urbanMSP

Yep, agree. I don't see the point of LRT beyond West End, at least until there's crushing capacity for buses on the freeway and more jobs in the corridor. Although I would like to see more concentrated nodes of development along the corridor rather than the existing mishmash.

Drove past the booming city of Elk Run earlier this morning... the interchange seems to be taking forever. Anyways I was unable to snap photos due to a time crunch, but I thought it was interesting they have installed freeway-style overhead masts on the two approaches bridge over 52. Looking into th...

What right do we have to tell land owners that they should keep/build spaces with lower rents than the spaces they could otherwise command. This is just like the affordable housing debate but for retail. There will always be areas of the city, even areas in or close to Dinkytown, with low rents. Mor...

I wonder if there's any way to make it so the floor plates of parking ramps under buildings could be converted to other uses in the future. Obviously not the parts with actual ramps between levels, but seems to me like it would be wise to allow for this in design.

I think the best option is to forget about the MN&S alignment in the near to mid term. Build a LRT spur to West End, which could eventually go south or it could cut north and continue west on 394 (or both). Then built regional rail on the UP, SPUD>Shakopee>Belle Plaine/Le Sueur>St. Peter>Mankato...

That's why we should be starting with Hennepin-University instead of Nicollet Central :) We'd preserve Nicollet for a future cut-cover north-south spine, could put aBRT on Nicollet/Central for now, and have a streetcar starter that connects Uptown, Loring Park, Downtown, Near Northeast, and the U. A...

Also, recently I've been trying to place a value on some of the necessities of rail that are just niceties with bus lines. Jarrett Walker has talked about this, how things like offboard fare payment, station amenities, and segments of dedicated ROW are mode agnostic and therefore not inherent to rai...

That's true, although I'm hesitant for such large facilities to locate downtown because they require superblocks that can get in the way of neighborhoods. The Heywood Garage and the Green Line facility will both be mistakes in the next couple decades as North Loop/Lowertown fill out and start pushin...

Where in SLP? Somewhere in addition to West End? Wooddale and Lake might work, depending on what happens with the reroute plans.

Most of these big chains have lots of different marquees used in the same city. In Mpls, Starwood has the Ivy, Westin, W Foshay, Chambers, Aloft, etc. Marriott has the Marriott, Depot Renaissance, Hotel Minneapolis, and the Residence Inn on Lasalle. Hilton already has the Hilton, Marquette, Doubletr...

It's downtown St. Paul, not River Falls...

Isn't the point of a rail line that it connects cities instead of bypassing them? Granted, the UP in Shakopee is one degree removed from street running and trains are very slow, but I think it would make more sense to invest in some grade separation and other fixes downtown that would allow for fast...

Also, it seems like this project will mean buses looping off of Superior and into this terminal facility. To me this screams Gateway or Leamington or ABC Ramps on a small scale.. not something that enhances street life. It also precludes the option to interline some bus routes in the future, instead...

It seems like we spend so much money on transit centers and parking structures. Often this is the result of leveraging some federal grant. How far would $28 million go to establish aBRT in Duluth? In a general sense, I'm always happy to see transit investment in smaller communities. I'd rather see a...

I wonder if it would be easier to move the rail to 6th Street at the point down the line when it needs to go underground. The big challenge would be alignment/grade near Target Field -- maybe transition to deep bore west of Hennepin? Otherwise seems like it would be easier to tunnel under an existin...

Regarding the streetcar, part of me wishes we were starting with Hennepin/University from Uptown to UMN, since such a project would not preclude a future cut and cover tunnel on Nicollet/Central from 29th St/Nicollet to 8th St SE/Hennepin/Central.

You're not wrong, of course, but if you're living in an area as dense as where you live, you shouldn't be buying tickets at $2.25 a go anyway - a metropass is $60 a month and at that point it's a fixed cost that allows you to ride as much as you want. I wonder if there would be a simple way to redu...

They sure don't seem to be developing this at a *rapid* pace. Har har.

Yes, and I have a few colleagues who stay there when in town despite the office being a car ride away. Business travelers often like to stay in these hot neighborhoods since they have more life than many areas of the CBD once you get back from the office. I love hanging out in smaller neighborhoods ...

I like it. A few things: - The MN&S crosses the TC&W/Green Line about half way between the proposed Louisiana and Wooddale stations. Not sure if this would be a feasible connection unless somehow my crazy TC&W reroute proposal goes through, moving the rails under Brunswick Ave and crossi...