urbanMSP

It looks like traffic forecasts indicate a need for 4 lanes towards the very end of the planning horizon, so the plan is to build a twin span at a later date. I'm not sure if this is just to cheap out now, or not but several decades of wear on a piece of infrastructure when it could be built fresh in the future, or because they think the forecasts might not be accurate. It's a different story than at Winona, when part of the reason for having twin spans is because they want to preserve the old one, which means it needs to be shut down for an extended period and the new span can handle all the traffic during that time.

494 capacity expansion in Plymouth begins today.

This should really be a MnPASS lane. It's ridiculous how people want general purpose lanes. I'd rather have a lane that allows me to pay for performance, if we're going to be adding pavement. Just imagine if every freeway in the metro had a lane converted to MnPASS. I'd gladly pay to move fast whenever I have the misfortune of being on an urban freeway.

Oh god. This stretch. We have to take 494 to 94 to get to the cabin and this is where it is always backed wayyyy up. It goes to 2 lanes when most of the people going to Rogers and such haven't gotten off yet. Hopefully this will help it because right now it's a nightmare.

I would always have to take 494 up to the cabin as well, and this part was always a nightmare. Glad to see them finally correct this. Never made sense to go from 6 lane to 4 in this area.

Is 94 past Rogers getting an additional lane as well? That really needs it too.

Extra Lanes do not solve Holiday Traffic Congestion Problems. Our interstates should not be designed and our tax money should not be spent to make a small percentage of people's ride to their cabin 30 minutes faster 15 summer friday afternoons a year. It should be built to accommodate the people and traffic patterns it deals with on a daily basis. (Disclaimer: I grew up in (and my parents still live in) Maple Grove right in the middle of this holiday weekend clusterFword, and was an innocent victim of its delay many times, AND my family has a cabin just south of Alexandria, so don't think I'm an unaffected bystander running my mouth, I still don't think a ton of freeway expansion is the answer)

General discussion of the merits of tolling freeways has been split into a new thread:
https://forum.streets.mn/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2886

My aunt lives off 494/55 in Plymouth. From what I've seen, heavy backups are a daily occurrence, not just a summer weekend thing. This, plus long-standing policy of a goal for a 6-lane beltway, is what's driving this decision.

I lived in Plymouth near the segment in question 15 years ago, and heavy backups were a daily occurrence then, too. That is the nature of an auto-dependent transportation system. Why is it all of the sudden necessary to add lanes to pretend to fix it? MnDot could have spent $50m on building a proto-BRT system on 55 and 394 instead. It was an expression of their values that they chose to spend the money on something that would only benefit cars instead.

Not unrelated to this problem is that these cities failed to develop a rational arterial grid to get between neighboring cities and neighborhoods. They built up around on the assumption the highways would always be the useful arterial.

Yes, they are post-freeway "exit ramp suburbs". I grew up in one of those. They're hell for anything that isn't commuting into the central city, and they aren't great for that either. But hey, big lot! Cheap land! Big house!

Edit: by the by, I think I just coined the term "exit ramp suburb".

This is still being done on the cheap, even with a full added lane. Although they're not cheating on the lane width or shoulders there's using an unbonded concrete overlay rather than a full reconstruction. So in 30 years rather than 60 the pavement condition will be a problem again...

I-494/Hwy 62 Congestion Relief Study
https://www.bloomingtonmn.gov/about-blo ... 2016-02-10
Survey open through 2/29/16.

Why is there so much congestion on 494 and 62 in the first place?

Because we are not properly pricing it.

Amongst other myriad reasons...the basis of which depends on your viewpoint.

Because we have major freeways that are only two or three lanes wide.

Because we are not properly pricing it.

I assume you've got some sort of a keyboard shortcut so you don't have to actually type this out every time.

Do you disagree with the premise because it's not the status quo or do you just like making ad hominem attacks on Matt as often as possible?

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Whatever it was it sure was funny

For real though I don't think it was an attack or defense of the current system.

Let's hope this puts greater emphasis on BRT running from Eden Prairie to the airport along 494/American.