The Cities Category Archive: Transportation
Wheelchairs get a lift for bus travel
Posted at 2:01 PM on May 22, 2012
by Tim Nelson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Transportation
Mark Hughes may not be fleet of foot -- he uses a wheelchair, after all. But he got ahead of Greyhound.
The disability advocate says he tried to take the bus to Chicago two years ago, only to discover that the bus didn't have a working lift to get him on board. The bus left without him, so he took action and filed a formal complaint with the state's Human Rights Department.
Now, he's won a $4,000 settlement and a pledge from the carrier to do better. He released the settlement with Greyhound this morning.
"We got training for all the state of Minnesota Greyhound drivers, training to help handle the lifts and handle the disability travelers needs," Hughes said.
It's a big deal for people who need specialized transportation, Hughes added. "Of course gas is what, $3.62 a gallon I guess it is now. That's an expense that the disabled community has to incur, and when your vehicles get 12 to 15 miles a gallon, if you're taking any distance trip at all... Greyhound is pretty important."
Hughes attorney, Justin Page, says incidents like this aren't common, but that there have been a few others across the country. But he says its a big deal for those directly effected: "For people with disabilities, you show up at the Greyhound station, you think you have a lift-equipped bus, and you don't... you're stuck."
Mississippi River Trail becomes first U.S. Bicycle Route in Minnesota
Posted at 3:15 PM on May 21, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
photo courtesy MRT, Inc.
Federal officials announced approval of the Mississippi River Trail bicycle route today U.S. Bicycle Route 45 in southeastern Minnesota, making it the first U.S. route in the state. State lawmakers also recently designated the trail as Minnesota's first state bikeway during the 2012 legislative session.
The Mississippi River Trail in Minnesota closely follows the Mississippi River from the headwaters at Itasca State Park to the Iowa border, running 148 miles.
Also known as the Mississippi Bluffs segment of the Mississippi River Trail, this route is one segment of a proposed national network of bicycle routes, knows as the U.S. Bicycle Route System. Trail authorities are planning additional improvements to the route in Minnesota, including more signs along the route.
Minnesota is the first of 10 Mississippi River states to seek legislation to formalize their portion of the national route. Once complete, the Mississippi River Trail will continue south along the Mississippi River to New Orleans.
Mpls meters double as bike racks
Posted at 2:04 PM on May 18, 2012
by Brandt Williams
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
(photo/City of Minneapolis)
Don't worry, the city of Minneapolis is not requiring cyclists to feed the new, fancy parking meters. The point of this photo released by the city today is to show the loops around the base of the meters. The metal rings are being added in order to increase the amount of rack space. Each retrofitted meter can accomodate two bikes.
This photo was taken in my neighborhood -- along Lyndale Ave. near Lake Street. On summertime weekends and nights, all the bike racks and 'no parking' signs are often full of bicycles. That will especially be the case this Sunday during the Lyn/Lake festival. Of course, if you use a cable lock, not a Kryptonite-like model, you have the option of attaching your bike to trees or lampposts or any other immovable piece of infrastructure available.
Local businesses and neighborhood groups pay for half the cost of retrofitting the meters with the metal loops. The city pays for the other half. So far, city officials say about 80 of these are designated for the Lyndale/Lake/Uptown area and more are in the works for other parts of the city.
City aims for June reopening of Sabo bridge
Posted at 10:40 AM on May 16, 2012
by Brandt Williams
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
The Sabo bridge may be open to pedestrian and bike traffic starting June 4. That's according to Minneapolis Public Works Director Steve Kotke, who offered a very brief update to members of the city council yesterday.
"I'd mentioned to you at the last council meeting that I was shooting for - my goal was to have the bridge open by Memorial [Day] weekend," said Kotke. "I am not going to meet that."
Kotke said the city is still two to three weeks away from finding out what caused a pair of cables to fall from the bridge in February. He didn't offer an estimate of how long repairs will take.
(MPR photo/Matt Sepic)
No money this session for Southwest Corridor LRT
Posted at 5:49 PM on May 10, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(4 Comments)
Filed under: Budget , Transportation
The 2012 legislative session ended with no bond funding for the proposed Southwest Corridor Light Rail project. Business leaders, Met Council and transit advocates have been pushing lawmakers to allocate $25 million to the project, which has federal permission to enter preliminary engineering.
Peter McLaughlin, chair of the Counties Transit Improvement Board, said the failure to fund Southwest is shortsighted. He called the legislature's move "a setback" but said it won't stop the project's progress.
"We'll figure out a way," he said. "I'm not sure what that path is yet but we are working on it."
McLaughlin said SWLRT will begin preliminary engineering as proponents continue to lobby for funding. He added it's a key project for building out the Twin Cities' transit infrastructure.
TwinWest Chamber President Bruce Nustad said SWLRT could help the region's economy :
"This project is critical to adding 60,000 new long-term, private sector jobs to the Twin Cities. In addition to supporting current and new jobs, the project will improve our region's quality of life, reduce traffic congestion, and efficiently get Minnesotans to work and school. The bonding bill allocated $47.5 million to the Department of Employment and Economic Development for grants to cities, counties, and other local governments for projects to spur job growth. We will make the business case for this project to officials at DEED. We hope to secure the support needed to keep this important jobs and economic development project moving."
And Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh said this:
"The urgent need for this line requires that we begin exploring other temporary funding alternatives to keep the project on track until the 2013 legislature has the opportunity to fund the state's share of the project. In the coming weeks, I'll be talking with our local funding partners and the Dayton Administration about how to keep Southwest Light Rail progressing and how to ensure the project remains competitive for federal dollars."
MnDOT releases names of St. Croix bridge project bidders
Posted at 2:55 PM on May 2, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Suburbs, Transportation
Here is MnDOT's list of bidders for the $676 million span to be built between St. Joseph in Wisconsin and Oak Park Heights in Minnesota. Note that URS Corp submitted bids - that's the same firm that's attracted controversy among state lawmakers and Gov. Dayton for its bid for engineering work on the proposed Southwest LRT project.
The bids are for two contracts: Final design of the new bridge, and independent peer review of the final design.
Bridge Design:
Figg Bridge Engineers, Inc.
HDR Engineering, Inc.
Parsons Transportation Group, Inc.
TY Lin International
URS Corporation
Bridge Design Peer Review:
CH2M Hill, Inc.
HNTB Corporation
Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.
Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc.
Parsons Transportation Group, Inc.
TY Lin International
URS Corporation
The bridge will be built using a design-bid-build process, meaning the design will be complete before another request for proposals goes out for builders. When construction on the new bridge is complete, the existing Stillwater Lift Bridge will be converted to a pedestrian/bike trail.
MnDOT says the proposals will be judged using a quality-based process. Officials say cost is not part of the selection. That is negotiated after the design firm is selected.
A panel composed of MnDOT and WisDOT representatives will look at firms' experience, personnel, quality management and project understanding as they award the contracts. MnDOT says it expects the contracts to be awarded by or before the end of the month.
No response from governor to URS invitation
Posted at 5:06 PM on May 1, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Transportation
Gov. Mark Dayton has not yet responded to an offer by San Francisco-based URS Corp. to fly its chief executive officer to Minnesota to discuss the company's history in the state and its bid for engineering work on the proposed Southwest Light Rail project.
URS VP and Minneapolis Office Manager Tom Bader sent the letter last Friday in response to another recent letter - this one from Rep.Tom Tillberry, DFL-Fridley - asking the governor not to give URS more state contracts.
"I, along with many other Minnesotans, lost a good friend on August 1, 2007. Others lost fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, aunts and uncles," Tillberry wrote. "I am sure that they would ask - as I do - what does a company have to do before we will cease to do business with them?"
URS consulted on the 35W bridge before it collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people. Now URS is up for a $100 million contract on the Southwest Corridor LRT, one of Gov. Dayton's top bonding priorities this session. The governor has expressed strong concerns over URS bidding for more work in the state.
In URS' letter, Bader said the company understands the impact of the 35W bridge collapse, saying URS "did not design or build the I-35W bridge, nor were we involved in any of the construction work, including the resurfacing being done when the bridge collapsed. In fact, there were no findings of fault against us."
The company offered to fly CEO Martin Koffel to Minnesota to meet personally with Dayton to address any concerns.
We'll have to see whether the governor takes URS up on its offer.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are deadlocked at the Capitol as the end of session nears with no indication of whether they'll approve funding for the SWLRT.
AAA study finds it's getting more expensive to own a vehicle
Posted at 1:58 PM on April 27, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
A new AAA study, Your Driving Costs, shows a 1.9 percent increase in the annual costs of owning and operating a sedan in the U.S. Increases in gas and tire costs helped drive up the average costs for sedans to $8,946 a year or 59.6 cents per mile. For SUVs, the costs were even higher -- at $11,360 a year or 75.7 cents per mile.
For the study, AAA auto buying and repair experts looked at the average costs for five top-selling models. By size category, they are:
- Small Sedan - Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra and Toyota Corolla.
- Medium Sedan - Chevrolet Impala, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Toyota Camry.
- Large Sedan - Buick Lucerne, Chrysler 300, Ford Taurus, Nissan Maxima and Toyota Avalon.
Though not part of the AAA composite average, SUV and minivan information is also included in 'Your Driving Costs'-- selected models include:
- SUVs - Chevrolet Traverse, Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Pathfinder and Toyota 4Runner.
- Minivans - Dodge Grand Caravan, Kia Sedona, Honda Odyssey, Nissan Quest and Toyota Sienna.
The reasons for the increase? Fuel, tire, maintenance and insurance costs are all up.
The study found the cost of fuel increased between 2011 to 2012, rising 14.8 percent to 14.2 cents per mile on average for sedan owners. Fuel costs in the 2012 study were calculated using the national average price for regular, unleaded gasoline during the fourth quarter of 2011. The cost of tires rose by 4.2 percent to one cent per mile on average for sedan owners over the last year.
The report found maintenance was slightly more expensive. And the cost of insurance also rose by 3.4 percent in 2012.
Carpool lane motorist caught driving Miss Dummy
Posted at 5:30 PM on April 26, 2012
by Laura Yuen
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime, Minneapolis, Transportation
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota State Patrol
Sometimes you have to wonder if it's worth the effort to game the system.
Today the Minnesota State Patrol caught a woman driving in a MnPASS lane with a mannequin in her backseat. The special lanes are open only to drivers who pay an electronic toll -- or to those who carpool.
This backseat companion, along for the ride down Interstate 35W south of Minneapolis, was decked out in a comfy hooded sweatshirt and neon orange sunglasses.
The driver claimed someone dared her to do it, according to the Minnesota State Patrol's Facebook page.
Cheaters in the MnPASS lane are nothing new. As many as nine of 100 cars are running afoul of the rules, state transportation officials told the Star Tribune last year. The newspaper reported that mannequin sightings in the special lanes were especially common when only carpoolers used them.
Today's scofflaw was driving on a suspended license and received two citations, the state patrol said.
A borrowed bike for getting around
Posted at 1:54 PM on April 26, 2012
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: St. Paul , Transportation
This photo taken earlier this year by Matthew Witchell was supplied to MPR by Cycles for Change.
Community Bike Library program director Claire Stoscheck works with Cycles for Change. She's helping a young person with the Karen Organization of Minnesota get acquainted with a loaner she's borrowing from the Bike Library for six months.
Our car-crazy culture obscures an important reality.
There are Twin Cities neighborhoods, surveys show, where as many as half the residents don't own a personal vehicle.
And they're not just the Karen, refugees from Burma also known as Myanmar.
They are families of all sorts who share a sobering economic status - they're poor. Or in some cases, maybe even earning enough to approach middle class status. But still not able to afford a car given the price of gas and all the attendant costs.
Tomorrow, April 27, in St. Paul at the Hubbs Center for Lifelong Learning the Community Bike Partners Library folks say they will hold another session to loan bikes:
The orientation is the seventh in a series of 19 to take place in April and May at Twin Cities organizations partnering with the CPBL to provide bikes and safe cycling education to low-income and traditionally marginalized community members, including immigrants, refugees, women and people of color. The CPBL will loan out 250 bikes in the 2012 season.
State's first BRT system still waiting to roll
Posted at 12:48 PM on April 25, 2012
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Suburbs, Transportation
Startup of the Cedar Avenue BRT (bus rapid transit) line has been pushed from November to May of next year.
Dakota county regional rail authority chair Will Branning and others got the news yesterday.
Transit station design and some right of way questions remain to be resolved.
It's been a long wait for Branning, former Apple Valley mayor, former Dakota county commissioner and now regional rail authority chair who's been a principal cheerleader for the project.
The wait goes back to the early 1980's.
Branning remembers the late Carolyn Rodriquez, a state lawmaker whose district included Dakota county, came to him and said in so many words, "What about transit?"
