urbanMSP

Trains had sanders from beginning- Recall, as kids looking at museum steam locos and the device being pointed out
(courtesy Wikipedia)


I assumed lines were so flat they didn't need them, until seeing the incline behind the capitol!

This morning as I was waiting for my bus, which was forty minutes late, I was wondering how someone in a wheel chair could get on the bus. There was a massive mound of snow separating the sidewalk and street at my neighborhood bus stop. My first thought was, it would be great if they had crews to go around and shovel out these bus stops to make sure they were accessible for the mobility-challenged. But of course that's not really reasonable to clear hundreds of bus stops a few days after a heavy snowfall like we had. Maybe we need an adopt-a-bus stop program where a neighbor with a snowblower could volunteer to clear out a little path between the sidewalk and street.

When I got downtown and crossed Nicollet, I saw they had brushed the Mall entirely clean. Rather than have temporary snow piles on the sidewalk adjacent to the street, the snow was piled into massive mounds on Sixth Street ready to be hauled away. It was great to see pedestrians prioritized by the DID and city and see those sidewalks cleared so quickly.

Hennepin Ave, where I waited for the bus this evening, wasn't quite as snow-free as Nicollet, but was in great shape for the avenue's pedestrians. However, I couldn't help being dismayed by the hard packed snow barrier (not recently left by the plow) at the busy bus stop at Seventh and Hennepin. I watched as old ladies struggled to navigate the sketchy snowbank to board the bus. I watched a mother catch one of her children just as he was about to slip under the (not moving) bus. The wheel chair ramp would have been unusable. With all the care taken to clear the sidewalk, it just seems like neglect not clear the bus stops.

Unfortunately it isn't the first priority, but crosswalks and corners are cleared by front end loaders. It usually occurs late at night/ early morning, after the snow emergency has passed. Priority seems to be major transit cooridors.

Transit leader to head MnDOT:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/sta ... 74701.html

Dayton taps Jefferson Lines CEO as next MnDOT commissioner
Article by: PAUL WALSH , Star Tribune Updated: December 12, 2012 - 11:32 AM

Zelle seems like he may have a conflict-of-interest on a lot of MNDOT business. He may be stepping down as Jefferson Lines CEO, but he's staying on as Chairmen of the Board. Since Jefferson is his family company, presumably his net worth is dependent on success of the company. Wouldn't the NLX directly compete with his bus company? Doesn't MnDOT regulate the private bus services? Aren't the bus companies using public infrastructure as a basis for their private business and assessed fees (beyond gas taxes) like trucking companies?

I remain persuadable, but on it's face it just seems like there are some fundamental conflicts-of-interest here. What do the rest of you think?

I had exactly the same thoughts. In particular, I wonder how he will view Mn/DOT's responsibility for Greater MN transit.

Radio article said he'd recuse himself from any conflict of interest,

Radio article said he'd recuse himself from any conflict of interest,

Well, if he says so . . .

He'd have to recuse himself from a LOT of decisions, then. Pretty much any highway or transit decision Mn/DOT makes is going to impact Jefferson Lines in some way. He'd have to recuse himself so much he might as well not be commissioner.

IC

Wouldn't the NLX directly compete with his bus company?

Well that's one conflict of interest I can get behind (because NLX is a stupid waste of money).

If a Minneapolis to Duluth bus service can turn a profit in the private sector, why in the world would we build this thing?

Sorry for getting all Republican-y, carry on.

Greyhound (subletted to jefferson lines) is 3.5 to 4 hrs at $33
3x trips Duluth to Mpls tomorrow

There's a huge section of our population (myself included) who will ride intercity trains but not intercity buses. I've tried, my wife has tried, and every time it is a horrible experience (most recently megabus). On a train, you don't have the driver bumbling lost around town for a half hour then asking if anyone knows how to get to 94. Then a half hour later, stopping for an unannounced 30+ min food break. Etc. I realize NLX should be further down our list of priorities to build, but I also hope this guy recuses himself in all conflicts of interest even about NLX.

Building transportation infrastructure in the wrong place first is a common theme -- I-80 in Nebraska was the first state-level chunk of the Interstate Highway System to be completed, if memory serves, and there's pretty strong agreement that it's an accident of history that the Hiawatha LRT opened before a line along University Ave. Mn/DOT had not been a strong partner in the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative for a route to Chicago, and it had been decided long ago that our line would be built in a later phase, so the field was wide open for someone else to step in. And it's not like the folks in Duluth have been working at a blazing pace to get a line either -- the region has been trying to get passenger service restored ever since Amtrak left in 1985. They finally managed to put together a coalition of cities, counties, and Indian tribes along the route to get things going, and seem to have been able to get things done despite Mn/DOT as much as anything else.

I want to see public transportation systems actually get used by the public at large and not just those who depend on it. When people are given good options, they'll use them.

That's why I wish Rochester's project group was further ahead than NLX... there's more business demand between the two cities including a lot of traffic obviously heading to a very urban downtown, less distance, and if done right would serve as the first part of a connection to Chicago.

That's why I wish Rochester's project group was further ahead than NLX... there's more business demand between the two cities including a lot of traffic obviously heading to a very urban downtown, less distance, and if done right would serve as the first part of a connection to Chicago.

I agree, or at least, more potential passenger demand for people who would take trains back and forth. It's just a damn shame that the Mayo Clinic is not based within the Twin Cities metro like Cleveland Clinic is in Cleveland, John Hopkin's is in Baltimore, UCSF is in San Francisco, etc. So the more we can do to connect Rochester to the Twin Cities in a seemless way the better for both Mayo and the two metros.

Heard Mayo pulled out of MegaMall Phase II today

yesterday-

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... nsion.html

Oodles of Met Council TOD grants awarded: http://www.metrocouncil.org/news/2012/L ... sDec13.htm

TONS of good info here and some renders. I think some of this is stuff we haven't heard anything about previously. Way too much to copy into this thread.

Surprise: pre-development grant for Foley Station (Northstar) planning! Only 40k, but it is a start.