Green Line Extension - Southwest LRT

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
twincitizen
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby twincitizen » April 30th, 2019, 3:31 pm

Seventh. Exhibit–Trail 6
ImageExhibit Trail–6 by Eric Anondson, on Flickr
Huh, I always thought the rail tracks were going to fly up out of the trench and meet/cross Glenwood Ave at grade, not fly over it completely and quickly grade down for Royalston Station. Obviously my imagined scenario would have been a complex intersection of the new rail bridge with the existing roadway bridge there, but I figured it was possible.

I know it's way too late in the game, but anything they could do to nudge that Royalston Station platform further south would be well worth it. As-is, it'll be just over 1/2-mile to Hennepin & 12th, but it's a nasty 1/2-mile walk. Royalston Station is super close to TFS to the north/east, so shifting it just a hair south would really be more balanced/ideal station spacing. If they'd have been able to site the station on Glenwood, then turn up Royalston Ave, that'd be ideal. Getting that station platform within 1/4-1/3-mile walk from Hennepin/12th would be of massive benefit to that MCTC/Laurel Village corner of downtown.

Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I'd thought of this back in 2013 instead of bitching about the entire routing, which was obviously already in the can.

Anondson
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Anondson » April 30th, 2019, 3:41 pm

Yeah, have there been public designs of the Glenwood Ave bridge reconstruction? Seems a kinda critical piece to get right and not be a pedestrian hell.

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mister.shoes
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby mister.shoes » April 30th, 2019, 4:00 pm

I think your scenario is correct, twincitizen. From this page: https://metrocouncil.org/Transportation ... urce=child
Light rail trains would cross Glenwood Avenue North at street level.
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Korh
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Korh » April 30th, 2019, 4:30 pm

Passed by the Hopkins depot on on the way home and it seems they started digging a little, must be for the future LRT bridge over excelsior. which reminds me, has there been any postings about whether excelsior blvd me be closed for any length of time? I ask because its the main roadway all buses use to get in and out of Hopkins besides the 670 and 615 and might be a bit of a hassle trying to come up with an alternative route.

Anondson
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Anondson » April 30th, 2019, 4:46 pm

I think the work at the Depot is to prepare a temp trail route around the north side. Because the designated route around south will be torn up during construction.

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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby EOst » May 1st, 2019, 10:24 am

Yeah, have there been public designs of the Glenwood Ave bridge reconstruction? Seems a kinda critical piece to get right and not be a pedestrian hell.
https://www.hennepin.us/glenwoodmpls

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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby HiawathaGuy » May 1st, 2019, 11:15 am

Yeah, have there been public designs of the Glenwood Ave bridge reconstruction? Seems a kinda critical piece to get right and not be a pedestrian hell.
https://www.hennepin.us/glenwoodmpls
I wish this gave some visuals of how this will look, as it's hard to imagine.

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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Anondson » May 1st, 2019, 11:29 am

I recall seeing this Glenwood layout before now that I see it again. Glad Border Ave will get a connection.

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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Silophant » May 1st, 2019, 12:10 pm

It's unacceptable that we're still building unprotected bike lanes into full street reconstructions in 2019.
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby EOst » May 1st, 2019, 12:56 pm


mattaudio
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby mattaudio » May 1st, 2019, 1:27 pm

I always thought bollards are "what you do to protect bike lanes when you aren't rebuilding a street..."

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Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Anondson » May 3rd, 2019, 3:23 pm

From today’s SWLRT construction update email, an alert on freight rail soundings:
Southwest LRT Construction Activities and Freight Trains

Please note, with portions of the SWLRT construction corridor located immediately adjacent to active freight rail lines, freight trains will follow their standard operating rules when approaching a construction area. Freight trains are required to sound their horn as the train approaches a construction area that is occupied by workers or equipment adjacent to the freight line, until the front of the train has passed the construction area. This will mean additional train horn soundings during construction.