Thirty years later, the sixteen-mile long, $225 million Cedar Avenue bus rapid transit line from Lakeville to the Mall of America is close to, but not quite at the starting line. When (if?) it opens next year, it'll be the state's first BRT service.
Place an asterisk by that last statement.
A BRT-like system exists between the University of Minnesota Minneapolis east bank and St. Paul campus on a dedicated, meaning separate from other vehicles, roadway.
Then, of course, there are the express bus lines. These are the BRT-like services that make long runs with limited or no intermediate stops. However, they all share the road with other vehicles and encounter the same congestion.
BRT fans point to the dedicated lane for the buses and preferential treatment at stop lights as big advantages.
The delay in starting the Cedar Avenue service, the funding questions facing BRT on 35W and other routes, puts frowns on the faces of transit fans. BRT, a popular transit option elsewhere in the world and in a small but growing number of American cities, remains in the slow lane here in the Twin Cities.
Sabo bridge could reopen to bike traffic before analysis is done
Posted at 4:26 PM on April 17, 2012
by Brandt Williams
(5 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
The city of Minneapolis is studying the possibility of opening the Sabo bridge to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Public Works director Steve Kotke updated a city council committee this morning:
"Now that we've stabilized the bridge and are well under way as far as investigating what happened and what the fix is, the next question that has come up is, 'Can we get the bridge back open for bicycles and pedestrians?' So we have been investigating that. The initial structural analysis has been completed and what it's indicating right now is that we are going to have to make some adjustments to the shoring and what's referred to as de-stressing the back-stay cables. We have that information now, so we are processing it and trying to determine what will be the cost of doing that as well as the timeframe. We're going to continue working on that, I'll be back in two weeks and give you an update and hopefully we'll have some good information at that point to figure out when we'd be able to open up the bridge to bicycles and pedestrians."
The city closed the bridge earlier this year, after a pair of cables fell when the plate holding them to the top of a bridge support failed. Kotke says researchers at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania are still analyzing the broken plate and another plate that was also significantly damaged. He says the results of the study should be available by the end of next month.
(MPR Photo/Matt Sepic)
Calling all tortoises: Minneapolis' 24-hour bike race
Posted at 7:00 AM on April 13, 2012
by Jon Collins
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
For one full day last year, Jessica Baltzley rode her bike on a five-mile loop in the streets of south Minneapolis.
"I definitely think I started hallucinating a little bit on parts of the night, especially when it was raining and there were a lot of shadows," Baltzley said.
In all, Baltzley traveled about 225 miles that night and the next day to win the female division of Minneapolis' first 24-hour bike race, called the Powderhorn 24.
"By the end, when I realized it was possible I was going to win, I was kind of too tired to care. I just wanted to keep going until the very end and not punk out," she said.
Baltzley, 30, started bike commuting after moving to Minneapolis from Florida five years ago. She participated in her first bike race only two years ago. She describes herself as a "tortoise," someone who goes slow but just keeps on going to challenge herself.
And that means competing in the Powderhorn 24 again. Registration opens this Sunday.
The Powderhorn 24 is scheduled to start on June 22 at 7 p.m. It's modeled after a similar race in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee. Participants can tag-team the course throughout the 24 hours or, like Baltzley, approach it solo.
The race's main organizers all live in the Powderhorn neighborhood of Minneapolis. Kayla Dotson, 26, has ridden in the Riverwest race. She says the atmosphere in Milwaukee was similar to what she envisioned in Minneapolis.
"There were people just teeming in the street at four in the morning, neighbors just mingling and people just celebrating," Dotson said. "It seemed like a really good recipe for non-traditional community building."
Another organizer Elise Adair, 27, said they felt this community spirit during Minneapolis' first 24-hour race last year.
"Even if people didn't necessarily know what was happening initially, once they found out they were very supportive, people would come out of the woodwork doing weird, random stuff," Adair said. "Someone I work with...ended up living on the route and they didn't really know what was going on, but they ended up making pancakes [for riders]."
Organizers are trying to attract as diverse a crowd as possible. They've built a system into the race that rewards riders for stopping by local community organizations. Last year, a community garden recruited riders to cart mulch from one end of the garden to the other.
This year, the race will include teams involving everyone from a family of five to a gaggle of unicyclists.
Tonja Sahaydak, her husband and her three children, Josie, 7, Jarod, 11, and Justice, 13, rode in the race last year. Because they live right on the course in Powderhorn, they turned their yard into a pit stop, with watermelon and other fatigue-reducing treats.
"We took turns going, so whenever a kid went on a lap, they had a parent go with them," Sahaydak said. "We had lots of friends come out and join us, and their friends would join them and go out for a lap with them."
Powderhorn 24's course this year follows a square of about 4.5 miles through the Powderhorn community. It starts at Freewheel Bike on the Midtown Greenway and includes some bike boulevards. Organizers have promised police that they'll disqualify any rider who doesn't follow traffic laws. Helmets are required.
Baltzley, the rider who won in the female solo category last year, hopes that this year's ride includes more women so she can push herself even harder.
Even without the competition, Baltzley is bracing herself for the time when she'll mount her bike and not stop riding until the following evening: "I know what I'm in for enough that I'm nervous because I know how totally hard it was."
Jessica Baltzley prepares to bike down the Midtown Greenway. (Image: Jon Collins)
St. Croix bridge meeting attracts attention from potential bidders
Posted at 4:34 PM on April 4, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Suburbs, Transportation
Looks like so many people showed up at MnDOT's pre-proposal meeting on the St. Croix River Crossing project Tuesday in Oakdale that officials had to add another sign-in sheet.
Many big players from the construction, design and contractor world attended the meeting. The deadline for proposals is about a month away. MnDOT officials say the names of proposers won't be made public until after that 30-day period is up. Stay tuned for announcements about upcoming MnDOT open houses scheduled for Oak Park Heights and Stillwater over the next four or five weeks.
Business leaders say they'll fight for Southwest light rail
Posted at 5:14 PM on March 28, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Business, Politics, Transportation
Both the House and Senate have failed to include the Southwest light rail line from Eden Prairie to downtown Minneapolis on a list of recommended projects. Top Republicans in the House and Senate say they have concerns about the cost of building and operating the $1.25 billion line.
The Southwest light rail is among a handful of projects around the country selected to receive competitive federal grants. If the state doesn't fund the light rail line this year, Todd Klingel, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, says the state risks losing that matching money.
"This is about jobs and this is the most powerful leveraging opportunity that they could have for anything in the bonding bill," he says, "and that if nothing happens that opportunity could be lost."
The state's total share of the project is $125 million, or ten percent. Aside from the state's share, the cost of the LRT will be paid 50 percent by the federal government, 10 percent by Hennepin County, and 30 percent from a five-county transit-dedicated sales tax.
Governor Dayton requested $25 million from lawmakers for the project in his bonding proposal. As the session gets closer to ending, discussions are sure to heat up over what would be the third light rail in the metro.
Southwest metro residents debate SWLRT project
Posted at 11:29 AM on March 22, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Environment, Suburbs, Transportation
A light rail train pulls into the Target Field station as a commuter walks by in February 2012. This station is planned to connect with the Southwest Corridor LRT, which will connect downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie. (Alex Kolyer for MPR)
As state lawmakers debate whether to fund the proposed Southwest light rail line in this year's bonding bill, people who live near the line are doing some debating of their own.
The $1.25 billion LRT line, one of Gov. Mark Dayton's top priorities, would run between Eden Prairie and downtown Minneapolis, where it would connect to other mass transit. For more on the politics of this LRT line, read my story that aired on Thursday's Morning Edition.
42-year-old Hopkins resident Judie Schumacher is against the LRT. She lives near the proposed route but plans to continue taking her express bus to her job with Wells Fargo in downtown Minneapolis. Schumacher prefers the bus because it's fast and convenient.
"I hop on an express bus and it's instantly on the freeway. You get right downtown super fast and it drops me off a couple of blocks from my building, versus the light rail," said Schumacher.
In contrast, the light rail line would make multiple stops between her Hopkins home and downtown Minneapolis.
Schumacher describes herself as a big proponent of public transportation. She grew up taking the bus and said she'd rather see the state invest in more flexible bus lines in the metro than light rail.
"I like the idea of choice but a billion and a half dollars to construct it, not even thinking about all of the money people are spending now analyzing it and researching it and doing the impact studies," said Schumacher. "The plan is so expensive. I very much like public funding of mass transit but I just don't think that this light rail going out to Eden Prairie makes a lot of sense."
43-year-old Jeff Zammas supports the Southwest Corridor LRT. He lives with his wife and young son near where the line would run through St. Louis Park. His wife takes the bus to her job in downtown Minneapolis now, but he says they'd take light rail downtown as a family.
"I think just having another option is good. It's just one less stress, you know, having to find a place to park, sitting in traffic," said Zammas. "We've gone downtown before and it seems like you hit every light and then you're trying to find parking or you can get into the parking lot, but then after the event you're just sitting in the parking lot."
Zammas said he supports building more mass transit, especially as gas prices rise.
"A few summers ago when it was four dollars a gallon a lot of people stopped driving their cars and traded in their big SUVs, so it'll happen again where it's going to go up - maybe not as drastically or as quickly, but I think the sooner you build stuff and have those options, the cheaper it's going to be," said Zammas. "If we wait until next year or the year after, it'll be more expensive. So, if we are going to do it we should probably just start moving forward with it."
Met Council officials say the Southwest Corridor LRT needs $25 million dollars in state bonding money to move forward. Besides the state's total $125 million share, the rest of the line's cost will come from these sources -
*Federal government (50 percent)
*Hennepin County (10 percent)
*Counties Transit Improvement Board's five-county sales tax (30 percent).
House and Senate Republicans say they need more information before they'll commit state funding to the project.
Sabo bridge damage still under investigation
Posted at 12:16 PM on March 20, 2012
by Brandt Williams
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
Minneapolis public works director Steve Kotke presented a brief update today on the progress of the investigation into why a pair of cables fell from the Sabo bridge last month.
A tunnel to . . . or for what?
Posted at 12:33 PM on March 19, 2012
by Dan Olson
(6 Comments)
Filed under: St. Paul , Transportation
Speculation abounds where the above tunnel leads to.
The mystery portal is well below Cedar Street here in downtown St. Paul outside the front door of Minnesota Public Radio.
The tunnel's existence has come to light as part of the Central Corridor Light Rail construction project.
A semi-official explanation from one of the construction workers is that it's a "utility" tunnel and that it's tall enough to stand in without stooping.
"Utility" tunnel sounds like a cover story to obscure the real purpose. But for what?
An escape route for city council members or state lawmakers set upon by angry taxpayers? But city hall and the state capitol are blocks away and the tunnel goes the wrong direction.
What are your ideas?
Central Corridor love coming to a yard near you
Posted at 4:00 PM on March 19, 2012
by Laura Yuen
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
The official marketing push for Central Corridor businesses remains tied up in red tape, but that's not stopping other initiatives from rolling out.
Among the grassroots efforts are yard signs in which residents can profess their heart-shaped love for businesses affected by light-rail construction.
The idea is to steal a few glances during the election season, and direct eyeballs to the website for Discover Central Corridor, a buy-local campaign, says Zach Schwartz, a public affairs manager with the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce. You can also follow the campaign on Twitter at @DiscoverCCLRT.
Organizers are distributing the signs through the district councils and other neighborhood organizations.
Also keep your eye out for the 2012 version of a Central Corridor coupon book:
The books were distributed through neighborhood newspapers this month. You can also grab one at Cub Foods (University Avenue location), Park Midway Bank and University Bank, American Bank, St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and Midway Chamber of Commerce.
The two chambers put together the efforts with help from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative.
(Images courtesy of St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce)
MnDOT wants to make bicycling safer and more usable
Posted at 6:00 AM on March 19, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Environment, Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
The Minnesota Department of Transportation is urging cyclists to comment on Minnesota's statewide bicycle planning study. Eight similar public meetings occurred across the state in late February and March.
"Minnesota is often recognized as one of the top bicycle-friendly states in the country, and the best way to continue improving is to learn from constituents who use the highways, bike lanes and shoulders to bike," said Tim Mitchell, MnDOT bicycle and pedestrian coordinator.
A meeting on the project is scheduled on March 29 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach Center, located at 2001 Plymouth Avenue North.
MnDOT is seeking input on what should be improved to make bicycling a safer and more usable transportation option, ideas for future bicycling accommodations on Minnesota roads and barriers to making improvements. Officials say the feedback they collect will help them improve and develop consistent policies and practices for including bicycle components, such as wide shoulders or bike lanes, on future highway and bridge construction projects. It also will help MnDOT develop a new electronic and printable statewide bicycle map.
