Interstate 94

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
twincitizen
Moderator
Posts: 6368
Joined: May 31st, 2012, 7:27 pm
Location: Standish-Ericsson

Re: Interstate 94

Postby twincitizen » July 18th, 2016, 1:34 pm

Not much advance notice on this, but this event will be of interest to many here: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/news/16/07/14-i94.html
The public is invited to share their ideas for the future of the Interstate 94 corridor between St. Paul and Minneapolis at a community visioning session July 18-19.

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently selected the Twin Cities—one of four communities across the country—as winners of the Every Place Counts Design Challenge. Each winning community receives a two-day workshop aimed at identifying innovative community design solutions that bridge the infrastructure divide and reconnect people to opportunity. The workshop will include design sessions with on-site technical and strategical assistance from subject matter experts in the field.

The public forum portion of the workshop will be held July 18 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at the Griggs-Midway building, 540 Fairview Avenue, Room S-242, St. Paul, Minn. Attendees will have the opportunity to provide feedback and ask questions.
There will be a final presentation held July 19 from 3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m. at the same location, which also is open to the public.


“Since its construction in the 1960s, Interstate 94 has been an important connection for millions of motorists and a divider of several established and diverse neighborhoods in our community,” said MNDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle. “I am excited about this remarkable opportunity for the region as we begin rethinking I-94 in a way that reconnects people and neighborhoods to new and historic opportunities.”

seanrichardryan
IDS Center
Posts: 4092
Joined: June 3rd, 2012, 9:33 pm
Location: Merriam Park, St. Paul

Re: Interstate 94

Postby seanrichardryan » July 18th, 2016, 9:29 pm

I attended today's early workshop for community leaders, designers, and local government stakeholders. It was short notice for all of us too.
(Nate Hood was also in attendance)

USDot identified two areas to focus on for the MSP session, the Rondo Avenue Community specifically the Dale Street Bridge that is scheduled for replacement in 2018, and second, the proposed bicycle corridor along the RR ROW through Prospect Park adjacent to Luxton Park bridging 94. Today was spent identifying themes and issues through group sessions, tomorrow we hope to draw up concrete ideas. It's not often you get to sit down at a table with MNDot, county reps, USDot, engineers and community leaders and brainstorm ideas to better communicate.
Q. What, what? A. In da butt.

talindsay
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1533
Joined: September 29th, 2012, 10:41 am

Re: Interstate 94

Postby talindsay » July 19th, 2016, 8:08 am

Did anybody talk about replacing the Dale Street bridge with something wide enough to thoroughly mask the freeway? I'm sure a full cap is out of scope, but bridges wide enough to function more like land bridges, or even to have single-story commercial entities on the edge, can do a good job of making the crossing feel more like another city block. In their simplest form these can still be pretty inexpensive and can offer space for future, more complex, plans.

hoffm83n
Metrodome
Posts: 63
Joined: April 22nd, 2013, 3:19 pm

Re: Interstate 94

Postby hoffm83n » July 19th, 2016, 10:35 pm

i went on monday and most of the suggestions were in relation to covering the freeway, some emphasis on dale.

mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
Posts: 7752
Joined: June 19th, 2012, 2:04 pm
Location: NORI: NOrth of RIchfield

Re: Interstate 94

Postby mattaudio » August 17th, 2016, 2:18 pm

Just to balance things out, since I was complaining about the 169/41 interchange (though it was really about how it was funded and sold to the public, rather than the interchange itself)...

I present to you, a map I made 5 to 10 years ago for a freeway connector between 94 and 10 on the south side of St. Cloud.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... sp=sharing

This would:
- Take the place of the (planned but not programmed) 94-10 Clearwater freeway connection.
- Provide a bypass routing for MN-23, which is a regional expressway on both sides of St. Cloud but painfully slow through the stroady core.
- Provide connectivity for a (planned but not programmed) midfield terminal at STC airport, should it ever become a more significant reliever airport.
- Make use of the existing Travel Information Center just east of St. Cloud on Hwy 10.

And yes, I know it cuts through an industrial park near the CR 75 exit in St. Cloud. That didn't exist when I first made this long ago.
This is basically Alternative G in a 1996 study: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/d3/projects/ ... URE3_1.pdf

Anyone know why this northerly crossing was dismissed from further study? It seems like it would have provided the added benefit of helping to create a Hwy 23 bypass of St. Cloud, something the other alternatives and the current preferred alternative do not do.

Mdcastle
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1209
Joined: March 23rd, 2013, 8:28 am
Location: Bloomington, MN

Re: Interstate 94

Postby Mdcastle » August 18th, 2016, 11:42 am

It's been ages since I was at the public meetings, but IRC G was rejected because it added the most distance to motorists shuttling between 10 and 94, as well as one of the more expensive construction costs due to distance and ROW closer to the city. The whole point was to accommodate such traffic, not provide St. Cloud with a free local crossing as much as they wanted this option. Note the lettering is out of sequence so I suspect it was only even considered at St. Cloud's insistence. With the distance and local traffic you'd still have people choosing to use the old MN 24 bridge

(A was rejected due to the length and thus construction costs and the impacts of a new crossing far from any others, B was rejected because it was the only one that would include traffic signals). the others closer to the cities were rejected in part due to the need for improvements on Highway 10)

mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
Posts: 7752
Joined: June 19th, 2012, 2:04 pm
Location: NORI: NOrth of RIchfield

Re: Interstate 94

Postby mattaudio » August 18th, 2016, 12:22 pm

Both the preferred alternative and the St. Cloud bypass (G) would be about 4 miles.

