can become sickening.

[DanPatchToget]

Would this be an example of a bus stop with a pullout? https://www.google.com/maps/@44.8254497 ... authuser=0

If yes, then the reason for removing pullouts is because it can take awhile for buses to move back into traffic. By law motorists are supposed to yield to buses, but in reality that usually doesn't happen. The example in the link was removed in 2020 because of this.

[MNdible]

I understand why advocates think it's a good idea. That doesn't mean it's a good idea.

On four lane roads, blocking one of the lanes for a bus stop isn't a big deal, and this is the rollout that people are so far familiar with (on the Snelling aBRT). But on the new two lane roads where it's being implemented, all traffic on the road will have to stop while the bus loads and unloads. This just isn't a good tradeoff.

[Silophant]

We do have an operational example on a two-lane road, though - Penn Avenue N and the C Line. Playing around with the MnDOT AADT map, Chicago seems to have a little less traffic than Penn, so that one should work out fine. Lyndale's about twice as busy, though, and the buses will be stopping for longer, since it's just a normal route without offboard payment or all door boarding, so you're probably right on that one.

[Tcmetro]

On Penn and Plymouth traffic islands were installed to stop people from driving around the bus, which suggests that there's been some dangerous driving activity.

[DanPatchToget]

If drivers hate having to stop for a bus then they should try a different route. There's plenty of other roads in the areas of concern.

[thespeedmccool]

Six people driving personal cars can wait for 30 seconds for a bus carrying dozens of folks to stop.

If the cars don't like it, they can learn to take the bus.