The public may also submit written comments to greta.alquist@state.mn.us or Greta Alquist, MnDOT Office of Transit MS 315, 395 John Ireland Blvd., St. Paul, MN, 55155.
Anyone unable to attend meetings in-person may join a statewide webinar discussion this Thursday, March 22, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Webinar details are posted at www.mndot.gov/bike/study.html.
Downtown St. Paul construction - then and now
Posted at 2:50 PM on March 13, 2012
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: St. Paul , Transportation
Minnesota Public Radio does not accept product placement money from beer companies. Which is probably a shame when you consider the very timely, if unplanned, appearance of the bright blue lager hauler.
It adds a nice dash of color to this scene of intense digging a half block away from my office cubicle, just in front of the Great American History Theater near the intersection of Exchange and Cedar Streets.
Yes, the Central Corridor light rail construction is well underway again, with plenty of rejiggering of huge district heating pipes and other utilities.
Above is the telescopic view from a skyway over Cedar.The big excitement, in my view, was the excavation at this site a few weeks ago through 34 feet of shale to reach the layer of sandstone below to put in new sewer connections. Better to do all this stuff now. Won't be so easy in a couple of years when there's lots of concrete and rail for the train in place.
Which caused me to wonder, 'what did construction from the past look like on or near the downtown St. Paul streets planned for the new light rail line?'
There certainly was plenty of it. Here's some sewer line going in under Cedar in downtown St. Paul in 1940, a photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.
As for traffic obstructions, it's not street car construction, but it's a great 1896 photo, again from the MnHS collection, of a horse drawn slab of marble on its way through downtown on Wabasha headed up to the then-under construction State Capitol.
Speaking of State Capitol construction photographic history, how can one not include this 1899 MnHS photo?
Upcoming open houses on Gateway Corridor
Posted at 1:55 PM on February 27, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, St. Paul , Suburbs, Transportation
The Gateway Corridor Commission is holding four open houses in March and early April, seeking public input on the eight proposed alternative transit options being considered for the project. The Gateway Corridor is a proposed transitway that would run east from the Twin Cities near Interstate 94 and U.S. Highway 12 to Wisconsin.
Check out this map.
The project is part of the Metropolitan Council's 2030 Transportation Policy Plan. Alternatives under consideration include commuter rail, light rail, bus rapid transit and express bus service. The Gateway Corridor Alternatives Analysis is funded through a combination of federal funds, the Counties Transit Improvement Board, Washington and Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authorities, and the Metropolitan Council.
The public open houses will be held:
Tuesday, March 27
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Presentation at 6:30
Eastside Community Center
Harding Senior High School
1526 East 6th Street, St. Paul, MNThursday, March 29
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Presentation at 5:30
Chippewa Valley Technical College
Room 118, Health Education Center
615 W. Clairemont Avenue, Eau Claire, WIWednesday April 4
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Presentation at 5:30
St. Croix County Government Center
Lower Level (enter by Sheriff's Office)
1101 Carmichael Road, Hudson, WIThursday, April 5
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Presentation at 5:30
Woodbury City Hall
Ash/Birch Room, Main Floor
8301 Valley Creek Road, Woodbury, MN
Organizers say the meetings will include a short presentation on the modes and routes of new transit, as well as the proposed station locations. The presentation will also cover ridership projections, as well as the potential economic and community impacts of the transit options. Staff will be available to answer questions, and there will be an opportunity for attendees to provide both written and verbal comments.
Will new transitway spur development in north Minneapolis?
Posted at 3:44 PM on February 15, 2012
by Brandt Williams
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
This Friday is the deadline for public comment on the scope of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Bottineau Transitway. The 13-mile bus rapid transit or light rail line would run from downtown Minneapolis to the northwest suburbs. The line would run through parts of north Minneapolis, a section of town that contains some of the poorest and economically underdeveloped neighborhoods.
I checked the 'Get to NoMi' (North Minneapolis) Facebook group to see what north siders are saying about the plan. Responses ranged from cautious hope to skepticism. As a former north side resident myself, I recognize this as a common response to news of future city development plans.
Some Minneapolis City Council members are also not convinced that the transit plan, as it's currently being proposed, will bring significant economic development to the north side. The council did vote today to be an official partner in the planning process and it also approved a written document outlining what city officials want to be included in the DEIS.
The initial plan includes two different ways for the line to pass through north Minneapolis. One, called D1, largely circumvents much of the north side. The other, D2, would travel along a few main arterial roads in the north side. However, city officials say neither route would do a lot to bring needed economic development to north Minneapolis. And they are recommending the DEIS look at making other transit improvements in the area in addition to the Bottineau line:
Recommendation: The City of Minneapolis recommends that the DEIS include an analysis of the distribution of the project's benefits relative to the transit-dependent, minority and low-income communities in the corridor for the D1 alignment alternative. The City also recommends that, separate from the Bottineau Transitway project, the Twin Cities region pursue arterial transitway improvements (streetcar or rapid bus) and transit-oriented development initiatives on one or more arterial streets in North Minneapolis, potentially including West Broadway Avenue, Penn Avenue North, and Emerson/Fremont Avenue N.The Minneapolis Park Board is also offering its recommendations on the scope of the DEIS. The board of commissioners supports the Bottineau Transitway, but commissioners have particular concerns about the D1 route:
In review of the proposed routes, the MPRB believes that the D2 Alignment presents the greatest opportunities for urban revival, economic development, strong ridership, and transportation equity in North Minneapolis and therefore is the only legitimate option. In addition, the MPRB believes that the D1 Alignment presents great potential for significant impacts to current and potential natural resources, parkland, and recreation opportunities it is entrusted to protect.
The park board has also expressed concern about how construction of the line along Highway 55 will impact the many large trees that line the median.
New video game aims to scare young drivers safe
Posted at 5:15 PM on February 1, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Livability, Transportation
A new Internet video game may help teens and young adults understand how easily they can get distracted behind the wheel. The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Institute at the University of Minnesota is calling the game it developed "Distraction Dodger."
Players drive a virtual pizza delivery vehicle in the imaginary pizza-loving city of Little Moots. To help build a successful pizza business, players are tempted to use a smart phone, social media, and GPS while driving. If they choose to distract themselves, they must do so while avoiding obstacles, traffic tickets, and of course, an accident.
As Distraction Dodger players progress through the game's levels, they get feedback about their driving performance and level of distraction. Michael Manser, director of the HumanFIRST Program at the ITS Institute, says the feedback can be an eye opener.
For young drivers who believe they can do it all and not negatively affect driving, the Distraction Dodger game offers a reality check.
According to the National Safety Council, distractions are the leading cause of motor vehicle crashes. Texting or talking on the phone are particularly well-documented dangers, significantly slowing a driver's reaction time and increasing the likelihood of a crash. Other driving distractions include talking with passengers, eating and drinking, using a navigation system, putting on makeup, shaving and adjusting the radio or music players.
Distraction Dodger will premiere at the Teen Safe Driving Summit on Thursday, Feb. 2, at the Rosemount Community Center, 13885 S. Robert Trail, Rosemount.
Stillwater Lift Bridge to close later this year for repairs
Posted at 11:54 AM on January 31, 2012
by Jessica Mador
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Suburbs, Transportation
With a proposed replacement bridge over the St. Croix River moving forward in Washington, MnDOT is planning work on the existing span.
The Stillwater Lift Bridge will close for repairs from Sept. 10 through the end of the year. MnDOT says workers will paint and repair steel connections, electrical systems and concrete on the project, which is estimated to cost $3.6 million.
When (if?) a new river bridge goes up, the Lift Bridge will be converted into a bicycle and pedestrian facility as part of a looped trail system connecting both bridges.
Opponents of the proposed almost $700 million four-lane bridge over the St. Croix are calling for a smaller, cheaper span.
MnDOT is hosting an open house about the project from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 22 at Stillwater City Hall.
Marketing push planned for Central Corridor
Posted at 3:57 PM on January 23, 2012
by Laura Yuen
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Business, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
As the Metropolitan Council reflects on how to improve Central Corridor construction in 2012, it's rolling out a new marketing push to promote affected businesses.
At a transportation committee meeting this afternoon, the Met Council's project staff is recommending the $1.2 million, two-year contract go to Mod & Company of St. Paul. On its website, the marketing and design firm showcases a sampling of the stylish branding it has done for clients ranging from the Rosedale Center to the Uptown Art Fair.
A collective plug for the corridor can't come soon enough for Jack McCann, head of the University Avenue Business Association.
"We need to have the marketing in place when the cones are set up and everyone says, "Oh Christ, here we go again,'" McCann said.
McCann and other business folks met project representatives today for one of many discussions about "lessons learned" from 2011. McCann said his general message to the council was: "You confused people, you didn't manage your signs, you kind of fumbled your way through the first year."
But McCann said now that the marketing money is secured, it's also time for business owners to work with the Met Council and bring customers back to University Avenue.
"It's time to stop the crabby thing, and we have to do the positives," McCann said. "It's time to say, 'It's a great time to come down here.'"
The mega-marketing push builds on the efforts led by community groups in St. Paul to help businesses during construction. The Neighborhood Development Center's U7 offers consulting services to businesses, and the Midway Chamber of Commerce hosted "Lunch on the Avenue" and developed a grassroots marketing campaign. The St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce developed the "Discover Central Corridor" brand.
And they pushed for more.
Last June, the chambers and several other business groups wrote Met Council Chairwoman Sue Haigh a letter urging the council to fund a comprehensive marketing program.
"The campaign would create excitement around the CCLRT and ensure that the businesses that are facing the hardships of construction today are around to enjoy the excitement and benefits of the completed line," the letter says.
File photo by MPR's Jeff Thompson
Gov. pitches ballpark for St. Paul, Nicollet Mall renovation
Posted at 4:01 PM on January 17, 2012
by Curtis Gilbert
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Gov. Mark Dayton's proposed bonding bill includes a pair of big-ticket items for Minneapolis and St. Paul. But the state's two largest cities didn't get the governor's backing for a variety of smaller proposed construction projects.
Dayton's $775 million proposal includes $27 million for a new St. Paul Saints ballpark in Lowertown and $25 million to renovate the iconic-but-aging Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. Those were the priciest items on the two cities' wishlists, and they were the only ones that made the governor's cut today.
That's no guarantee of a groundbreaking, though.
The proposed ballpark, which would be built next to St. Paul Farmer's Market, was in the governor's proposed bonding bill last year, too. But it didn't make it into the final compromise Dayton struck with the legislature at the end of the bruising 2011 Special Session.
St. Paul and the Saints are pushing hard this year, billing the project as a job-creation measure and enlisting the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce to help persuade the GOP-controlled Legislature.
But it may still be a tough sell.
"Rather than using debt as a jobs plan, Minnesota would be much better served if the Governor turned his attention to creating a positive tax and regulatory climate in which job creators were more confident about expanding and investing in Minnesota," Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, said in a statement.
St. Paul also wanted bonding money for other projects including a Children's Museum expansion and parking lot improvements at Como Park. Minneapolis had a number of road and bridge projects rejected, as well as money to upgrade the Target Center. But Nicollet Mall was the city's top priority.
"It's in disrepair, and it needs attention," said Jeremy Hanson Willis, chief of staff to Mayor R.T. Rybak.
The Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board submitted its own list of proposals. The only one that Dayton adopted was $8.5 million to renovate the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden across from the Walker Art Center.
Other metro area highlights in the governor's bonding proposal include a $25 million down payment toward a proposed light rail line from Minneapolis to Eden Prairie. There's also $5.4 million proposed to build a fence around the women's prison in Shakopee.
That's right. It still doesn't have one.
Building homes in the Central Corridor
Posted at 4:50 PM on December 20, 2011
by Laura Yuen
(3 Comments)
Filed under: Housing, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Light-rail planners say a housing renaissance is already afoot along the Central Corridor, about three years before the first trains begin to roll. More than 5,100 housing units are on the way or have been completed, the Metropolitan Council announced today.
That figure is a bit misleading, though. Included in that calculation are about 1,800 units that make up Riverside Plaza and The Cedars, two existing housing developments on the West Bank of Minneapolis that were part of a large-scale rehab.
The tally also includes "upcoming development projects" that are still in the design phase. One example is the long delayed Penfield grocery-and-housing project that has been on St. Paul's drawing board for years.
Still, there are plenty of recent projects, from university student apartments to senior housing in St. Paul's Frogtown, that make a formidable list when you lump them all together. The corridor encompasses both downtowns, the University of Minnesota and everything in between.
It's not hard to see why developers are eyeing the land around the 11-mile stretch. Light-rail advocates have long seen the transit option as a tool to redevelop urban neighborhoods.
