Nicollet-Central Streetcar

[grant1simons2]

I caught onto this project a bit late. I didn't know they already had stations in the planning. I'll revamp the map tonight and it'll be golden for tomorrow. A.k.a: dead sunday, cause this forum is dead silent

[orangevening]

I don't think this really entails getting rid of all the buses on the street--there are plenty that wouldn't make a lot of sense to move (especially whatever remains of the 18). But with a streetcar running at 7-10 minute frequencies all day, every day, I think you could redirect some of the less legible routes and still keep up activity on the street.

I think a bigger issue for the streetcar is vehicles parked on the mall (see post-farmers market Thursdays). Buses can go around, when they can. Streetcars not so much.

[EOst]

I suspect they're not going to allow parking there anymore. They already probably shouldn't.

[twincitizen]

This sounds somewhat significant: http://finance-commerce.com/transit/201 ... g-forward/

I wonder how many "No" votes (in addition to Jeff Johnson, of course)

[John21]

Let's put the $200 mil towards some BRT. We already have 2 streetcars going through downtown.

[EOst]

This sounds somewhat significant: http://finance-commerce.com/transit/201 ... g-forward/

I wonder how many "No" votes (in addition to Jeff Johnson, of course)

Glad to see they're keeping this in motion, given the radio silence recently.

[grant1simons2]

Let's put the $200 mil towards some BRT. We already have 2 streetcars going through downtown.

wut

[Nathan]

Let's put the $200 mil towards some BRT. We already have 2 streetcars going through downtown.

wut

some people think brt is a better use of money, some people think more people will ride street cars...it's a long debate, that post doesn't really add any insight, just ignore.

[John21]

Let's put the $200 mil towards some BRT. We already have 2 streetcars going through downtown.

wut

Light rail stops at stop lights downtown. It was a joke. Sort of.

[grant1simons2]

It's not really a joke but okay. I'm not going to get into this

[grant1simons2]

One of the main posters at Rail-volution features the streetcar!

[mattaudio]

One of the main posters at Rail-volution features the streetcar!

blocked by a toyota matrix stuck in traffic?

[EOst]

One of the main posters at Rail-volution features the streetcar!

blocked by a toyota matrix stuck in traffic?

The 18 is only very rarely blocked by traffic on Nicollet. Most of its running time is stop frequency, merging, and intersection crossing, all of which the Streetcar won't have to deal with to the same degree.

[mattaudio]

But have you seen the rendering?
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups ... 117587.jpg

[EOst]

Admittedly, the rendering would be a lot better if that Toyota had a driver.

[Chava]

Two questions:

1. What is driver behavior like around streetcars vs buses? I've never seen streetcars in action, but I would imagine people might steer clear of them since they're on a fixed track?

2. What kind of impact will this have on the LRT tracks at 5th st and Nicollet? Is installing track crossing pretty simple, or will that cause some serious delays to LRT?

[EOst]

I can't speak to (1), but as for (2), you'd probably try to a) do that work at the same time as the rest of the Mall reconstruction, and b) do it in smaller chunks at night, while running the LRT through during the day. There would probably be a shortish period of disruption, with trains ending at DTE (presumably?) and shuttle buses covering through downtown. Think of it like the process of creating the turn-off for the Green Line south of DTE.

[mattaudio]

Railroads usually have premade diamonds they can just drop in place with a crane, but I'm sure this becomes much more complex with track embedded in concrete. My guess is they could do the actual track work for the diamond over a weekend, but the pavement work around it would require night work to bust up the existing material then put down new stuff. Likely not a lot of LRT disruption though.

[MNdible]

The electrical crossing may be more difficult than the tracks.

[Chava]

Sounds too hard. Time for a tunnel.