Bicycle Infrastructure

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
David Greene
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby David Greene » April 27th, 2017, 8:40 am

I wonder how bad it would be if some of this traffic shifted to Lake. At least on the bus I've not often noticed huge backups either direction during rush hour. Westbound around 35W at 5pm gets a bit hairy but that's about it.

mattaudio
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby mattaudio » April 27th, 2017, 8:41 am

I'd say "we should have transit advantages for the 27" but then it just made me think we should build transit in the Greenway trench instead.

EOst
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby EOst » April 27th, 2017, 9:19 am

How would this interact with A Line?
The stops at NB Hewitt and SB Como would be reconstructed as floating bus stops. Shouldn't be any other significant change.

grant1simons2
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby grant1simons2 » April 27th, 2017, 9:22 am

Great! Is there a timeline?

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Mooglemuffins
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Mooglemuffins » April 27th, 2017, 9:33 am

I'd say "we should have transit advantages for the 27" but then it just made me think we should build transit in the Greenway trench instead.
I think that would be a great idea. The main bike path down there only really seems to take up about half of the width of the trench, if that. Add in a light rail, or even some streetcar type setup on the other half and that would save them the trouble of having to run new rails through someones house or building since there's already nothing really down there in that trench anyways.

David Greene
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby David Greene » April 27th, 2017, 10:21 am

I'd say "we should have transit advantages for the 27" but then it just made me think we should build transit in the Greenway trench instead.
Right!

David Greene
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby David Greene » April 27th, 2017, 10:26 am

I'd say "we should have transit advantages for the 27" but then it just made me think we should build transit in the Greenway trench instead.
I think that would be a great idea. The main bike path down there only really seems to take up about half of the width of the trench, if that. Add in a light rail, or even some streetcar type setup on the other half and that would save them the trouble of having to run new rails through someones house or building since there's already nothing really down there in that trench anyways.
Be aware that there is already a completed alternatives analysis for the Midtown corridor (there's a thread about it here:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1049). The recommendation was LRT in the trench and aBRT on Lake St. The sum is greater than the parts!

We only lack funding. The breakup of CTIB could make that problem slightly easier.

Lots of good information in that thread.

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Mooglemuffins
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby Mooglemuffins » April 27th, 2017, 10:40 am


Be aware that there is already a completed alternatives analysis for the Midtown corridor (there's a thread about it here:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1049). The recommendation was LRT in the trench and aBRT on Lake St. The sum is greater than the parts!

We only lack funding. The breakup of CTIB could make that problem slightly easier.

Lots of good information in that thread.
Thanks David! I appreciate the link. Glad to hear there are some things in the works.

SurlyLHT
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby SurlyLHT » April 27th, 2017, 12:11 pm

Personally, I'll rather see a sweet linear park in the trench than transit to make the Greenway a place for the community as a whole, rather than merely cyclists and runners. With the speeds bicyclists go it isn't a great place for the general population during busy times. Put in some gardens, playgrounds, basketball courts, ice rink during the winter...world class park with the Greenway as it's spine going from the river to the lakes.

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby FISHMANPET » April 27th, 2017, 12:15 pm

Important to remember that the entire reason the Greenway exists is because Hennepin County Regional Rail Authority bought it from the railroads to preserve its use as a future transit corridor.

amiller92
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby amiller92 » April 27th, 2017, 12:49 pm

Personally, I'll rather see a sweet linear park in the trench than transit to make the Greenway a place for the community as a whole, rather than merely cyclists and runners. With the speeds bicyclists go it isn't a great place for the general population during busy times. Put in some gardens, playgrounds, basketball courts, ice rink during the winter...world class park with the Greenway as it's spine going from the river to the lakes.
Transit is for the whole community.

EOst
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby EOst » April 27th, 2017, 1:11 pm

I love the idea of Midtown LRT, but I also find the idea of a high-quality linear park in the trench to be incredibly appealing. Either would be a boon to the community. I suspect that rail would win out in a cost-benefit analysis, but I don't know if it's cut and dry.

John21
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby John21 » April 27th, 2017, 4:19 pm

If it wasn't in a trench I might be in favor of it being park. As is, LRT all the way.

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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby SkyScraperKid » April 27th, 2017, 5:18 pm

If it wasn't in a trench I might be in favor of it being park. As is, LRT all the way.
does anybody remember how many sections of the midtown greenway were points where there only could be one set of tracks? Plus those points are they going to be able to easily be upgraded to being able to fit 2 set of tracks by say 2030 or 2040? I think it would be very interesting to hear more about that, as it would be a topic of extreme importance in ensuring such a Midtown greenway LRT corridor could be possible to meet the demands of today and in the future.

David Greene
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby David Greene » April 27th, 2017, 5:31 pm

There's a whole report about it.

https://www.metrotransit.org/midtown-corridor

BBMplsMN
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby BBMplsMN » April 27th, 2017, 7:10 pm

I love the idea of Midtown LRT, but I also find the idea of a high-quality linear park in the trench to be incredibly appealing. Either would be a boon to the community. I suspect that rail would win out in a cost-benefit analysis, but I don't know if it's cut and dry.
Only if we can call the park the Low Line. When NY goes high, we go low.

grant1simons2
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby grant1simons2 » April 28th, 2017, 10:31 am


xandrex
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby xandrex » April 28th, 2017, 2:53 pm

Kind of odd that they're planning to put the bike lanes on the left side of traffic for each of these, especially because the "future 7th Street protected bikeway" would then require a northbound biker to somehow switch from the right to the left side of the road to maintain protection.

grant1simons2
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby grant1simons2 » April 28th, 2017, 2:59 pm

Maybe a head start signal for bicycles? I'd rather have the bus running on one side and bikes on the other.

xandrex
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Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Postby xandrex » April 28th, 2017, 3:05 pm

I'd be iffy about a head-start signal, if only because it only benefits bikes that are already stopped and are able to get pedaling before the rest of traffic gets to go. It doesn't help a biker that gets to the intersection when it's green.

It's not a bad idea to separate the buses and bikes, especially since this will be along the D Line. I think the solution would be to make the 7th Street protected bikeway into a two-way cyclepath along the western side of the road. That would better facilitate bikers heading north.


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