One example of new development is the Chittenden & Eastman building, which housed artist work space, near Raymond and University avenues. The former mattress warehouse and store is poised to reopen in October 2012 as 104 market-rate apartments.
"We would not be there trying to do something with that property had it not been for the light rail line," said developer Jim Stolpestad of Exeter Realty, in a statement today. "University had to be redone."
The question for many neighbors is how to reshape the corridor while preserving what makes it unique. Are you having conversations now in your communities on how to accomplish that?
Minneapolis: An ever-changing skyline
Posted at 9:15 PM on December 14, 2011
by Sasha Aslanian
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Housing, Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
Sometime in the 1970s my mom signed me up for a drawing class for kids at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. They lined us up in a glass hallway looking out toward downtown Minneapolis and taught us to draw the skyline.
We drew the IDS and the Foshay.
I thought of my modest little drawing today as news cameras filled the foyer of the Hennepin County Central Library-- one of downtown's recent treasures-- and downtown business leaders unveiled their vision for the city in 2025.
They used words like thriving, liveable, green, connected, exciting and welcoming.
We reported on the sports district that would include a new Vikings stadium. The plan also includes building Gateway Park and transforming Nicollet into a "must-see" destination stretching from the Walker Art Center to the Mississippi River. You can read the 10 point plan here.
Downtown Council President and CEO Sam Grabarski reminded the crowd of the city's track record for delivering on its dreams: a new Twins stadium, LRT, and residential housing downtown. Even in a down economy, the city continues to think big, even pledging to end street homelessness.
I'm pretty sure I can't draw the skyline anymore.
Photo credits:
Archival image of Minneapolis Skyline photographed by Forest J. Sorenson in 1972 courtesy of the Minnesota History Center.
Vision from Intersections: Downtown 2025 Plan, courtesy of the Minneapolis Downtown Council.
Transit planners seek Central Corridor community advocates
Posted at 7:00 AM on December 5, 2011
by Elizabeth Dunbar
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
Transit planners are trying something new to ensure new train and bus schedules meet residents' needs once the Central Corridor light rail project is finished.
The District Councils Collaborative of Minneapolis and St. Paul is seeking community leaders to help them find out how neighborhood residents will use transit.
Carol Swenson, executive director of the collaborative, said transit planners normally use data to come up with new routes and schedules for buses and trains and then take those plans to the public for comment. This time they are piloting a program that seeks information from residents first, she said.
"What Metro Transit is trying to do and we're trying to do as part of this project is to really make sure that we hear from them, where they need to go, if they had an opportunity to take transit where would they be going, and what is their use of transit outside of going to work," Swenson said.
Planners will train "trusted advocates" to help assess those needs. Organizers hope those advocates will represent a wide range of groups, including immigrants, people of color and people with disabilities.
The pilot program is modeled after one used by transit planners in Seattle.
Planners' goal is to make sure people's concerns about how transit schedules will interact are addressed ahead of time to avoid having community residents turn against a project once it's finished.
Anyone interested in the trusted advocate program can find more information on the District Councils Collaborative's website.
Metro Transit getting safer; some riders not so sure
Posted at 2:48 PM on November 29, 2011
by Brandt Williams
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime, Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
A letter to the editor published this week in the Star Tribune about late-night fights and shenanigans at a busy downtown Minneapolis bus stop prompted me to call Metro Transit. I wanted to know if there has been an uptick in bus-related crime or police calls lately. Metro Transit spokesman John Siqveland, sent me an email about the bus stop mentioned in the Star Tribune letter.
"The bus stop at 7th and Nicollet is the single busiest transit stop in the state with over 4,100 boardings each weekday. The area at 7th and Nicollet is under constant video surveillance with cameras at many sources - such as area businesses. All Metro Transit buses have video recording equipment. Cameras can capture activity both inside and off-board the vehicle. Over 1,200 buses serve stops at the intersection of 7th and Nicollet every weekday (850+ on Saturday and 600+ on Sunday). During rush hours, Metro Transit buses serve stops at the intersection about once a minute."
Siqveland also says buses are getting safer.
"From 2006 to 2010, crimes per 100,000 rides have steadily declined from 11.9 to 6.8. Metro Transit Police use a broad definition of crime compared with other transit agencies. Serious crimes like robberies and assaults make up a very small share of the total and 'quality of life' or 'nuisance' crimes make up the vast majority. 'Quality of life' crimes include things like fare disputes and evasion, smoking, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, etc."
Metro Transit Police officials credit a number of factors for the decline in crime, including partnerships with groups like MAD DADS. Members of the non-profit group regularly ride the buses to help keep order along bus routes frequented by rowdy riders. Last year, I rode with a group of the physically imposing, yet extremely polite, DADS for an afternoon for this story. The men chatted and joked with passengers, and no one got out of line.
Do you ride Metro Transit buses? What's your experience? Ever run into unruly characters at a bus stop or on the bus?
Transportation planning the topic in St. Paul
Posted at 4:05 PM on November 28, 2011
by Jessica Mador
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Business, St. Paul , Transportation
Transportation officials, policy wonks and business leaders held a roundtable Monday in downtown St Paul to highlight their visions for improving the state's transportation system. They say Minnesota needs to expand and preserve existing roads and transit network to make it easier for local businesses to attract workers. They also say the state will have to find new ways to finance transportation projects, as federal and state dollars dwindle.
Margaret Donahoe, executive director of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, says the Congressional Budget Office estimates that every dollar invested in infrastructure generates $1.60 in new economic growth. And transportation improvements will also create much needed construction jobs in the state.
"They are the kind of jobs that generate a multiplier effect in local economies," she said. "And at the same time we are building the infrastructure that other general businesses need to move products, to move people, to do what they do they have to have that transportation infrastructure."
Donahoe's group estimates that deficient surface transportation infrastructure cost the nation's businesses nearly $125 billion last year. Their numbers find deficient infrastructure could cost the country nearly $3 trillion by 2040.
Here is the Minnesota Department of Transportation's GO 50-Year Vision for Transportation, another long-term transportation strategy that aims to offer more ways to get around more quickly in the Land of Lakes.
Rush hour lane closures halt I-94 commuters
Posted at 8:40 AM on November 23, 2011
by Elizabeth Dunbar
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
Commuters on eastbound Interstate 94 in Minneapolis were greeted by some rare lane closures this morning after an overnight striping project didn't dry as quickly as construction crews had hoped.
The air was humid overnight, which caused problems for the striping crew, said MnDOT spokesman TK Kramascz. Paint was still not dry by the start of the morning rush hour, and traffic was forced to merge into one lane near I-94 and Hiawatha Avenue.
Two lanes have been open for an hour or so, but MnDOT's traffic monitoring website was still showing slowdowns at about the Lowry Hill tunnel, located a couple miles west of the construction area.
Kramascz says crews tried to avoid keeping lanes closed through rush hour but were concerned paint could splatter onto people's cars. He says all the lanes should reopen soon, so it shouldn't be an issue for people traveling this afternoon. I'll post an update when all lanes have reopened.
The day before Thanksgiving is traditionally one of the busiest travel days of the year. The weather will help most metro-area travelers today — no snow or rain is in the forecast.
Metro road construction crews prep for Thanksgiving travel, snow
Posted at 6:00 AM on November 19, 2011
by Elizabeth Dunbar
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
(Crews drill holes for noise walls just west of Highway 280 on Interstate 94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul.)
The orange construction barriers are still plentiful on Interstate 94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and drivers passing through the corridor at night have been greeted by lane closures in recent weeks.
But by next Wednesday, the big pre-Thanksgiving travel day, officials said things will look a bit more tidy and the nighttime lane closures will end.
"The crews out on that project are very hopeful they can have all lanes reopened and all the barrels and cones picked up for the big holiday weekend travel," said metro-area MnDOT spokesman Todd Kramascz.
But that doesn't mean Twin Cities motorists will enjoy a construction-free I-94 for the rest of the winter. Kramascz says barring any major changes in the weather, the crews should be able to get a little more done before they close everything down.
"The crews are going to work into November as long as they possibly can," he said.
The I-94 project isn't scheduled to be completed until around mid-2012. There are two other bigger road construction projects in the metro — one at Highway 169 and Interstate 494 and the other at Interstate 694 in the north metro. Both will continue to have non-peak lane closures, but not during the big travel weekend, Kramascz said.
The Highway 169-Interstate 494 project is scheduled to be done by late next year, and the I-694 project is the start of a series of projects that will go through 2014, he said.
Kramascz said all of the projects are on schedule despite the state government shutdown this summer. The weather has helped, he said.
"It hasn't snowed and we haven't had a long duration of cold weather, so they're getting an awful lot done," he said.
Kramascz recommended that anyone traveling during Thanksgiving weekend check MnDOT's traveler information page online or call 511 on their cell phones.
(Cars pass by the construction zone on I-94 near Highway 280 between Minneapolis and St. Paul.)
Construction of Northstar's Ramsey station begins
Posted at 3:00 PM on November 15, 2011
by Laura McCallum
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Suburbs, Transportation
Two years after the Northstar commuter rail line began service between Minneapolis and Big Lake, construction is getting underway on a seventh Northstar station in the northern metro suburb of Ramsey. Right now, the commuter train has stations in Big Lake, Elk River, Anoka, Coon Rapids, Fridley and the Minneapolis station at Target Field.
Officials say funding is now in place for the $13.2 million Ramsey station, which should be completed by the end of 2012. The money came from the state, the Met Council, the Counties Transit Improvement Board (CTIB), the Anoka County Regional Rail Authority and the city of Ramsey. The Anoka County Regional Rail Authority says the station is expected to average more than 200 rides per day, adding 52,000 rides per year to the commuter rail system.
Tomorrow state, city and county officials will celebrate the completion of funding and the start of construction. An invite-only Northstar train ride will stop in Ramsey for the first time at 11:30 a.m., and the public can join the festivities for a program in the Municipal Center lobby at 11:50 a.m.
Skyway reopens
Posted at 12:43 PM on November 2, 2011
by Tim Nelson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: St. Paul , Transportation
The city of St. Paul officially opened the skyway over 5th street this morning, 208 days after construction on the light rail link between downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis closed the link.
It's one of the first things going back together as part of the final month of what the Metropolitan Council is calling the "heavy construction" season of 2011.
Above, Shawn Wiski, the property manager at nearby Alliant Bank Center with the big scissors, snipped the ceremonial ribbon.
Central Corridor project spokeswoman Laura Baenen says work on the front of the Union Depot is at least done enough to allow Christo's restaurant to reopen soon in the lobby.
But the big deadline is still looming: getting 4th Street back into shape and three miles of University Avenue through western St. Paul open by November 30.
"We're going to assure that they make it," St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said this morning, at the skyway opening. "There are going to be two lanes of traffic opened up. I've got assurances from the project office, assurances from the contractor. They're going to put whatever resources they need to get those lanes of traffic open. They only thing they can't control is the Minnesota weather, but they've even factored that in."
But at least you can walk from one end of downtown to another this winter without donning a parka.
Minneapolis smoothes over miles of bumpy roads
Posted at 2:03 PM on November 1, 2011
by Brandt Williams
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
I'm guessing that maybe 30 percent of my daily commute is over Minneapolis streets that have been resurfaced over the last several months. I've been quick to kvetch about how potholes have taken their toll on my aging car's suspension system and my nerves. So it's only appropriate for me to now acknowledge that city officials have apparently been listening to the collective gripes of city drivers.
Yesterday, city officials announced that the public works department has just finished resurfacing more than 45 miles of streets and alleys. Here are the city's numbers:
0.82 miles of roadway reconstructed
25.83 miles of roadway resurfaced
18.7 miles of roadways and alleys seal coated
= 45.35 miles of new driving surfaces
That also means there are 45.35 fewer miles of streets and alleys that the city will have to patch up next spring and summer. That should give them more time to catch up with the other miles of streets that will be scarred by the elements this winter.
Planned bikeway sparks controversy in St. Paul
Posted at 6:45 PM on October 25, 2011
by Jessica Mador
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Check out my story about a plan to expand cycling in St Paul.
The four-mile long Jefferson Avenue Bikeway would run from Mississippi River Boulevard on the west to Seventh Street near downtown. The bikeway is part of more than 75 miles of new bikeways and sidewalk changes planned under a federally-funded pilot program called Bike Walk Twin Cities.
The St. Paul bikeway is still in the planning phase. But for now the proposal includes elements known in today's cycling parlance as bicycle boulevard treatments. For the most part, there would be no traditional bike lanes — except along some stretches of Jefferson Avenue east of Lexington — but officials would redesign the street with features like bump outs, traffic circles or speed bumps to calm traffic and make it safer for bikers and pedestrians.
The proposal has angered some residents near the western end of the project. Their group is considering taking legal action to stop the bikeway. The next public meeting on the project is tonight.
