Minneapolis Street Design

[MNdible]

The problem with both Bryant and Grand was that the layouts were too precious by half, and they rolled out a bunch of "features" that were clearly going to have negative impacts in winter conditions.

The revised design for Bryant seems like it's still going to work well for bikers and pedestrians, so what's the problem? Do we really love chicanes that much?

[Tyler]

It opens up the bike lane to parking/CenturyLink trucks/moving vans/whatever. That's really my only concern.

[daveybabymsp]

It opens up the bike lane to parking/CenturyLink trucks/moving vans/whatever. That's really my only concern.

I wonder if the mountable curb is really necessary with the removal of chicanes, increased travel lane width, and parking moving to the passenger side. Feels like those changes should be enough to allow emergency vehicle access in the winter without needing the option of taking the bike path


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[Hero]

I drove down Blaisdell last week and I think it would actually be better with the parking switched to the other side. Not only would the parked cars provide protection for the bike lane but the parking lane becomes the driving lane at some intersections so why not keep the driving lane on the left for the entire length?

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9379416 ... 384!8i8192

I also noticed the unusually wide space between the sidewalk and curb. Seems to me this area should hold a lot more snow than the typical boulevard. Shouldn't this make it easier to keep the road clear without having to narrow it for snow storage?

[BoredAgain]

I drove down Blaisdell last week and I think it would actually be better with the parking switched to the other side. Not only would the parked cars provide protection for the bike lane but the parking lane becomes the driving lane at some intersections so why not keep the driving lane on the left for the entire length?

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9379416 ... 384!8i8192

I also noticed the unusually wide space between the sidewalk and curb. Seems to me this area should hold a lot more snow than the typical boulevard. Shouldn't this make it easier to keep the road clear without having to narrow it for snow storage?

I live on Blaisdell in this stretch, and I don't think that moving the parking would work well.
- The current layout is already confusing to a lot of drivers that aren't from the area. Moving the parking to what is visually "the middle of the road" would only confuse people more.
- Parking next to the bike lane would decrease the visibility of people on bikes.
- The movement of the forward driving lane back and forth at a few of the busier intersections is purposeful. It helps slow down traffic, like a chicane.
- Transitioning from left side parking to middle/right side parking at 32nd would be messy. You couldn't do it north of there.
- Blaisdell has been single side parking on the left for many years now. Changing it would likely only upset neighbors even more.

As far as boulevards go, I think the shrinking road width is more related to how close the plows get to the curb than the width of the snow holding space available. On Blaisdell, we ended up with a mid-street snow berm on the curb protecting the bike lane in addition to the ones on the side of the street. Other than the fact that I had to shovel a walkway through that, it was nice because it helped to keep the cars out of the bike lane.

We did have some road narrowing like everyone else this winter, but the driving lane stayed wide enough because it has extra width for "curb reaction distance" off of the bike lane buffer which grand does not have.

[Hero]

I think they could use some bollards around the no parking space just before the lane jogs to the left. When I drove that stretch someone was parked there constraining the driving lane. Seems like a good way to lose a mirror.