urbanMSP

I agree. Leave it the way the picture has it. But all the freeways and stuff underground. Preaching to the choir.


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The funny thing about construction is that it actually proves we don't need it. The world hasn't ended.

At least bury the damn thing. ugh.

You're right! The world also didn't end before we had bike lanes, so clearly we don't need those either.

We should bury *transit* in urban nodes, and leave the streets for bikes, pedestrians, and commerce (trucks, vans).

Highways should ring cities, not penetrate them. Or just replace highways with inter-city trains.

You're right! The world also didn't end before we had bike lanes, so clearly we don't need those either.

... A lot more people died, we're injured, didn't bike, and contributed to pollution.

You're right! The world also didn't end before we had bike lanes, so clearly we don't need those either.

Then we (the bikers) will bike on the road, which is legal, and if motorists don't like it then support bike lanes.

Wait for it.

I'm actually suggesting that both bike lanes and freeways are worthwhile and important parts of our transportation system.

Mind blowing.

Would people here really prefer having this level of daily traffic on Park/Portland/Nicollet/etc? There's a lot of space between "the world is ending" and "everything's fine."

If there was better public transit (more than just ABRT) I wouldn't mind.

With all the giant earthwork happening in that photo, it sure is a shame we're not getting a rail transit right-of-way in that corridor between the south end of downtown and the Greenway or even further south.

With all the giant earthwork happening in that photo, it sure is a shame we're not getting a rail transit right-of-way in that corridor between the south end of downtown and the Greenway or even further south.

Yeah, talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity.

But I’m guessing this was designed years ago.

It appears from project documents that the 35th, 36th, and 42nd Street bridges across 35W aren't going to be reconstructed as part of the current massive project. Does anybody have any sense as to why? Sure seems like you'd take care of these while everything else is messed up.

38th wasn't even reconstructed... simply redecked.

Well, 38th is essentially a new bridge on existing foundations. The piers were extensively reinforced, and the beams are all new. So more than a redecking.

It's odd how every bridge in the Hwy 62 to 46th St redo was replaced, and the look of those bridges ties in well with the new retaining walls. Is everything north of 46th St going to look disjointed and haphazard in comparison? To be fair, there are a lot more bridges in the northern section.

It appears from project documents that the 35th, 36th, and 42nd Street bridges across 35W aren't going to be reconstructed as part of the current massive project. Does anybody have any sense as to why? Sure seems like you'd take care of these while everything else is messed up.

Those bridges weren't on the original scope of the project, were structurally ok but incredibly poor in terms of accessibility for pedestrians, bikes and ada compliance. Multiple neighborhood organizations mobilized probably at least 5 years ago when the project had it's first meetings and were able to get more accessible decks on these overpasses added to the project. A community organizing success for sure. Some of these bridges had like 18" sidewalks.

So, this work is happening, but is technically part of a separate project? Because, as I noted, the project documents don't show any work happening to these bridges.

It's not going to change anybody's opinion, but there's only $70m going towards the interchange, for Phase 1. The other $134m adds MNpass lanes to 494.

MnDOT looks to add MnPass lanes to alleviate congestion on I-494 in Bloomington
There's a survey too.

The project is still weirdly framed, as if the scope of the project is to add 12' of asphalt to each side. In presentations, it essentially sounds like a full reconstruction (at least from France to Cedar), with the exception of the sub-20-year-old bridges (Xerxes, Penn, Lyndale). And I imagine they hope to leave some retaining walls alone as they can. Other than that, it certainly sounds like a full replacement of the highway.

I am really curious what they will do around France Ave. I assume they can't go wild there, and that bridge isn't super old (late 80s I believe). But it's awful for congesting the mainline on EB 494. It would be nice if they could at least combine both directions of France into a single longer on-ramp, rather than two busy, short-merge ramps right next to each other.