Lazy taxpayer tour of Central Corridor project
Posted at 10:00 PM on October 7, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Curious about how the first full year of construction on the state's largest public works project is going?
Relax. Sit back. Take a tour courtesy of the Central Corridor folks managing the project.
I can attest from personal observation their photos capture what's going on.
On the other hand, the decent and neighborly thing to do is put on your hiking boots and tour the project with a batch a friends. That way you can stop at bistros along the way to give them a bit of a boost. They're surviving for the most part, but the construction has taken a bite out of their bottom line.
Cutting edge art on University Ave in St. Paul
Posted at 2:48 PM on September 9, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, St. Paul , Transportation
Happily, Angela Talle ignores the "don't touch that" advice around broken glass.
She's breaking, snipping, nipping and handling thousands of pieces as she creates a massive mosaic on the east wall of the Turf Club, a famous St. Paul honky tonk on University Avenue near Snelling.
Yes, this is the section of University Avenue that looks like a war zone.
In fact, as Talle is setting the glass for the mosaic into mortar, she is steps away from giant earth movers tearing up the roadway for light rail construction.
Talle's mosaic portrays a bunch of musicians strumming and singing and generally having a whee of a time.
There's a "western" motif to the art where Talle uses real horseshoes to accentuate
the border of the mosaic.
Talle scored a state arts grant to help pay for the project commissioned by the Turf Club. It'll be a gawking good time for pedestrians, drivers and light rail passengers, once order is restored to University Avenue.
By the way, time is waning to see Angela Talle's massive mosaic on Peace House, the drop-in center on Franklin at Portland in Minneapolis, a building destined for demolition to make room for affordable housing.
Twin Cities transportation plot thickens
Posted at 1:54 PM on September 7, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Suburbs, Transportation
Suddenly, or so it seems, the Southwest Corridor light rail project surges to the fore.
The Central Corridor light rail project overcomes seasonal construction delays.
Money for all things transportation hangs in the balance.
On that last point, the question is when or if Congress will authorize transportation spending under a continuing resolution? The deadline is the end of this month.
At stake are billions for roads, bridges, buses and rail, among other projects.
(The current 169/I-494 interchange is set to be overhauled)
The continuing resolution is for spending at 2010 levels when the old transportation act expired.
Readers of The Cities who spend way too much time following transportation issues know that before he bit the electoral dust, former Minnesota Rep. James Oberstar and then-minority House transportation committee chair John Mica supported a new transportation bill.
It would have authorized spending $500 billion over the next six years - roughly double the expired bill.
There's been precious little talk of that measure since then. Even though there's a chorus building singing the praises of a big transportation infrastructure spending bill to employ people and address several decades of deferred maintenance.
OK. Moving along.
How about that Southwest Corridor project? The Federal Transit Administration permission for Southwest to enter preliminary engineering is, arguably, one of the three big steps in the life of these projects - the others being permission to enter final design and then a full funding federal grant agreement which would be about half the cost of the project. The total price tag has been hovering around $1.2 billion.
For Central Corridor, the blissful late summer weather is a bonus given the wet weather that delayed early season construction. Project officials shy away from uttering the "Ahead of Schedule" phrase but point out that CCLRT met its construction season goal back in mid July of having 20% of the project complete.
A cloud on the horizon for Central Corridor centers on the impact construction is having especially on smaller businesses. Some report their revenue has been sliced by more than half.
Yes, there's $4 million in loans and grants available to help affected businesses. But only a small portion has been used. One reason, business owners say, is getting the money is onerous because of the detailed financial disclosure required.
(Photo courtesy of MnDOT)
Bike route site adds transit, plans to expand statewide
Posted at 8:27 AM on August 30, 2011
by Elizabeth Dunbar
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, St. Paul , Suburbs, Transportation
Cyclopath, a handy bike-route website developed by faculty and students at the University of Minnesota's Computer Science and Engineering Department, is expanding statewide.
MnDOT is providing the funds for the project, which will start this fall and take about a year and a half to complete. Professor Loren Terveen says it's a big task — the Cyclopath team will have to pull data from MnDOT as well as local governments to figure out things like road type, speed limit, shoulder width and whether there are designated bike paths in the area where a user requests a route.
For now, Cyclopath has expanded its options for commuters in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area. The site now allows users to add Metro Transit buses or trains to their bike route. That option includes scheduling, so there's no need to go to the Metro Transit trip planner if you're preparing a route that involves bike and bus.
Another addition for users is the ability to share a route with a friend via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook.
An Android app was also released earlier this summer, allowing people with Android phones to have Cyclopath track their route or provide a new route given their current location.
Twin Cities bicyclists are surely taking advantage of the bike option on Google Maps, but Terveen says it isn't the same as Cyclopath.
"We have a number of benefits that they don't have," he said. "Routes can be personalized based on ratings."
Cyclopath is open content, so besides ratings, users can add edits and comments so that the routes the site spits out are constantly improving, Terveen said.
"We've done studies that show we've actually increased the quality of routes that we generate using user inputs," he said.
Cyclopath has about 2,500 registered users. During bike season, up to 20 registered users log in per day and about 100 route requests per day are processed for people who don't log in.
Sold on Somerset, without a tube
Posted at 5:26 PM on August 29, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, St. Paul , Suburbs, Transportation
Why in the world wouldn't you want to live in this little western Wisconsin town?
It's nestled in the gorgeous St. Croix River valley, just a few minutes east of Stillwater.
And it has the sublimely beautiful Apple river flowing by it, which is even more attractive without the tubers who were mostly absent on the weekday I visited.
Modern day settlers have been beating a path to Somerset and towns all up and down the river valley for years, buying homes, raising kids.
And driving to jobs elsewhere.
Yep, there's work in those towns, but not enough.
One of the reasons, local boosters say, is that naughty old Stillwater lift bridge.
It's cute in a Norman Rockwell sort of way, but the 80-year-old, two lane span with a 30 mile-an-hour speed limit and weight limits that prohibit some heavy trucks is a chokepoint.
Companies in a hurry don't want their widgets tied up in a traffic jam or making a detour to one of the other three crossings over the St. Croix River at Taylors Falls, Osceola or Hudson.
That's one reason boosters of western Wisconsin economic development want a new St. Croix River bridge, and the one they want is the $633 million model - the version with all the bells and whistles including four, 65 mph freeway-style lanes of traffic and three miles on both the Minnesota and Wisconsin of new interchanges and roadway.
The opponents are saying, 'wait;' and especially the Minnesota critics are asking why their tax dollars should be subsidizing development in Wisconsin.
Watch for new and exciting episodes in this telenovela in September when members of Congress return and decide if they'll give thumbs up to the new span.
To entertain us in the meantime, here are some fun numbers from the Minnesota Department of Transportation bridge engineer Nancy Daubenberger, comparing bridge traffic over the Stillwater lift bridge, which is at about 17,900 vehicles a day (down slightly from last year), with some others:
Similar bridges (2-lane river crossings) Average Annual Daily Traffic:
inter-state bridge at Osceola = 6,300I-94 bridge at Hudson = 91,000
TH 61/Miss River in Hastings is 36,000
TH 63/Miss River in Red Wing is 11,700
TH 60/Miss River in Wabasha is 5,600
How does that rank with a big one?
Daily traffic volume over the Mississippi on the new 35W bridge in Minneapolis is 126,000 vehicles.
Footnote to the Hiawatha light rail project
Posted at 9:00 PM on August 25, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
It's a $4.6 million dollar footnote.
The news is that the U. S. Department of Justice will settle for $4.6 million with the major contractors who built the Hiawatha line.
The settlement for the project completed in 2004 resolves allegations that a consortium of construction design and build firms that includes Granite Construction Company and C. S. McCrossan knowingly submitted false claims.
The companies claimed they'd subcontracted with women and minority owned or so-called disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE's) when the government says they hadn't.
The companies agree to the settlement but insist they did nothing wrong.
Federal rules require that contractors make a good faith effort to subcontract with DBE's.
What about the Central Corridor light rail project under construction between downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis through the east bank campus of the University of Minnesota?
Here's the latest from spokeswoman Laura Baenen:
The DBE total achievement in July for the project was about 8 percent. The goal is 15 percent. The reason for the below-goal performance is that the work activities planned for DBE firms has not occurred as yet. Keep in mind that the 15 percent goal is upon completion of the contracts, and the contractors still have years of work ahead of them.
Baenen adds a footnote: "The (CCLRT) project is still on budget. As for time, we have already surpassed our 2011 goal of being 20 percent complete; we did this in July."
Dayton puts the kibosh on smaller St. Croix bridge
Posted at 10:44 AM on August 17, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Suburbs, Transportation
There's a new episode in the long-running St. Croix bridge melodrama.
The Minnesota Environmental Partnership, a coalition, sent a letter to Gov. Mark Dayton urging him to take seriously the idea of a smaller bridge over the river.
And then there's a response to the letter from Dayton.
Basically, it's "nope".
Forget the smaller bridge.
"A number of options were considered before they chose the one that they chose, so there's a reason why it was selected," said Dayton's spokeswoman, Katharine Tinucci. "Certainly there are other options, but this is the closest we've come in 10 years to having it finished, and that's why we're going ahead with the current plan."
You'll recall from earlier scenes in this long-running soap opera that Dayton and MnDOT set a deadline of having a final bridge plan in place by Sept. 30.
Why the deadline?
MnDOT says there are lots of other projects in line waiting for that money, and the agency says if the bridge is a no-go, then they need to get busy on plans for them.
Here are some excerpts from the letter sent by the Minnesota Environmental Partnership:
The Lower St. Croix, a federally-protected Wild and Scenic River, is currently threatened by the proposed $690 million highway project which calls for an immense, freeway-style bridge to be built through the heart of the Lower St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.
We ask you to reject this approach, and instead direct Mn/DOT to fully evaluate a new alternative design.A smaller, three-lane bridge ... would cross the river diagonally beginning just south of downtown. A reversible lane would enable traffic management technologies similar to those used by Mn/DOT to accommodate peak demands on I-394's MnPass lane.
The current highway expansion project will accelerate greater dependence on oil, and the loss of farms and forests.
Signatures from folks representing 30 various environmental and other interest groups are attached.
Another semi tipped in downtown Minneapolis
Posted at 10:09 AM on August 16, 2011
by Tim Nelson
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
The downtown Minneapolis rush hour ended with another upended semi-tractor trailer this morning -- although it doesn't seem as serious as the fatal crash in the Lowry Tunnel last Wednesday. Here's what the culprit looked like after trying to round the 35 MPH curve on southbound Interstate 35W just south of I-94 this morning.
It appears the driver was ambulatory after the incident:
(Photos: Erika Nelson)
Next stop, Little Mekong?
Posted at 12:52 PM on August 10, 2011
by Laura Yuen
(5 Comments)
Filed under: Immigration, Race, St. Paul , Transportation
Foodies in the know flock to University Avenue in St. Paul for its barbecue pork, roast duck and steaming bowls of Vietnamese pho.
But do most people view the neighborhood as a destination?
Small-business advocates are working on an Asian-themed brand for the intersection of University and Western avenues. "Little Mekong" is the concept bandied about by the Asian Economic Development Association, in deference to the Southeast Asian river that ties together so many of the communities who work and live along this strip.
"We want to attract visitors to the area," said AEDA's executive director, Va-Megn Thoj. "There's a perception that the area is not safe, that it's unwelcome and dirty. The businesses and residents both have a role to address that perception."
Past efforts to market the area's Asian influences by such groups as University United have not been successful. But with Central Corridor light-rail construction beginning next year in the area, Thoj says brand development will better position the community for tourists and customers during the disruption.
The branding plan is still in the works, and AEDA wants public input. A community open house to gather ideas will be held 6 p.m. Thursday at Kings Crossing community room, 500 N. Dale St.
More information about the event can be found here.
MPR photo by Bill Alkofer
More tree stump removal in north Minneapolis tornado zone
Posted at 9:54 PM on August 10, 2011
by Jessica Mador
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
Minneapolis city officials are holding a news conference Thursday at 10 a.m. to announce the "removal of 1,529 unsightly tipped tree stumps in the 3.5 mile tornado-affected area of north Minneapolis".
This comes after a message earlier this week from Rep. Joe Mullery:
UPROOTED STUMPS AND SIDEWALKS I finally got a response from the city regarding the uprooted tree stamps and destroyed sidewalks. The city says the Park Board will start removing the uprooted stumps on the boulevards on Monday, August 8, beginning at the north end and continuing south. The Park Board plans to be done with the removal by September 1. When the stumps have mostly been removed (i.e. about three-fourths gone), the city will begin repairing sidewalks.
