Road Geek Topics

[froggie]

I wouldn't be so quick to rock that boat. The nice thing about using those existing MUTCD standards/regulations is that local jurisdictions are able to try out these advisory bike lanes without being required to request an experimental variance from FHWA (Federal Highway Administration).

[mattaudio]

Examples of streets they COULD try this on:

50th east of Lake Nokomis yes please, this is one of my primary bike routes since it is much faster than the creek path
54th between Portland and the lake already has advisory bike lanes and no centerline
Chicago Ave south of the creek this section has full bike lanes

[mattaudio]

I wouldn't be so quick to rock that boat. The nice thing about using those existing MUTCD standards/regulations is that local jurisdictions are able to try out these advisory bike lanes without being required to request an experimental variance from FHWA (Federal Highway Administration).

Is there a law requiring cities to follow the MUTCD?

[froggie]

54th between Portland and the lake already has advisory bike lanes and no centerline
Chicago Ave south of the creek this section has full bike lanes

Sorry...only been in the old neighborhood once in the last 3 years...

Is there a law requiring cities to follow the MUTCD?

Yes. Federal law under Title 23, US Code, Section 109(d), plus Title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 655.603, dictate that the MUTCD is the national standard for signs, signals, and markings. Not always followed, but there is legal status behind the MUTCD.

[FISHMANPET]

It's the national standard, but I don't believe that means we're required to follow it.

[woofner]

Actually non-federal aid streets in Minnesota use the MN MUTCD, which has a standard of 6000 vehicles per day. That opens up quite a bit more Minneapolis streets for centerline removal, although I'd guess they'd require additional treatments on most of them to satisfy liability concerns.

Edit: my bad, I see that's the number froggie used. Still it's worth noting that it's the state manual that specifically applies here rather than the federal.

[froggie]

The state manual is basically the Federal manual with a few Minnesota-specific items added. And MnDOT often works closely with FHWA for changes to the Federal manual.

[twincitizen]

I found a document this morning that may be of interest, "Road Jurisdiction in Hennepin County":
http://www.hennepin.us/~/media/hennepin ... iction.pdf

I was hoping it would get into the topic of future turnbacks / jurisdiction changes, but it's only vaguely hinted at. I know there has been discussion of turning back County Road 52 (Nicollet Ave from MN-62 to Old Shakopee Rd/CR-1). The section of Nicollet Ave between Crosstown and Lake Street was turned back to Minneapolis years ago.

In the Richfield-Bloomington area, I'm surprised that neither 77th St or American Boulevard are Hennepin County roads. American Boulevard would seemingly meet the qualifications.

*Note, there is another completely unrelated CR-52 designation on East Hennepin Ave from Washington Ave to the County line / Larpenteur.

[mattaudio]

*Note, there is another completely unrelated CR-52 designation on East Hennepin Ave from Washington Ave to the County line / Larpenteur.

I'm away from my file cabinet full of vintage maps, but I seem to recall that these two sections were just one long route before the Nicollet turnback.

But speaking of unrelated routes with the same number, here's some trivia. Which state highway(s) share a number despite having nothing to do with each other, and why? Hennepin County is involved.

[mister.shoes]

Trivia: MN-62. It shares ROW with Cty-62, so why not number them both the same?

[mattaudio]

Yes, it's 62. But the entire highway was built by Hennepin County until MnDOT and the county flipped some urban streets routing for the Crosstown and CR 18 freeway (now 169) back in the early 90s or so.

The other (original) MN-62 connects Windom and Fulda in Southwest MN.

[froggie]

I was hoping it would get into the topic of future turnbacks / jurisdiction changes, but it's only vaguely hinted at.

That would be on this map (the "Map E" mentioned in the chapter). I'd like to note that there are noticeably fewer candidates on this map than past versions.

*Note, there is another completely unrelated CR-52 designation on East Hennepin Ave from Washington Ave to the County line / Larpenteur.

As Matt indicated, they're part of the same route. It's just that the segment through south Minneapolis was turned back to the city over the years.

Yes, it's 62. But the entire highway was built by Hennepin County until MnDOT and the county flipped some urban streets routing for the Crosstown and CR 18 freeway (now 169) back in the early 90s or so.

1988, officially. But he's right. MnDOT chose to keep the "62" numbering in order to avoid confusion, and concluded that there would be a minimal confusion factor between the two state highway 62's.

The other (original) MN-62 connects Windom and Fulda in Southwest MN.

Which, IMO, should be MN-17 instead. It's a number that hasn't been used in over 30 years and fits in well with the adjacent CSAH 17 in Windom.

[twincitizen]

Earlier this summer, Carew Dr and Puckett Pl were relocated near Target Field. Instead of official/legal street renamings, they were instead added as "commemorative street names", while the legal street name remains.

They are now going ahead with officially renaming the former Dome-adjacent Carew Dr back to "S 9th Avenue". The new commemorative name will be "Bud Grant Dr". No word yet on removing the old Kirby Puckett Pl name on Chicago Ave. It remains on the map in this doc:
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups ... 133466.pdf

[mattaudio]

I assume the other short stretch of 9th Ave, Norm McGrew Place, will be remaining since he wasn't exclusively tied to landing the Twins organization?

[twincitizen]

I wonder if he was ever part of "The Consortium"

[twincitizen]

Leave it to MinnPost to write a full article about this minutiae: http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy ... -rod-carew

It notes that "Chicago Avenue" in front of the stadium is still officially named "Kirby Puckett Place". They anticipate the Vikings will ask for some kind of commemorative name for that street as well, and presumably the official street name will return to Chicago Avenue (ironically, in front of the Minnesota sports stadium)

[Anondson]

The number of defective cars still on the road is alarming. Recalls of anything doesn't bring in every faulty product. But there seems to be no product as prone to recalled parts as cars. And the consequences of car part recalls is often death.

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/05/ ... =SFTwitter

We need to find a better way to get these cars off the road and get their defect repaired.

I'm adding this to my mental list of ignored road dangers.

[mulad]

The Brits require cars to be regularly inspected under what is commonly called the "MOT test"

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOT_test

[froggie]

$22 million. That's how much it'll cost MnDOT to turn back Highway 5 in Washington County to the county...

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... ton-county

[Anondson]

It was implied at a recent city council meeting I attended in Hopkins that reducing a road's posted speed limit must first go through a speed study, such a study could turn a result that speeds are in need of being increased also.

Even roads being reconstructed must have the posted speed limit from before the reconstruction the same as it was if no speed study is conducted. Fearing a speed study might come back with a need to increase speeds, none will be done and the road will be rebuilt with 35 as a posted speed. But the road will be rebuilt with lane widths of 10.8 feet to make people feel uncomfortable driving too fast.

This seems unnecessarily burdensome to reduce a posted speed, and it seems unnecessarily easy to increase a posted speed. It seems that a road evolving from one that served industry and served eighteen wheeled trailers to a road that will serve as a residential street shouldn't have such a difficult time reducing speeds to levels safe for residential use.