urbanMSP

green poles who cares. the lines looks like a muddled mess down univ ave in st paul. too much happening in a small space. and the stations are all identical. no indivuality like hiawatha.

I like that there's a consistent station look on the corridor. Less frilly expensive art commissions means more money for actual streetscape improvements.

green poles who cares. the lines looks like a muddled mess down univ ave in st paul. too much happening in a small space. and the stations are all identical. no indivuality like hiawatha.

Honestly, University Ave has been looking better than I have ever seen it. I suppose I find beauty in that "muddled mess" since we are finally re-building our transportation network.

As far as "individuality like Hiawatha" - most of the special features on Hiawatha stops have been broken for years. I like the consistent look of the Green line stations.

Yes, University used to look like a suburban strip, a wide piece of asphalt in bad condition with nothing hugging the street. It's not looking amazing but it's a huge improvement IMO. I also like that the Central stations present a more unified look than Hiawatha - and I guess living along Hiawatha, I don't see what makes the stations along it so special. I often hear this repeated that Hiawatha's stations are individualized and "special", but I don't really see it - sure there are some nods to the area at a few station but they're basically the same anyway. The uniformity on Central saves money for more interesting things.

University looks far, far better now than it did in 2006, when I moved here. The LRT is a huge factor, but so is the street reconstruction and sidewalk improvements that accompanied it. Even the much-maligned (by some people) walls between the tracks and the driving lanes make the street look more unified and cohesive.
It will only continue to improve, too, as vacant lots are infilled and density is added. It will be fun to watch this process in the coming decades.

"Art" will be installed at the stations this summer so I suppose each station will have something distinctive but yea, they certainly don't look like the Hiawatha stations which have those uniquely shaped shelters, features, etc. I personally like the uniformity of the Green Line stations. Some of the Hiawatha stations are very tacky and look like they were designed in the 70's IMO.

http://www.metrocouncil.org/Transportat ... -2013.aspx

Yes, University used to look like a suburban strip, a wide piece of asphalt in bad condition with nothing hugging the street. It's not looking amazing but it's a huge improvement IMO. I also like that the Central stations present a more unified look than Hiawatha - and I guess living along Hiawatha, I don't see what makes the stations along it so special. I often hear this repeated that Hiawatha's stations are individualized and "special", but I don't really see it - sure there are some nods to the area at a few station but they're basically the same anyway. The uniformity on Central saves money for more interesting things.

Agreed about University looking much better but I really wish they would have used turf track if possible. They could have put more green in general along the whole line.

Why not use ballasted track, at least? It looks like a sea of concrete.

As for the Hiawatha stations, I love the individuality. Here's some of what I find pleasing/mildly humorous:

- Warehouse station made of red brick with historical pictures and stories of the area

- Nicollet station with a wavy cap in homage to the serpentine Mall

- Downtown East with a replica Stone Arch bridge

- Midtown "Wonderland"

- 38th St. bungalows

- VA Center cap references historic boarding houses

- Lindbergh airfoil

- American Blvd. suburban bland

- Bloomington Central Fibonacci referencing Control Data which was headquartered there

The station designs is one of the few things Hiawatha got right. So much potential for this line was left on the table.

While the stations themselves may not have the individuality of the Blue Line, I think some of the public art is really impressive. The only one I've seen in person is West Bank, but I saw plans for a few other stations and I'm hopeful that the public art will actually be a pretty prominent feature. It had a much larger portion of the budget than Hiawatha did, yet still a miniscule portion of the overall project budget.

Here's a thing: http://finance-commerce.com/transit/201 ... n-st-paul/

That skyway connection at Central Station in St. Paul is moving forward, with a $1.8MM budget.

Not construction related, but certainly relevant. If any of you are interested in locally made hip hop/music with a pro-transit twist, a friend of mine put this out recently...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdHHOEjtVBc

Even though it is kind of corny, I enjoyed that on 3 levels:
1. local hip-hop fan
2. transit geek
3. lived in Frogtown for 7 years

That was pretty good!

Looking more and more done- Any idea when they'll test a train?

Looking more and more done- Any idea when they'll test a train?

Fall the soonest.

The music video...Badass. Shared the hell out of it on Facebook and Twitter.

I see that catenary work is beginning on the Washington Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis. They're attaching short downward-pointing poles to the bottom of the pedestrian bridge deck -- they basically clamp to the bottom of the I-beams that hold the deck up.

At the other end of the line, there is some faint evidence of catenary work beginning in downtown Saint Paul:



Also, mid-block pedestrian crossings typically have stainless-steel boxes like these which contain LED warning signs (there's a symbol of a train in there, but you can really only see it in person until they start being lit up).

Thanks- Saw those a while ago and were wondering exactly what they displayed

University looks far, far better now than it did in 2006, when I moved here. The LRT is a huge factor, but so is the street reconstruction and sidewalk improvements that accompanied it. Even the much-maligned (by some people) walls between the tracks and the driving lanes make the street look more unified and cohesive.
It will only continue to improve, too, as vacant lots are infilled and density is added. It will be fun to watch this process in the coming decades.

I've lived a block off University since late 2008 and couldn't agree more.

I hope (and I'm sure) you're right-
My hope is that it doesn't get too gentrified-

^That is just too appropriate for my current living situation.