Orange Line / 35W@94: Downtown to Crosstown Project

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grant1simons2
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby grant1simons2 » June 27th, 2014, 1:35 am

or hopefully MPLS at SWLRT
Don't go there

Silophant
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby Silophant » June 27th, 2014, 6:23 am

What, you think Minneapolis should just roll over and accept that they're getting shafted with the current plan?
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby HuskyGrad » June 27th, 2014, 7:57 am

or hopefully MPLS at SWLRT
Don't go there
Speaking of SWLRT, KA has been causing some difficulties there as well. \

http://finance-commerce.com/2014/04/bus ... t-changes/

mattaudio
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby mattaudio » June 27th, 2014, 8:07 am

So they complain that the view of their buildings by motorists on 212 (who should be focusing on the road ahead of them) will be blocked by...

an elevated train, carrying tens of thousands of people a day who will view their buildings...

on its way to a new LRT station a block away.

grant1simons2
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby grant1simons2 » June 27th, 2014, 11:05 am

What, you think Minneapolis should just roll over and accept that they're getting shafted with the current plan?
It's not related to this thread is what I meant. Lets try to keep on topic

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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby David Greene » June 27th, 2014, 3:50 pm

There will probably be a lot of furious lane-changing going on for people who really want to get off at Hennepin/Lyndale or be on the right-hand side of the freeway before/after the Lowry Hill Tunnel to get on I-394, but besides that, it should help balance the flow of traffic across the different lanes on I-94. It could also reduce southbound traffic on Hennepin and Lyndale a bit, since it makes it harder to get to those streets from I-35W. People will probably shift more toward using 35th/36th, 26th/28th, or other surface streets.
I don't know. People coming from the suburbs generally won't know about that option. The current 35W N to 94 W entrace creates a huge traffic jam mess starting about 3pm on weekdays and is significtntly slows traffic at every other time. With cross-freeway lane changing, I'm not sure this won't make things worse.

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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby BoredAgain » July 3rd, 2014, 1:51 pm


I don't know. People coming from the suburbs generally won't know about that option. The current 35W N to 94 W entrace creates a huge traffic jam mess starting about 3pm on weekdays and is significtntly slows traffic at every other time. With cross-freeway lane changing, I'm not sure this won't make things worse.
I was talking to one of of the traffic engineers at the Open House a few weeks ago and he told me that ~3/4 of traffic going from 35W North onto 94 West continues on 94 past downtown. That is the reason that they are rearranging the flyover bridge connection. If what he said is true, this should reduce some of the back-up caused by mergers into/out of the Hennepin/Lyndale exit. Supposedly most of the people heading to downtown from 35W just take the other downtown exits. If they are heading to the Whittier area, they can try to cut across, or exit at Lake.

Personally, I take that flyover on my way to work from South Minneapolis to an office off 394. It should be an improvement or a wash for me.

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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby twincitizen » July 29th, 2014, 8:06 am

I was talking to one of of the traffic engineers at the Open House a few weeks ago and he told me that ~3/4 of traffic going from 35W North onto 94 West continues on 94 past downtown.
Seems like at least some of that traffic should be using Hwy. 100 rather than unnecessarily driving through/near downtown. As far as I'm concerned, there's a huge flaw in our freeway system if people who don't want to go downtown are driving downtown. That just inconveniences everyone (drivers, local residents, etc.) Hopefully the coming improvements (2015-16) to Hwy. 100 through St. Louis Park will make that a more attractive option for people who live in far Southwest Mpls, eastern Edina, etc., rather than taking the crosstown or local streets to 35W.


Aaaaanyways, here's an update: http://finance-commerce.com/transit/201 ... -advances/
Known Support / Opposition
Orange Line project partners have been closely involved in the planning efforts that are summarized in this document. Letters or resolutions of support have been received from Richfield, Bloomington, Burnsville, Dakota County, the I-494 Corridor Commission, the I-35W Solutions Alliance, and Lake Street Council.

