urbanMSP

And obviously, it *IS* a city approvals issue, since once the new structure is built the other property owner has no reasonable recourse other than to sue their neighbor to rebuild their roof to handle the higher loads. The city would be negligent not to consider this in their approvals. Municipali...

Personally I'm glad to see the bill moving in the way it is: I think TIF is overused in many places, and while this specific project seems to me like a pretty good fit for TIF funding, I really doubt that there are too many TIF-appropriate transit projects outside the core cities, Rochester, and Dul...

I don't know what the structural status on them is; MnDot does track them, I'm sure. I also know that while they *are* on the National Register they *can* be replaced when certain criteria are met - hence they could replace the ones that have been recently replaced with a different style of bridge. ...

So, they're saying that the height differential between the two buildings will cause snow to drift up against the new building, increasing the snow load on the old building? Follow this argument to its logical conclusion, and you see that all adjacent buildings must either be exactly the same heigh...

Thanks to all who responded to my single/double track questions. It does seem like a reasonable option. Talindsay, what did you mean by this comment? I'm not seeing how the bicycle coordinator relates to no rapid transit in the greenway. Nor do I understand what you mean by the double/single street...

Took this quote from the St Croix river crossing thread. I just wish that MnPass would be compatible with the EZPass network so I don't have to keep stopping at toll booths whenever I'm in Chicago. I think that would be awesome. Regional compatibility with with toll roads and HOT lanes is a great i...

Tax day 2014: April 15.

I'm interested in the single/double streetcar option in the Greenway. On the double-tracked-streetcar-in-the-Greenway page it says it would require rebuilding bridges over the Greenway, so I could see that would make it a lot more expensive (assuming the bridges don't have to be rebuilt anyway). Bu...

The project will be 100% complete some time this summer; they're leaving a lot of time for testing and are intentionally being fuzzy on the start date. The percentage complete is on the phase we would consider "heavy construction" - it started when they started real work and completes when...

So disappointed I was in Seattle for 2 days on my honeymoon and we didn't ride the SLUT. Granted it was Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I guess we'll just have to go back.

Probably just as well that you're not telling us you rode the SLUT on your honeymoon.

Yes, Personal Rapid Transit! The technology that combines the convenience of public transit with the efficiency of private automobiles! What could go wrong?

Awesome. You nailed it.

Kvetching or not, I wouldn't doubt same was said for 94- People have full ability to walk street along each side; and cross. You're not wrong, but let's not be equivocal here - there is a huge qualitative difference. It's like comparing a fight with your sister to the Battle of the Somme. Just beca...

Yes, the rails are raw steel and rust on the surface quickly. Growing up I learned to look at the tracks to see if they were shiny - if they are, the line is in use and you shouldn't walk on the tracks. If they're orange, you can feel safe walking on them. Certainly a week of disuse will result in o...

There are approximately 68 full-time officers, 45 part-time officers, four community service officers and five administrative staff Sorry this is off-topic, but how are there "approximately 68 full-time officers"? That's a very precise number. There could be approximately 70, but if the n...

wow the huge gray navigation bar at the top is epically broken. Otherwise the site looks okay, hopefully they resolve that issue quickly.

May and June don't have the college students.

The changes to 28th and 46th look great, and are much-needed. I'm not sure the improvements to 42nd are going to do much; 35th and 38th both have such larger challenges stemming from the pedestrian-hostile nature of the east side (rail yards, industrial uses, etc.) that while I think the minor chang...

Agreed. We need to prioritize transit as a way to increase mobility, not as a way to decrease congestion. If we say that we're trying to reduce congestion, we end up with this: http://capntransit.blogspot.com/2013/01/winning-by-default-or-losing-by.html We just need to realize that reducing congest...

Actually, the comment about the windows makes me nervous for a different reason - it sounds like she's describing the Metrodome's problem as being because it doesn't have windows on the street. Obviously that's absurd, and that's not really what she means, but the implication behind it seems to be a...

If the baseball negotiations showed nothing else, they demonstrated that the Vikes are primarily interested in one-upmanship. They want to have the biggest/fanciest/best-fan-experience/shiniest/most-some-kind-of-superlative stadium they can on opening day. The whole baseball debacle was because they...