This is good news for the tornado zone. Many blocks, especially in the hardest hit areas, are still littered with uprooted tree stumps.
Who doesn't love an occasional 'mill and overlay'?
Posted at 1:14 PM on August 3, 2011
by Brandt Williams
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
This mechanical dinosaur - which is actually about the length of a Tyrannosaurus Rex - is lumbering along 3rd St. S. in downtown Minneapolis chewing up and spitting out asphalt. The 30+ ton behemoth is called a cold planer, and it's integral to the "mill and overlay" procedure.
The process is simple - although it requires a lot of heavy machinery. The old, pockmarked surface is scraped away. Then another crew of workers apply a new, fresh layer of blacktop that is squished into place by steamrollers.
At the risk of sounding like an infrastructure-nerd, I really like a good mill and overlay. What's not to like? It makes a street look neat and tidy and it feels great to drive or ride a bike over. Plus, city officials say it extends the life of the road by 10 years.
Several other major downtown streets are on the cold planer's menu this summer as well. Check the city's website for details and maps.
Metro Transit says ridership up 3.2 percent
Posted at 8:40 PM on July 27, 2011
by Madeleine Baran
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Customers boarded Metro Transit buses and trains 39.6 million times in the first six months of 2011, the agency reported on Wednesday.
That's a 3.2 percent increase over the same period last year, which equals 1.2 million more rides.
Buses and the Northstar commuter rail accounted for much of the increase. Urban local service is up 4.1 percent. Express service is up nearly 3.3 percent. And suburban local service increased by 3.4 percent.
Northstar commuter rail reported a 4.4 percent increase.
But ridership on the Hiawatha light-rail line is down 2.3 percent. However, Metro Transit said ridership on the line in June 2011 was up 5 percent compared to June 2010.
Here's what Metro Transit general manager Brian Lamb said about the numbers, in a statement released Wednesday:
Transit ridership has continued to grow through the second quarter as more commuters choose to avoid high gas prices and congested freeways. If this pace continues, it appears that 2011 could rival the record ridership of 2008.
In 2008, regional transit ridership was the highest in half a century.
Sierra Club joins "sensible" bridge chorus
Posted at 2:00 PM on July 21, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Transportation
Not exactly a surprise.
The Sierra Club's Northstar chapter has signed on with a group that includes St. Paul DFL State Rep. Alice Hausman, an influential voice, who last week said a smaller bridge is smarter.
If you're late to this melodrama, here's the Cliff notes version: Western Wisconsin commuters and developers have joined hands with downtown Stillwater business interests to replace the aging, two-lane lift bridge, a choke point given rising traffic volumes that create paralyzing rush hour traffic jams in the otherwise scenic town.
Enter the respective state transportation engineers and voila: To a round of applause, blueprints emerge touting a four-lane, 200 foot high, freeway-style behemoth across the St. Croix River near Oak Park Heights, just down river from Stillwater.
Oh, yes. There's the matter of cost.
The big bridge is pricey, about $633 million or so. Part of the reason is that about half the cost goes to rebuild several miles of interchanges and roads on either side of the river to accommodate projected travel volumes.
Gosh, this melodrama and blog entry are beginning to rival War and Peace. In length and ennui. Let's break it up with a nice photo, right about here. See what a nice town Stillwater looks like without traffic jams?
Fans of the St. Croix as a wild and scenic river and their allies have risen up and shouted, "Too much."
And that brings us to the "sensible" bridge coalition and their proposal for a three-lane wide span (a switchable middle lane for rush hours) with a fifty foot bridge deck clearance and price tag of about $263 million.
Hausman says the money saved can be used to help replace and repair the hundreds of Minnesota bridges currently rated deficient. And she adds she's not inclined as a Minnesota taxpayer to subsidize development in western Wisconsin with a massive piece of transportation infrastructure where Minnesota's share of the cost would be about $363 million.
Whew. Glad I'm working in air conditioning. This is exhausting. But not exhaustive. Careful, even sloppy readers of this massive entry will and should comment on the many twists and turns not mentioned.
What's next?
A 2:30 p.m. hearing on Thursday, July 28, scheduled before a U. S. Senate subcommittee on a bill that would exempt a new St. Croix River bridge from federal wild and scenic river protection regulations.
What's the right size for a new Stillwater bridge?
Posted at 2:25 PM on July 18, 2011
by Dan Olson
(9 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Suburbs, Transportation
Here's the view offered recently by a group that wants a smaller span.
They argue this version would be less than half the cost of the bridge proposed by most members of the group involved in years of negotiations aimed at replacing the Stillwater lift bridge - about $263 million versus about $633 million.
Here's another equation to think about: What's going to happen to the price of gasoline? How will that affect development in New Richmond and other western Wisconsin communities and the volume of vehicles using the bridge to get to and from the area?
The down-sized bridge idea landed with a thud among the big bridge proponents who view sizable growth and increased traffic volume as inevitable.
Boosters of the smaller span ask, among other questions, why taxpayers should in effect subsidize western Wisconsin development with a big bridge - the "Build it and They Will Come" view of how development happens.
Tell The Cities your view.
35W bridge memorial dedication set for Aug. 1
Posted at 12:16 PM on July 15, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
When Minnesota's construction season began this year, a parade of workers, including heavy equipment operators, stone movers, masons, electricians and landscapers, began putting the 35W bridge memorial together, and here's the progress so far.
The newest additions are the 13 girders symbolizing the lives of the 13 people killed when the bridge collapsed on Aug. 1, 2007.
City officials say the dedication of the memorial is set for Monday, Aug. 1.
The memorial is on public land next to Gold Medal Park in downtown Minneapolis overlooking the Mississippi River.
First rail of Central Corridor is on the ground
Posted at 12:55 PM on July 12, 2011
by Tim Nelson
(1 Comments)
Filed under: St. Paul , Transportation
As of this morning, this right here is the eastern terminus of the Central Corridor Light Rail Line. Workers are tying and welding rebar and fitting up the first rail of the long-awaited commuter rail line connecting downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis, said Laura Baenen, spokeswoman for the Central Corridor LRT Project.
The rail is being put together in 300-foot sections and pulled down to 4th Street, to the foot of the St. Paul Farmer's Market. Just 11 miles and a few hundred million dollars to go.
But don't buy your ticket just yet. Service isn't scheduled to start until 2014.
Nail biting time (again) for Southwest Light Rail
Posted at 7:00 AM on July 8, 2011
by Dan Olson
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Suburbs, Transportation
The folks who'd like to bring us the Southwest Light Rail line are waiting for a green light.
Wonder where Southwest Light Rail will go? A map of possible routes is here.
They're in limbo, hoping the Federal Transit Administration grants permission to enter the coveted PE or preliminary engineering phase.
The human equivalent is going from childhood to teen status.
(You're a grownup transit project when you get FFGA, a full funding grant agreement.)
PE means the planners and engineers are allowed to create even more elaborate blueprints.
Predicting the likelihood of Southwest Light Rail ever becoming a reality is tricky.
Obviously the local boosters like it a lot since it connects the wealthy and car congested southwest suburbs with downtown Minneapolis.
The Metropolitan Council likes the project and has given it a high priority among other transit needs.
And the folks at the FTA reportedly like the project.
But take that with a grain of salt. There are somewhere around 100 rail and bus projects across the country in the FTA beauty pageant, all vying for scarce federal funds.
These projects rise or fall to some degree on a community's track record, and so far the Twin Cities is showing it knows how to deliver them on time and on budget.
Cold steel in the Central Corridor
Posted at 3:05 PM on July 7, 2011
by Tim Nelson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: St. Paul , Transportation
There are signs of things to come along the Central Corridor Light Rail line. Some concrete here. Some asphalt there.
But for much of the construction so far, it's been all Central Corridor and not much rail.
These days, though, the steel is starting to pile up along University Avenue. This stack runs for almost a quarter mile along University between Snelling and Hamline.
Central Corridor Spokeswoman Laura Baenen says this is the project's "open air welding shop" and that workers have been putting together 1000 ft. sections of rail for weeks. By that measure, there's about 18 miles of rail sitting here -- not quite half of the rail for the dual-track 11 mile line.
UPDATE: Metropolitan Council spokeswoman Bonnie Kollodge says another welding operation was set up in downtown St. Paul on Wednesday, on 12th street between Robert and Cedar. She says the first rail could be moving down to 4th Street as early as next week.
Regardless of shutdown, Twin Cities transit funding in limbo
Posted at 1:44 PM on July 1, 2011
by Dan Olson
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Suburbs, Transportation
It's deceptive.
The Metro Transit buses, trains, vans, and other services are still up and running at regular service levels.
Temporarily.
The Metropolitan Council, the agency in charge of most Twin Cities public transit, is using reserves to fill the tanks, pay the operators and keep everything rolling.
Without a state budget settlement, those reserves might last a few weeks.
Even with a budget settlement, Metro Transit folks have set public meetings next week to outline a worst case scenario.
That scenario envisions a new state budget with a $109 million transit funding cut over two years, which was proposed by the GOP.
Met Council officials say the result won't be pretty. Suburban express and crosstown bus service slashed, direct bus service to the U of M cut, 500 employees laid off, and 200 buses idled. In other words, nearly a third of Metro Transit's service goes away.
Oh yes, and then there's the matter of fares increasing as much as fifty cents.
Raising fares. Cutting service. Not a formula for increasing ridership. In fact, Metro Transit folks predict the number of riders would nosedive.
And then it would take years to recover should service be restored in some unforseeable transit future.
Those public meetings where you can make your views known are next week:
Wednesday, July 6 - 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Metropolitan Council Offices - Chambers
390 North Robert Street, St. Paul
Served by many transit routesThursday, July 7 - 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Minneapolis Central Library, Doty Board Room
300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis
Served by many transit routes
The 35W bridge memorial is rising
Posted at 8:57 AM on June 17, 2011
by Dan Olson
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
Construction workers for weeks have been at the site on the east bank of the Mississippi river next to Gold Medal Park in downtown Minneapolis.
A crew is working on the wall.
And here's a rendering of the wall and 13 columns memorializing the thirteen people killed at 6:05 p. m. on August 1, 2007 when the bridge collapsed.
A span behind the wall will extend out to the edge of the river bank where some brush and trees have been removed so visitors will be able to see the new 35W bridge.
Here's the city and park board's official description of the plan as of about a year ago:
• The garden presents 13 I-beams which are illuminated during the evening.
• The names of the each of the people who lost their lives are engraved on opaque glass faces that cover the inside face of the I-beams.
• Also included in the garden is a water wall that frames the walkway space as one of the memorial's focal points.
• The I-beams line an 81'-long linear plaza space with the water wall incorporated to one side.
• The water wall is very quiet and incorporates a sheet flow of water over its polished surface, offering a visual, auditory meditative focal point to the space.
• Names of all individuals who were on the bridge that day will be engraved into the surface of the wall, along with an inspirational quote and a dedication.
• Benches bookend the linear plaza space, offering places to rest and contemplate in the garden.
• A path leads from the fountain to the bluff edge, where an observation deck allows views of the river and the bridge through the trees.
• Dramatic lighting -- from the I-beams, path lights and water wall -- brings a soft glow to the space during the evening hours, for a more intimate and contemplative experience.
• The linear dimension of the space (81') references the date of the bridge collapse -- 8/1.
• The width of the space (13') references the 13 people who lost their lives.
• The distance of the path to the overlook (65') references the time of the collapse -- 6:05 p.m.
TOD at 38th and Hiawatha?
Posted at 5:00 PM on June 16, 2011
by Dan Olson
(3 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Translation: Transit Oriented Development. Developer George Sherman is poised to fill this vacant lot at 38th and Hiawatha in south Minneapolis with Longfellow Station, a mixed use commercial/residential development.
In fact, things seem to be moving right along. Last week Minneapolis found $1.9 million in federal dollars sitting around in the city's till and used it to help Sherman buy the property from the previous developer...whose plan failed.
Anyway, Sherman wants to build 180 apartments, most of them "affordable" which often means subsidized housing. Construction on 10,000 feet of "neighborhood commercial space" is set for late this year.
TOD, as much as moving people, is what light rail proponents promised would be the eventual payoff when Hiawatha line trains began running in 2004.
Boosters of transit argue developers perk up and pay attention when relatively permanent train tracks are laid - a sign the transit service will be there more than a year or two.
Add some stations along the line and developers begin dreaming about the money they might make from building apartments and houses near the station that will be rented and purchased by transit lovers who want an option to owning a gas guzzler.
Oh yes, and cities and counties tend to like TOD because as long as populations increase and the apartments and houses are occupied the development promises more property tax revenue.
Which is why the local governments in many cases are willing to kick start development with subsidies.
Does TOD work? Maybe.
