urbanMSP

This won't get anywhere without an actual engineer who knows his stuff, but given the amount of precision needed for LRT With respect, the “amount of precision needed for LRT” is not 25% higher than the level of precision needed for a building. If an LRT designer/engineer weighs in and offers suppo...

FRA issues = colocation. I get your drift but common sense would seem to indicate there are a lot more unknowns on a project that covers miles and disrupts various kinds of infrastructure vs. a project that covers tens or even hundreds of thousands of square feet. FRA issues = Colocation: Speaking ...

I suppose that the least expensive way to test the soil would be to take as few borings as possible along proposed routes, then, at each phase, take more borings and get more data and more accurate pricing. That is in fact exactly how it is done and is a major reason that the cost of SWLRT jumped s...

Granite! Granite! Get your Nicollet Mall Granite right here! http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/mat/5692038196.html Soon to go the way of the streetcar, to be replaced by stamped concrete! Modern improvements! Sorry, Poe's Law and all of that but this *appears* to be sarcastic. You prefer granit...

I think the thing is that contingency in transit projects isn't really treated like a real contingency, though it does have an emergency function in that regard. Basically, our budget model for transit projects means that everything but the basic line itself has to get stripped out of the budget to...

And, it should be pointed out that between 15% engineering and 30% engineering, the cost only rose by $40m, or 2.7%. Not that we shouldn't be wary about price increases, as other projects (SWLRT...) have certainly jumped in much higher increments when the uncertainty was supposed to be lower, but t...

When next I am DT, I will confirm the awfulness. I am just picturing the face of the architects at HKS every time a new appendage gets proposed (skyway, bridge to nowhere, etc). If there is one thing an architect loves it is an object in space.

2% engineering or $2B?

That parking ramp looks pretty awful and that skyway...wow...

New cost estimates are out: $1.536 Billion Breakdown is: FTA: $726 Million CTIB: $464 Million HCRRA: $150 Million State: $150 Million Henn Cty: $4 Million MnDot: $8 Million Brooklyn Park: $8 Million Final EIS is likely to be finished this month. http://www.metrocouncil.org/getdoc/893e6718-4065-4bf9...

Excavators are on-site at Beek's pizza. I guess that that bad, low-use, low-density project is going forward. That sucks...

Utility boxes on the front corner? Now that's just some lazy cost-cutting.

This shouldn't be allowed by zoning code. Lazy, cheap and unsightly.

I can't think of anything that fits the dimensions that you are looking for but I'm very curious to know more. Is this for a streets.mn post or a project that you are working on?

Live shot from Ryan Companies office working on the Stadium Parking Ramp discussing how they can bolster the context created by the Wells Fargo buildings.

I implied that the 6th St and the State Farm shack should be in play, so they can build a bigger project WITHOUT a gas station.

Even better.

That whole thing is crazy. I was hoping we would see a more mixed use devolopment go in here. I work in south Minneapolis. The students i teach live right in the area, east of Hennipin. That area so so horrible for pedestrians. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Can "we" (the city, stakeh...

Just saw a tweet from PLACE that they are having a fifth community discussion. Anyone else wondering if this project is a pipe dream?

...I'll see your Snob Zones and Environmental Inequalities and raise you an Alatus Tower, Nye's Development, Acme Parking Lot, Stadium Village Tower, and Linden Corner. I'll throw in Dinkytown and Uptown hotels just to sweeten the pot. Sorry, I'm missing the point and you appear to be very confiden...

Okay. In summary: The neighbor to the north may or may not be a xenophobe. Xenophobia is a part of "fear of change." There are a thousand reasons for opposing projects that may or may not be legitimate but probably aren't legitimate. I do NOT know what is in their head. Why jump to the mos...

Parking concerns are easy to arouse versus addressing the xenophobia that you are identifying (minorities, lgbtq, etc) which I'd wager to be operating just beneath the surface. Is there actually any evidence to support this accusation, or are you just speculating that somebody is a racist homophobe...