Safety is our number one priority during construction. Please observe signage around construction areas and note conditions may change: Stay alert. Stay safe.
I live a block from an at-grade crossing so I get to appreciate freight horns at unusual hours of the day all the time already. But this will be a new experience to people who don’t. I have also stood next to the train crossing when trains come through blasting their horns, it hurts the ears.
I can’t imagine the SWLRT construction crews will like this at all with a freight train blowing the horn for the entire stretch of the construction zone. I mean, am I reading this right, that if there is a mile-long zone with work then the horn’s getting blown for the entire mile length?
Last edited by Anondson on May 3rd, 2019, 3:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

HiawathaGuy
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby HiawathaGuy » May 3rd, 2019, 3:42 pm

From today’s SWLRT construction update email, an alert on freight rail soundings:
Southwest LRT Construction Activities and Freight Trains

Please note, with portions of the SWLRT construction corridor located immediately adjacent to active freight rail lines, freight trains will follow their standard operating rules when approaching a construction area. Freight trains are required to sound their horn as the train approaches a construction area that is occupied by workers or equipment adjacent to the freight line, until the front of the train has passed the construction area. This will mean additional train horn soundings during construction.

Safety is our number one priority during construction. Please observe signage around construction areas and note conditions may change: Stay alert. Stay safe.
I live a block from an at-grade crossing so I get to appreciate freight horns at unusual hours of the day all the time already. But this will be a new experience to people who don’t. I have also stood next to the train crossing when trains come through blasting their horns, it hurts the ears.
I can’t imagine the SWLRT construction crews will like this at all with a freight train blowing the horn for the entire stretch of the construction zone. I mean, am I readying this right, that if there is a mile-long zone with work then the horn’s getting blown for the entire mile length?
I would hope that by "until the front of the train has passed the construction area." means the start of the construction area... otherwise that seems incredibly crazy!

DanPatchToget
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby DanPatchToget » May 3rd, 2019, 6:43 pm

It could (key word could) mean just some short blasts through the construction zone, not a full blast all the way through the construction zone.

DanPatchToget
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby DanPatchToget » May 3rd, 2019, 6:49 pm

Although this is a much shorter construction zone, it shows trains giving short blasts as they pass through:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWmRRnXZ1Q0

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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Anondson » May 3rd, 2019, 6:52 pm

When the freight trains cross Excelsior or Blake they never seem to be short bursts. Often holding down for a few seconds for a single horn, repeating the horn as they approach and all the way across. I wish they were short bursts.

(Not unheard of for some “this is the voice of my people” conductor holding it all the way through Excelsior.)

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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby DanPatchToget » May 3rd, 2019, 7:35 pm

For road crossings they're required to sound two long blasts, one short blast, and another long blast.

pjknight01
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby pjknight01 » May 6th, 2019, 1:26 pm

Trees are starting to come down at Southwest Station. They also have the old Culver’s roped off so I would assume that comes down within the next week or so.

Qhaberl
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Qhaberl » May 10th, 2019, 6:24 am

So I feel like no one is asking this question, if they are, it doesn’t seem like there’s much of an answer. Southwest light rail is supposed to connect to many existing jobs. One area in particular is the golden triangle station. I know there are a lot of jobs in this area, but how exactly are people going to get from the light rail station to the jobs? What plans are in place to make sure that there is connecting service that will take people where they need to go? It doesn’t appear that there are that many sidewalks.


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Qhaberl
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Qhaberl » May 10th, 2019, 6:26 am

So I feel like no one is asking this question, if they are, it doesn’t seem like there’s much of an answer. Southwest light rail is supposed to connect to many existing jobs. One area in particular is the golden triangle station. I know there are a lot of jobs in this area, but how exactly are people going to get from the light rail station to the jobs? What plans are in place to make sure that there is connecting service that will take people where they need to go? It doesn’t appear that there are that many sidewalks.


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Are people expecting that the businesses will provide shuttles? Unless they are incentivized, I don’t see private business is doing this on their own.


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