The Metropolitan Council says, "since 2000, nearly 7,700 new housing units have been built along the (Hiawatha) line, with another 6,750 units planned (as of April 2009)."
Will Central Corridor light rail create similar TOD tremors? Stay tuned. The line won't be complete until 2014, but there's certainly no shortage of vacant thus developable space along the line.
Cedar Lake trail extension in Minneapolis is open
Posted at 11:14 AM on June 14, 2011
by Dan Olson
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
Finally.
The "bike freeway", as cycling enthusiasts call it, is the slightly more than one mile long length of the Cedar Lake trail linking it with the trail along the Mississippi river.
Among other interesting features, the trail runs under Target Field.
The grand opening of the new Cedar Lake Trail link is today at 5 p.m., but the trail is open and folks are using it.
Couple of things, bicyclists. Watch the stop signs at the sharp right turns on the portion of the trail behind the Federal Reserve Bank building...
and where the trail crosses the parkway.
If you ignore the stop signs, make sure you have good health insurance and your will is updated.
Seriously. The cross traffic on the parkway includes motorized vehicles who may or may not stop, even though there's a sign noting it's a crosswalk.
And remember, this is a non-motorized trail, not just a bike trail. That means you'll encounter people on foot who for the most part have a walkway along the trail.
Oh, yes, and remember the speed limit is ten miles per hour. So those of you in training for the Tour de France, ease up.
This is a big year for non-motorized or bike trail openings in Minneapolis. Officials predict up to 35 miles of new lanes this season, more than eight times the normal expansion rate.
Here's an example. This is the extension of the Hiawatha trail that for a time runs parallel to the light rail line.
This is the link under construction in downtown Minneapolis as the Hiawatha trail comes from the west bank, and empties out on 3rd Street South.
Look for an August opening.
Stay cool and learn Minneapolis history
Posted at 10:20 AM on June 7, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
Shade and cooler temperatures await visitors to the Federal Reserve Bank's park next to its headquarters building on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis.
A broad walkway starting at Hennepin Avenue curves along the bank down to the Mississippi River parkway.
Markers along the walkway are topped with riverfront scenes with captions that tell the story of development in the area.
Several points stand out:
- The Ojibwe and Dakota had their own names for the river.
- The first (wooden suspension) bridge across the Mississippi was a toll bridge!
- Railroad depots - the Union and the Great Northern - sat on either side of Hennepin.
It's a great family field trip because it's free and very accessible by bike on the nearby and just completed Cedar Lake trail extension and by bus.
Where did the Twin Cities streetcars go?
Posted at 1:53 PM on June 2, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
This photo, courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society collection, shows that some of the old streetcars were loaded up and sold to other systems in Newark, New Jersey and Mexico City.
And some were burned.
Hennepin County librarians have put together a nifty package on Twin Cities history including transportation history.
Scroll down a bit into the story and check out the photo of the burning streetcar. The folks who engineered the demise of the streetcars in l954 to be replaced by buses couldn't get rid of the old rail vehicles quickly enough.
So they burned them.
Anyway, it's always an informative side trip to review Sin Cities history .
A disaster on top of a crisis
Posted at 11:45 AM on May 26, 2011
by Brandt Williams
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Housing, Minneapolis, Race, Transportation
Yesterday, I walked with a group of volunteers who were going door-to-door on Knox Ave. N, talking to residents who may need assistance. The women spoke with people who were either going to repair, rebuild or move. During an off-the-mic chat, one of the volunteers told me she was in a similar predicament -- except she was being forced out of her north Minneapolis home because of a foreclosure. Her foreclosure story is one of the thousands across the city, especially on the city's north side.
It is a reminder that the tornado is a disaster on top of a crisis.
One of the other things I was struck by this week as I walked around the storm-ravaged areas of the north side was the block by block distribution of destruction. Knox Ave. from Lowry down to 27th is a mess. Since I used to live on the 2600 block of Knox, I had to pay my old neighborhood a visit to see how it fared. The block and my old house were relatively untouched by the storm.
Twin Cities transportation a cinch for the able-bodied
Posted at 3:23 PM on May 20, 2011
by Dan Olson
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Suburbs, Transportation
Cars, buses, bikes, cabs, limos, skateboards, walking.
Not a problem for those of us with strong legs or a fat wallet.
Quite a different story for people pinching pennies and not so stable on their pins.
That's the situation for south Minneapolis resident Delores Alvous, 82, getting help from Nokomis Health Seniors volunteer driver Zan Ceeley. They're on their way to a health clinic check-up for Delores, a weekly event.
The Twin Cities response is a transit network with Metro Mobility for people with disabilities (at a cost of about $41 million a year) and Transit Link, the seven county-wide dial-a-ride service (about $6.6 million a year), where a majority of the customers are older folks.
The problem is these mostly affordable services are stretched, and still cost a bit of money - up to $8 for a round trip.
Then, there's often a wait.
And some of the service is curb to curb, not door to door, so there can still be a walk. Not always a workable equation for people who need assistance.
Nonprofits have stepped in, offering van services and supplementing with volunteer drivers. But, as one transportation coordinator says, vans are expensive to own and operate, and volunteers are short lived, typically donating their time for about three months before moving on.
Not the case, by the way, for Zan Ceeley, who's hung in there for two years and is still going strong.
Our Twin Cities living habits hinder easy answers to transit.
As one East Coast transplant notes, Minnesotans are culturally opposed to density. We like our elbow room.
The result is a very large metropolitan area, and not much density anywhere except the core cities. Not very cost efficient for transit.
Instead, we have a robust car culture with a highly developed and extremely expensive to maintain road system.
One solution is to have more older residents live closer together, and that's happening. But survey upon survey shows folks prefer to stay in their home as they get older.
Let The Cities know your ideas for ways to help our older population get around.
Bike rental program adds 40 new stations in Mpls and St. Paul
Posted at 8:20 PM on May 19, 2011
by Madeleine Baran
(3 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
The weather's warmer, the potholes are getting filled, and Minneapolis police may have even nabbed the person responsible for a string of violent robberies that left Uptown residents afraid to go outside after 9 p.m.
In other words, it's the ideal time for Twin Cities' residents to dust off their bicycles and hit the roads.
Nice Ride Minnesota bike share program chose today to announce plans to add 40 new bike share stations in Minneapolis and St. Paul. That amounts to a near doubling of the number of bicycles in the Nice Ride fleet.
By mid-June, they'll have 1,200 bikes and 113 stations in the Twin Cities. You can check out which stations are up and running here.
New locations include: the Northeast Arts District, Gigi's in the CARAG neighborhood, the Capri Theatre on West Broadway, the YWCA at the light rail stop on Lake Street, Cafe Latte on Grand, and Mississippi Market on Dale Street.
The University of St. Thomas, Macalester College, Hamline University, and Concordia University are also getting Nice Ride stations.
North Minneapolis received 8 new stations in April, bringing the neighborhood's total up to 11. Last year the neighborhood was left out of the first round of stations.
In case you've never rented a bike from Nice Ride, here's a primer:
Users pay a subscription fee, plus a trip fee for rentals longer than 30 minutes.For tourists who want to ride around the lakes for two hours, the rental would cost $15.50. That includes $5 for the 24-hour subscription fee and $10.50 for the trip fee.
But if you're jumping on a bike to run errands, the program is much cheaper. Right now, a one-year subscription is on sale for $40. Trips under 30 minutes are free.
The news release offers one suggestion that might resonate with St. Paul residents.
"If you want to avoid congestion during the Central Corridor construction, Nice Ride will get you to your University Avenue destination fast!"
Eerie Washington Avenue calm before light rail storm
Posted at 10:03 AM on May 18, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
Cars, trucks, buses and bikes are diverted.
Pedestrians are on sidewalks behind a high cyclone fence.
Hard hat-wearing workers are measuring and generally taking stock before the earth movers arrive.
Washington Avenue at Oak is closed as it runs through the University of Minnesota's east bank campus.
One U grad student calls the scene, "post apocalyptic."
Not for long. The heavy equipment arrives soon to turn Washington Avenue into a transit mall for the Central Corridor light rail line. Completion? 2014.
For St. Paul businesses, light rail construction costly as a sudden storm
Posted at 6:00 AM on May 17, 2011
by Dan Olson
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
That's how some businesses along University avenue and in Lowertown may be feeling.
Laura Yuen and I checked in with a handful of owners within the last week. They tell a sobering story.
Light rail construction disruption is hitting them hard in the pocketbook with revenue losses ranging from 15 to 40 percent.
How and why?
The pictures tell the story. Streets diverted, parking gone, customers not showing up.
The Metropolitan Council and the city of St. Paul aren't standing still. They're working with the businesses on signage, promotions and advertising. There's a $4 million fund for forgivable loans up to $20,000 to help qualifying businesses cover losses.
Most of the streets eventually reopen as crews move to another work site. But it can be weeks and months of construction mayhem carving into revenues.
And many of those affected are not big national chains. They are the Mas and Pas, Uncles and Aunts of the world. Pockets aren't that deep, the daily cash flow keeps them a step ahead of the creditors.
Light rail boosters tout the little train as a potent economic development tool.
But the LRT goes into service three and half years from now. And then some years after that transit-oriented development might take hold with the promised economic boost.
Between now and then the business owners along the Central Corridor line are urging their customers to stop by and help them stay solvent.
Washington Avenue at the U closes Saturday
Posted at 2:12 PM on May 10, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
When it reopens, you'll be able to ride a train, bus, ambulance, or bike, or you can walk it.
But starting Saturday, May 14, you will not be driving your personal motorized vehicle on Washington Avenue through the University of Minnesota's east bank campus.
Forever.
Light rail builders close Washington Avenue through Stadium Village and the U for construction. It emerges from the light rail chrysalis in 2014 as a transit mall.
The new Washington Avenue transit mall will be similar to what happened to 5th Street in Minneapolis, as the Hiawatha line enters downtown and rolls past City Hall onto Target Field.
There are lots of questions and some answers about how the transit mall will affect the various interests along that stretch of Washington avenue.
Unanswered is how the transit mall will affect businesses in Stadium Village. Some short-term pain -- about three years of it -- seems inevitable as measured by the St. Paul Lowertown experience, where light rail construction has sliced deeply into revenues of some businesses there.
And as with so much of life, there's very little new under the sun including rail service on Washington Avenue. Back in 1948, transit rolled past the front of Coffman Union.
(The 1948 photo looks north from the front entrance of Coffman Memorial Union across Washington Avenue at the Northrup Mall. Visible is the most eastern of the two footbridges, a westbound streetcar and a temporary classroom building on the site of Ford Hall. Northrup Auditorium is visible in the distance. Photographer: St. Paul Dispatch & Pioneer Press. Courtesy the Minnesota Historical Society.)
More federal dough for rail from Minneapolis to Duluth
Posted at 4:00 PM on May 9, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
Secretary LaHood handed out $2 billion of our federal tax dollars today for passenger rail projects.
The biggest pile - nearly $800 million - will go to northeastern U.S. commuter rail service.
A decent chunk of change - about $400 million - is aimed at improving Midwest service, including rail from Chicago to St. Louis.
Minnesota snagged $5 million.
The cash goes to the folks trying to get the Northern Lights Express, NLX, service on track from downtown Minneapolis to Duluth. This map of the proposed route is courtesy of the Northern Lights Express.
They'd asked for $10 million. And it'll take a lot more - estimates range from half a billion to nearly a billion dollars - to actually get trains running, with no clear sign at the moment of where that money will come from.
The NLX was former U.S. Rep. James Oberstar's pet. Attempts to learn freshman 8th district Rep. Chip Cravaack's NLX position didn't net a timely response.
NLX supporters say the $5 million, along with $10 million in state borrowing approved by lawmakers last session for the project, helps pay for "phase one engineering". Obviously, it's a long way from reality.
Rail buffs take the long view. It took half a century to dismantle a once-extensive national rail service network. And they argue it will take decades to restore a measure of that service.
"Local Motives" is primer on Central Corridor politics
Posted at 4:30 PM on April 29, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Documentary film maker James Christenson has made silver screen stars of Macalester prof David Lanegran and U of M prof Judith Martin.
Martin and Lanegran are two of the best thinkers and talkers about Twin Cities development.
But their insights are usually confined to musty academic journals.
In Christenson's new film, "Local Motives," the two professors get some long overdue face time as they talk about the impact of the Central Corridor light rail project.
There's also face time for Metric Giles, Joan Vanhalla, St. Paul city council member Melvin Carter and others who live and do business in the neighborhoods affected by the project.
There's lots of concern among those folks about the loss of nearly 1,000 on-street parking spaces when the line is complete.
Christensen's documentary is a penetrating look at the jockeying around the state's largest public works gambit ever.
The first half is about the swirl of politics around a couple other Minnesota rail projects.
