Blake Road Corridor

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
Anondson
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Blake Road Corridor

Postby Anondson » December 8th, 2016, 1:25 pm

A community open house on December 15th at Eisenhower, 5:30–8:00pm. It's a drop-in meeting, displays out, so come in anytime.

http://www.hopkinsmn.com/development/cu ... -Dec16.pdf

Also, there will be info on a future Community Advisory Committee the city will be forming.

Anondson
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Re: Blake Road Corridor

Postby Anondson » December 30th, 2016, 11:43 am

Feedback is wanted for design elements. Go to this website to offer feedback.

https://blakeroad.mysidewalk.com/

Anondson
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Re: Blake Road Corridor

Postby Anondson » January 9th, 2018, 12:02 pm

Work starting this spring, runs until November 2019.

SunSailor covers some of the final details again.

https://www.hometownsource.com/sun_sail ... 2f99b.html

Kinda funny Blake’s final design is being called a divided highway in the story (unintentional truthfulness). I’m really looking forward to this, getting the bike trails along both sides plus the 10.8’ lanes to slow down the maniac speeders.

Multimodal
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Re: Blake Road Corridor

Postby Multimodal » February 11th, 2018, 11:44 am

That looks great, especially the separated trail.

In the US, we seem willing only to have mixed use trails, rather than dedicated bikeways. I wonder if this is a temporary step on the way to doing it right, with motorists having to sacrifice more space? That doesn’t seem like much of a lane narrowing (0.2 ft).

Anondson
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Blake Road Corridor

Postby Anondson » February 11th, 2018, 12:33 pm

Getting motor vehicle lanes on a Hennepin county road to be narrower than 11” is a miracle. Narrower than 12” is pretty awesome. I think the lanes are currently 13”, with a 17-20 foot center turn lane.

To fit a separate bike lane next to a pedestrian sidewalk meant squeezing the bike and ped paths right next to the vehicle lanes that currently carry cars driving 45mph (in a posted 35 mph) with no buffer. (The neighborhood residents at the public hearings I attended had no faith roads could be designed to make drivers drive slower) To fit a buffer between the cars meant there was only enough room to fit the multi use trail.j

Multimodal
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Re: Blake Road Corridor

Postby Multimodal » February 11th, 2018, 12:56 pm

Oh, maybe the article is wrong. It says “The lanes will be narrowed slightly from 11 to 10.8 feet” and that’s what didn’t sound like much to me. What you describe is *much* better.

Oh, and when I said “In the US”, I meant to say “In US suburbs…”.

Anondson
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Re: Blake Road Corridor

Postby Anondson » February 11th, 2018, 1:17 pm

Yeah, narrowed from 11 to 10.8 is an error on the journalist’s part.

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Re: Blake Road Corridor

Postby Anondson » July 6th, 2018, 11:21 pm

Random bike observation: I took my kids up to Cottageville Park, we hiked up to it even though sidewalks and road are ripped up in the center where Lake St cross Blake while the Met Council and watershed district I believe completes major regional infrastructure upgrades before the new road and sidewalk get started.

With everything torn out, Blake Road’s current condition is all gravel. There were tons of kids out in the road biking around on the gravel going to the park or the creekside. I have never seen that many people biking Blake when the pavement wasn’t torn out because it is so hostile to any movement except in a motor vehicle.

We then crossed Blake Road to the Dairy Queen, almost left because we didn’t easily see any bike parking. My distraught seven year old noticed four tiny hoops behind a shrub so we stayed for our treats. While eating out ice cream another family showed up on bikes but they had to leave their bikes laying down on the grass because there wasn’t enough bike parking.

I can understand skimping on bike parking, Blake has been a nightmare to bike. But when Blake is completed there will be trails on both sides with a buffer between the road and the trail. My anecdata seems to show there in pent up demand to for safe space to bike along Blake. When we finally get it I hope the businesses that last through the construction get the picture and add bike parking!

Multimodal
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Re: Blake Road Corridor

Postby Multimodal » July 8th, 2018, 9:27 pm

Wherever I go in SW Mpls, NE Edina, and SE SLP, it seems there are often times where the desire for bike parking outstrips the supply.

Change is happening whether people want it or not. Soon enough there won’t be just a quirky few arguing for more biking infrastructure, it’ll be mainstream.

It seems every time a little safe infrastructure is added, people who bike come out of the woodwork!

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Re: Blake Road Corridor

Postby bubzki2 » July 9th, 2018, 8:48 am

Owners and/or management likely won't see or realize how people are arriving to their restaurants/shops unless you somehow convey that to them. You could look up the franchise owner and send them an email asking to add some bike parking. I think a more direct request might be the way to get action, as opposed to simply awaiting glacial market forces and perceptions to run their course. Just my two cents.

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Re: Blake Road Corridor

Postby Anondson » August 17th, 2018, 5:24 pm

Blake Road construction finally reopening lanes through from Oxford to Lake on Monday August 20th.

Construction is still happening so it’s not back to normal.

https://twitter.com/BlakeRdHopkins1/sta ... 7408398337

It’s fun to see how wide the multi use trails are going to be by the location of the new curbs. Compared to the width of the old sidewalks I’m almost giddy.

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Re: Blake Road Corridor

Postby Anondson » May 4th, 2019, 6:32 pm

Blake Road is far ahead of schedule, originally due to wrap this November but on course to complete in July.

I captured a video biking along the new multi use trail (still under construction) that shows the change from before to after for sidewalk space, this is severe narrowing! Blake was so damn wide.

ImageBlake Road sidewalks, before and after in one picture. by Eric Anondson, on Flickr


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