urbanMSP

Provide feedback on plans for the 98th & Lyndale area in Bloomington: https://letstalk.bloomingtonmn.gov/west ... l#tool_tab

One concept even includes bus lanes! I assume they would only be a short distance, and I'm not sure if a general lane in each direction would be removed for it, but still surprising that it's being considered.

From the plans it only looks like it would be eastbound for the orange line before it turns into the transit station. Wish they could consider an online station as part of this project.

Even though the bridge is going to need to be replaced in the next 15 years, building an inline station doesn't seem to be on anyone's radar.

The City and County are making plans to reconstruct the 1st Avenue S, 10th Avenue S, Nicollet Avenue S and Pillsbury Avenue S Bridges over the Midtown Greenway.

Source.

Hennepin County has begun planning for the reconstruction of Franklin Avenue (Street?) between Lyndale and Chicago Avenues. This presentation prepared for the Minneapolis Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committees gives more details: https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/download ... esentation

By the way anyone here have thoughts about the newly reconstructed section of Franklin between Hennepin and Lyndale? I haven't been over there in ages.

New Franklin between Hennepin and Lyndale is pretty good. Crossing on Bryant to get to the ped/bike overpass is much better now with a median/refuge. Since it’s really short and the sections on either side are less bike friendly I haven’t tried biking it yet. Could see it getting a lot more bike ridership with Hennepin reconstruction and this project getting built


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Without annotation of those road widths, it's a bit hard to understand how they can do sidewalks and bikeways on Segment 4 and not on Segment 2, despite both having the same effective width (and Segment 4 even having a narrower legal width). I am guessing they are planning on taking more of the legal ROW for Segment 4?

A thing that sometimes bugs me about these plans is that consistency is not listed specifically as a value. But I think consistency is actually extremely important for any transportation user of any mode. There is a hodgepodge of bicycle facility designs in the city and it feels like we are finally coalescing around a house style; with dark stained concrete at the sidewalk level and a (not absolute) preference for having a wider cycletrack on one side versus narrower lanes on both sides. Here however, because of the way that Franklin was built between Hennepin and Lyndale, it's important to be consistent and have bikeways on both sides of the street. These plans do that, which is a good step. But then they also envision a different road design at Segment 2 right in the middle, which kind of sabotages the intention. Is it really not possible to use the same general design throughout the corridor? I wish consistency were a higher priority.

I totally agree. I think constancy is important as a user but even more so because inconsistency leads to drivers doing stupid shit.

I think we also need to start doing raised crosswalks and this would be a perfect place to start.

Does Anyone know why they have been installing gate arms on the on ramps to 94. I noticed them on the east bound on ramps off hennepin and not they are on the west bound on ramp at Vandalia in st paul

I've been wondering the same thing. They appear to be manually operated, so maybe not 'security' infrastructure, such as quickly closing the freeway due to an emergency. Cursory search through their design standards didn't get any hits.

I'm pretty sure they use them outstate to close whatever road they are on in the winter, but why they have them in the Twin Cities baffles me.

Mndot got back to me and said they were looking to install these "for a couple of years" they are being installed for "namely for incident management purposes along the I-94 corridor"

Although there was a major crash blocking the vandalia on ramp today and they did not use them

I'm going to guess that "incident management" is euphemistic for protesters on the freeway, not weather / crash related access management.

Lol yea that is how I interpreted it too

I can see them being used if there was a big crash or major disaster/demonstration. I've lived here since 2000 and don't remember any freeway in the metro ever being shut down for weather.

Would they be used if the freeway is flooded? The only time I can recall a freeway in our region being flooded is 494 in Bloomington in 1987, possibly also 35W across the Minnesota River in 1965, but if we get a higher frequency of heavy rainfall events then it could make a flooded freeway more likely.

IIRC 35W used to flood a couple times around Diamond Lake Road, but that was before they redid that interchange, I can't remember if it was a standalone project or if it was part of the 35W-62 project.

Highway 36 Roseville to Maplewood survey closes today.

https://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/proje ... index.html

On-ramp gate arms have also been installed from University Ave to 35W bridge... it seems like all the locations where they've had previous protestor problems.

MnDot has concluded their 35W North Gateway study:

https://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/proje ... index.html

Through an extensive technical analysis, it became apparent that several of the key metrics needed to be re-evaluated post COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of continuing with the study process, the project team decided to document the current work in a report. The report will be used to inform future area projects, though nothing has been scheduled for construction at this time.

...

Anticipated upcoming projects that will build on the I-35W North Gateway study include:

• Studying long-range Hwy 36 improvements in Roseville, Little Canada and Maplewood for people traveling by vehicle or hauling freight, as well as those crossing the highway on foot or by bicycle
• Increasing the functionality of University Ave. and SE 4th St. from Central Ave. to I-35W
• Reconstructing all bridges within the I-35W North Gateway study limits by 2040. This includes redesigning the space for vehicles and people walking and bicycling to provide consistently safe and comfortable crossings of I-35W
• University Ave. and SE 4th St. over I-35W in Minneapolis will be the first bridges to be reconstructed