There is known opposition to the Knox Avenue alignment from Kraus-Anderson, the property manager of the Southtown Shopping Center in Bloomington. The proposed alignment would require approximately 900 linear feet of new right-of-way on an existing service road through the Southtown
parking lot, connecting Knox Avenue under I-494. Metro Transit staff continue to work closely with Kraus-Anderson to understand concerns and potential impacts, and to maximize development benefits in the next phase of planning.
If Kraus-Anderson doesn't muck this up, this could be the happiest transit story in a while. It's been a rough week, between the B-Line bullcrap coming out of St. Paul and the Gateway Corridor alignment choice nightmare through Lake Elmo. For Minneapolis and it's south/southwest suburbs though, both the Green Line Extension and the Orange Line could open in late 2019. That would represent a massive upgrade in regional transit mobility.

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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby MSPtoMKE » August 24th, 2014, 12:05 am

Not a whole lot of new info, but here is a presentation on the I-35W & I-494 interchange as well as the new Knox Ave underpass and stations.

http://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meeting ... ation.aspx

As an aside, MnDot used one of my photos of a Red Line station in the presentation. I would have said yes if they had asked... :|
My flickr photos.

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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby Silophant » August 24th, 2014, 9:08 am

Any chance of the buses getting some kind of signal priority to make their left turns on 76th and 82nd? Dedicated ramps right to the MnPass lanes would be better, but I don't think that's even possible without reconstructing 35W through that stretch.
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby Tcmetro » August 24th, 2014, 10:07 am

I do understand it to be that in the long term MnDot would like to reconstruct and move the northbound entrance to 35W from 76th St on the west side of the highway. As for 82nd, I believe it is a longer term goal to provide a direct median HOV lane entrance.

I really do hope they use transit signal priority. I think that Mndot and the cities have been pretty welcoming of the Orange Line project, so hopefully they will agree on this issue as well.

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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby mister.shoes » August 25th, 2014, 8:49 am

I do understand it to be that in the long term MnDot would like to reconstruct and move the northbound entrance to 35W from 76th St on the west side of the highway.
I did see a drawing once-upon-a-time of the NB entrance ramp doing just what you describe: starting from 76th at the stoplight west of 35W and flying over the interstate to the east side to merge. Given how tight the corner is for the current ramp on the east side, it makes sense to move it.
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby Mdcastle » August 25th, 2014, 9:06 am

The concrete on I-35W dates from the late 1950s so it will have to be rebuilt or unbonded concrete overlaid sometime unless they want to keep redoing the asphalt overlay every couple of years. Wasn't there as discussion about a dedicated ramp to American that was dropped because the benefit/cost was so low?

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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby Minneapolisite » August 26th, 2014, 5:34 pm

I don't get this: 4 stops Downtown all 2 blocks apart, then after that it goes all the way to Lake bypassing Franklin, a major street, then 46th bypassing 38th and so it doesn't parallel the Blue Line. No Franklin or 38th? Really? Once again MPLS is getting the bare minimum even though it has the majority of destinations.

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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby froggie » August 26th, 2014, 5:36 pm

How do you propose they construct in-line stations at Franklin and 38th then?

Personally, I think the type of service you're desiring would be better met by a Nicollet streetcar...

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woofner
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby woofner » August 26th, 2014, 7:33 pm

How would a fast, limited stop transit service work on Nicollet, which it would share with with the slow local streetcar service?

I'm assuming you're not disputing the need for a fast, limited stop transit service in the Nicollet corridor?

The station at 38th could look exactly the same as the 46th St station. The one at Franklin is obviously tricky, though I'd personally bypass it by building at a ramp at roughly 27th St to 3rd Ave S, which would then be a transit street. I don't remember the intricacies of how the Downtown Exits is planned to be reconfigured, but the space is currently very poorly allocated, with the leftmost lanes mostly empty. It's possible that by changing the merging arrangements space could be found for an inline station.
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grant1simons2
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby grant1simons2 » August 26th, 2014, 7:34 pm

Remember that this is a BRT line and stations can be added after final discussion.

And woofner if you'd like to discuss the Nicollet Streetcar or learn more about how it could help then there's a thread for that

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woofner
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby woofner » August 26th, 2014, 8:19 pm

Can you provide the link?
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Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Postby EOst » August 27th, 2014, 9:05 am

38th could be tricky due to those ramps just south. I don't doubt that it could be done, but it would be a tighter fit than the 46th station. Franklin would be much harder still.

Given I live a couple blocks from where the Franklin station could be, I'm disappointed that it isn't planned too. That said, by local bus this area is only about ten minutes from downtown, and I doubt a station here would spur significant redevelopment either.


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