Mdcastle
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1209
Joined: March 23rd, 2013, 8:28 am
Location: Bloomington, MN

Re: Interstate 94

Postby Mdcastle » August 18th, 2016, 12:26 pm

Total distance traveled from points south to points north would have been greater due to the backwards skew of G.

Mikey
Landmark Center
Posts: 262
Joined: January 6th, 2015, 2:33 pm
Location: Gunflint Trail
Contact:

Re: Interstate 94

Postby Mikey » October 14th, 2016, 1:21 pm

A cap in Rondo might actually be in the cards...

https://www.minnpost.com/politics-polic ... civic-scar
Urbanist in the north woods

min-chi-cbus
Capella Tower
Posts: 2869
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 9:19 am

Re: Interstate 94

Postby min-chi-cbus » October 14th, 2016, 1:43 pm

That's cool...I'd be a little surprised if it happened, but maybe it will! Being the development junky I am I'd prefer to see more businesses and housing mixed in with the parks theme, not only because it's infrastructure and promotes density, etc., but also because it reinforces the notion of tying the neighborhood back together. Building a new business district, for example, would be a great way to commemorate the old one that was torn down.

mplser
US Bank Plaza
Posts: 659
Joined: May 31st, 2012, 11:43 pm
Location: Elliot Park

Re: Interstate 94

Postby mplser » March 6th, 2017, 11:05 am

Frogtown lid?

http://greeningfrogtown.com/archive/
(look at the current issue)

talk of a lid over I-94 connecting Frogtown to Rondo from Grotto to Chatsworth

this makes me super excited because i just bought a house on Grotto :)

User avatar
Nathan
Capella Tower
Posts: 3695
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:42 am

Re: Interstate 94

Postby Nathan » March 8th, 2017, 2:47 pm

Frogtown lid?

http://greeningfrogtown.com/archive/
(look at the current issue)

talk of a lid over I-94 connecting Frogtown to Rondo from Grotto to Chatsworth

this makes me super excited because i just bought a house on Grotto :)
You're going to have to change that handle!

Anondson
IDS Center
Posts: 4645
Joined: July 21st, 2013, 8:57 pm
Location: Where West Minneapolis Once Was

Interstate 94

Postby Anondson » April 1st, 2017, 1:00 pm

TPT is airing a documentary on I-94 in the Twin Cities tomorrow. It's online for viewing right now.

http://www.tpt.org/interstate-94-a-hist ... ts-impact/

Lotta focus on Prospect Park and Rondo, how each handled the routing and aftermath.

mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
Posts: 7752
Joined: June 19th, 2012, 2:04 pm
Location: NORI: NOrth of RIchfield

Re: Interstate 94

Postby mattaudio » January 19th, 2018, 2:26 pm

St. Paul's Rondo community gets a glimpse of I-94 land bridge designs
The bridge would cover part of Interstate 94, creating space for housing, businesses and parkland.
http://www.startribune.com/st-paul-s-ro ... 470142293/

Bakken2016
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1019
Joined: September 20th, 2017, 12:40 pm
Location: North Loop

Re: Interstate 94

Postby Bakken2016 » January 19th, 2018, 2:43 pm

St. Paul's Rondo community gets a glimpse of I-94 land bridge designs
The bridge would cover part of Interstate 94, creating space for housing, businesses and parkland.
http://www.startribune.com/st-paul-s-ro ... 470142293/
Does anyone have a link to the 5 block design?

mplser
US Bank Plaza
Posts: 659
Joined: May 31st, 2012, 11:43 pm
Location: Elliot Park

Re: Interstate 94

Postby mplser » January 22nd, 2018, 9:07 am

not the 5 block design but this looks like a sketch of a 2 block design from the frogtown newspaper last year
Image

Anondson
IDS Center
Posts: 4645
Joined: July 21st, 2013, 8:57 pm
Location: Where West Minneapolis Once Was

Re: Interstate 94

Postby Anondson » August 1st, 2018, 12:38 pm

Rethinking I-94 Phase 1 report is out.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/I-94minneapo ... &utm_term=

tmart
Rice Park
Posts: 488
Joined: October 6th, 2017, 10:05 am
Location: Expat

Re: Interstate 94

Postby tmart » August 1st, 2018, 12:59 pm

Love the idea of creating better connections and caps. But I wish we'd put a greater focus on transit; it barely appears in that document at all, and even then only in a throwaway reference to mixed-traffic MnPass lanes. I guess it's a pipe dream or whatever because there's just too much backlash any time someone suggests taking away lanes from single-occupant vehicles, but especially if we're going to put all this effort into creating better human spaces over and around the interstate, we should (at the very least) be planning ahead so that those spaces could someday be retrofitted to support in-line transit service through the ditch underneath.

twincitizen
Moderator
Posts: 6368
Joined: May 31st, 2012, 7:27 pm
Location: Standish-Ericsson

Re: Interstate 94

Postby twincitizen » January 29th, 2019, 8:34 pm

Rethinking I-94 presentation to Met Council's Transpo Committee (1/28/19): https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetin ... nfo-1.aspx

tmart
Rice Park
Posts: 488
Joined: October 6th, 2017, 10:05 am
Location: Expat

Re: Interstate 94

Postby tmart » January 31st, 2019, 1:57 pm

The slide on travel patterns is interesting. Given that trips are short, including many downtown-to-downtown, and drivers have a strong preference for other routes when using as a bypass, it seems like a grade-separated motorway is pretty poorly-suited to the corridor and isn't very successful in its objectives.

If people are bypassing the bypass, it really calls into question why it's there in the first place. Unless there's a more concrete argument than "it would be disruptive in the short-term to change it," we should really put freeway removal on the table instead of the comparatively expensive, challenging, slow, and less locally-beneficial cap option.


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 39 guests