He tells the story with great visuals and soundtrack.
You can see it here.
Or you can go to the screening tonight at 7 p.m. at Macalester, where Christenson is a student. Details on the screening also found by clicking the link above.
$478 million back at you Twin Cities
Posted at 8:30 PM on April 26, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
That's the amount delivered today by Peter Rogoff, the top dog at the Federal Transit Administration.
It's some of your federal tax dollars coming home.
The money goes to pay half the cost of the $957 million Central Corridor light rail line between downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis on University and Washington Avenues by way of the State Capitol, the Midway and the U of M east bank campus all the way to Target Field in Minneapolis.
Yes, it's back to the future.
The light rail construction crews (really, this is true, you can go see) are tearing up the trolley tracks for the Twin Cities streetcars that ran from the late 1800's to 1954.
As someone pointed out we reinvent our transportation culture about every fifty years in this country.
We've cast our lot with gasoline and rubber tired vehicles and are just now beginning to look to alternatives.
There's hot debate over the wisdom of building the Central Corridor line. It's not like the Hiawatha project. Central is generating lots more friction because it's affecting lots more people.
Hiawatha's right of way, most of it, had been available for decades, the result of a failed freeway building effort.
But Central is going down the throat of the state's main street, University Avenue, one of the most vibrant and populated venues here in Walleyeland. We're been hearing and are going to hear lots more vocalizations from folks affected by the physical and economic dislocation the project is causing.
Then there's the money.
Nine hundred and fifty-seven million dollars makes Central the state's largest public works project. Ever. Four hundred and seventy-eight million is the largest amount of federal dollars ever sent back from D. C. for a transportation project.
That's money that could be used to build lots of lanes or interchanges in the Twin Cities to speed our commutes to suburbia and exurbia. But as Ramsey county commissioner Jim McDonough pointed out, his colleagues on the Ramsey county board whose districts do not stand to benefit directly from light rail voted to spend tens of millions as their share for the project.
Fifty years from now when we re-reinvent our transportation culture maybe crews will dig up the Central Corridor tracks and put in...what?
Metropolitan Council outreach coordinator Joey Browner signed a rail at the Harold E. Stassen Office Building in St. Paul, Minn. Tuesday, April 26, 2011.
Piers appear on the rebuilt Washington Ave. bridge
Posted at 12:24 PM on April 25, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
Towers of lattice-like steel rebar are surrounded by a form.
Concrete is poured inside to build each.
And, presto, soon there will be four new piers underneath the Washington Avenue bridge.
The piers are the added support the span over the Mississippi River will need to support the Central Corridor light rail trains when the line starts operating in 2014.
Here's how the National Academies' Transportation Research Board describes the project:
The structure is a unique double-decker bridge carrying an upper-level pedestrian deck with an enclosed walkway and a lower-level vehicular deck with two roadway lanes in each direction. The CCLRT Project proposes to replace one roadway lane in each direction to accommodate the light rail transit.
Read about how the Central Corridor folks explain the process here.
And last but certainly not least, here's a Web page with bridge history and a batch of cool photos.
Audrey Hull's legacy
Posted at 12:59 PM on April 22, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
Safety officials responded almost instantly with pleas to drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians to pay more attention to one another after a rash of fatal collisions including the death Thursday morning of Audrey Hull, 25.
She's the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts student who was on her bicycle when she collided with a truck turning right in Dinkytown next to the U's Minneapolis campus. Flowers remembering Audrey mark the intersection today.
Cycling enthusiasts for years have argued the fact that their numbers on the road are growing actually increases their safety, because drivers will notice and learn to share the road.
A rational argument.
The tragic uptick in Minneapolis bicycle and pedestrian fatalities the past week has the same effect but at a terrible cost.
What if all of us as drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists resolved, in memory of Audrey and other victims, to pay more attention, use more caution, slow down, obey the rules of the road and give a moment's thought to the value of life?
If the moment saves a life or prevents an injury it will be the start of a fitting memorial to Audrey.
Maps show longest, shortest commutes
Posted at 6:00 AM on April 21, 2011
by Elizabeth Dunbar
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Suburbs, Transportation
When it comes to long commutes, those living north of the Twin Cities have it the worst. A quarter or more of commuters in Isanti, Chisago, Sherburne, Kanabec, Wright and Mille Lacs counties spend 45 minutes or longer getting to work.
You might have heard from some of those commuters in my colleague Sasha Aslanian's story on the radio today. I looked a American Community Survey data from 2005-2009 to find out who has the longest and shortest commutes in Minnesota. Below is a map showing counties with the highest percentage of long commutes. The darker the shade, the higher the percentage. Click on any county to see how many commuters have long trips.
It's outstate Minnesota that wins in the shortest commute category. About two thirds of commuters in Traverse, Pennington, Brown and Stevens counties spend less than 15 minutes getting to work. The map is below -- the darker the color, the larger percentage of short commutes for that county.
The maps above focus on percentage of all commuters. The one below shows the average commute time in minutes for each county -- just an additional way to look at the data.
Sasha talked a lot in her radio story about rising gas prices. Gasbuddy.com has put together this graph of gas prices in Minnesota in the last six years. The price peaked in summer of 2008 at about $4 a gallon before bottoming out at under $2 a gallon when the recession hit in late 2008.
| Minnesota Historical Gas Price Charts Provided by GasBuddy.com |
So what happens when gas prices rise? Do more people ride the bus or carpool? American Community Survey data from 2008 and 2009 showed very little change in behavior statewide and in the Twin Cities. But keep in mind the quick changes in gas prices can be difficult to capture in annual behavior data.
A better indicator of changes in behavior is transit ridership data. According to Metro Transit data, mass transit use peaked in 2008, when gas prices also peaked (see graph below and mouse over to see what ridership was in a given quarter).
If you're wondering about the peaks and valleys, keep things like weather and school season in mind. Also, Metro Transit spokesman John Siqveland points out that Northstar commuter rail service began Nov. 16, 2009.
Shari's sense of University Avenue humor
Posted at 10:43 AM on April 20, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Cafe Biaggio owner Shari Breed doesn't look nearly old enough to remember the Cold War.
But that was her perspective the other day as she looked out the window of her University Avenue eatery near Raymond.
"East Berlin," she says with a rueful grin.
Her perspective? Just outside Cafe Biaggio's front window is a narrow span of sidewalk and then a seven foot high cyclone fence.
Beyond that, two lanes of University Avenue are missing and several feet of earth have been removed, creating a kind of no man's land populated with folks piloting heavy equipment.
East Berlin, you'll recall, was the post-World War II half of Berlin claimed by the communists and barricaded with fences and gates.
The barricades on University Avenue as light rail construction ramps up are not nearly as onerous, but you do need to navigate with care as the landscape literally changes daily.
The advantage on University Avenue compared with the bad old days in East Berlin is that no one tries to shoot you should you cross the barricades.
On the contrary, Shari Breed and the other business owners along University will welcome you with open arms, and in Shari's case, with an appealing menu of Italian fare including "chicken under a brick", or pollo al mattone.
Oh, yes. The bricks are from a friendly construction worker who found them while digging up University Avenue.
Twin Cities light rail funds "expected" next week
Posted at 3:55 PM on April 19, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Lots of tiptoeing and carefully chosen words.
But most of the local officials who consider themselves informed on the topic now say that the long-awaited federal money for Central Corridor light rail is....
Expected.
Ok, not exactly a headline.
More significant is that most of those same folks are making plans to be at a Twin Cities ceremony next Tuesday, April 26, where they expect the agreement for the $477 million federal match to be announced.
No apologies necessary if you've tuned out the CCLRT financial melodrama.
The latest development is that if the Federal Transit Administration signs off on its review of some changes to the environemental impact statement, then, yes, it appears the federal match is on the way.
Sort of.
The money doesn't come as a one big check to the Metropolitan Council, the builder of the line.
It comes in fairly substantial payments which must be approved by Congress.
Yes, that's the same Congress that is having a rather starchy time at the moment getting along and agreeing on anything especially money matters.
Still, if the track record (sorry) for the Hiawatha light rail and Northstar commuter rail is any indication, once the funding agreement is signed, Congress follows through with the money.
It's a big pay when and if that happens. The $954 million CCLRT project by one estimate includes about $380 million that will be spent by contractors to employ more than 3,000 workers.
Golden age of Twin Cities transit?
Posted at 11:30 PM on April 14, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Suburbs, Transportation
Yes, as measured by rising transit use.
Numbers released today by Metro Transit show a two percent ridership increase over last year likely related to rising gas prices and better weather.
But, no, not as golden as 2008 when ridership was even higher, again as gas prices flirted with four dollars a gallon.
But, yes, taking a longer view, the Twin Cities modern transit era includes rail with Hiawatha and Northstar commuter and, in three years or so, Central Corridor light rail.
And, yes, it's a golden era as measured by plans to offer bus rapid transit, LRT, service on 35W and build a southwestern suburbs light rail service.
But, no, maybe not so golden since money for those projects is not nailed down.
And, no, maybe not so golden since lawmakers are hashing over transit funding which includes a proposal that amounts to a net loss of money for transit.
The Twin Cities transit future is truly a mixed picture.
Single occupant vehicle drivers continue to account for the vast majority of daily commuter trips.
Transit - bus and rail - use continues to be a much smaller wedge of the commuter pie, so small in fact numbers from the national household transportation survey show walking and biking numbers higher than bus and rail ridership.
How would an extended period of $4 gasoline, should it occur, alter the picture?
One gender and color dominate Twin Cities construction crews
Posted at 9:46 AM on April 13, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
The imbalance is changing ever so slowly.
The U.S. Census shows Minnesota is 83% white, which means the state's population of 5.3 million is 17% people of color.
And half are female.
However, a drive past any road crew, or a scan of any construction team, reveals precious few women and faces of color.
A very slow change began a few decades ago with decisions by smart employers to hire the best workers regardless of race and gender, but more so by women and minorities, aided by government-hiring goals, demanding entry to the jobs.
One of the biggest breakthroughs came last year with the Minnesota Department of Transportion and its highway and bridge contractors striking an agreement with community groups to aim higher on workforce diversity goals.
Another milestone came this week with the announcement by the Minnneapolis Urban League, along with two locals of the Laborers International Union of North America, to train a group of 18 - a mix of women and minorities - in highway construction skills at the union's Lino Lakes training facility.
Another group of 20 is waiting in the wings for the next training session.
The Minneapolis Urban League CEO and president Scott Gray put it simply but profoundly, "this is truly groundbreaking, and we look for positive outcomes."
Twin Cities road woes are more than potholes
Posted at 6:00 AM on April 7, 2011
by Dan Olson
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Transportation
Yes, the bathtub-sized craters are annoying and expensive when they cause tire blowouts, major front-end suspension repairs, dental or optometrist visits to repair chipped teeth and cracked lenses.
The bigger picture is even more daunting.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation construction season announcement of 258 statewide road and bridge projects costing nearly $900 million only hints at the story.
A good share of our roads and bridges are at or near the end of their useful life.
Many were built 40 to 60 years ago, and engineers say that's about what we get in Minnesota given our weather, the damage from big trucks and all the chemicals we pour on the roadways.
We have about 134,000 miles of federal, state and local roads. That's the country's fifth largest system.
Twelve thousand of those miles are the state's responsibility to repair and maintain.
Much of the rest are the responsiblity of cities and counties, and they are strapped. Their road budgets are chronically short of money, as is the state's, to pay the repair bill. So local governments dip into property tax revenue.
Our "user fees" -- the state and federal gas tax, the license tab revenue and motor vehicle sales tax revenue -- do not cover the cost.
Talk abounds about options, buses and rail for example, taking some of the pressure off our road system. However, annual transportation surveys show very few of us use the existing versions of those options.
Should gas reach $4 a gallon, how will that change our transportation attitudes?
One last push to save Porky's
Posted at 1:40 PM on April 1, 2011
by Laura Yuen
(9 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, St. Paul , Transportation
Just as the rest of us were getting nostalgic about the imminent demise of Porky's drive-in in St. Paul, the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota drops this bombshell: It wants to save the 1950s icon.
The group says it had planned to name the drive-in on its annual 10 Most Endangered Historic Places list. Then came the news that Porky's last day would be Sunday, and that the owners were working to sell the property to the neighboring Episcopal Homes senior housing complex.
The preservation alliance says in February it wrote a letter notifying Porky's owners that the property had been nominated, and was hoping "to work with the present and prospective owners to find alternatives to demolition."
The preservationists contend Porky's is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places -- and the law requires review for those properties if the redevelopment plans involve funding from federal agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
According to a statement from the alliance:
"So the impending closing of Porky's and sale of the property to Episcopal Homes does raise some red flags. Tearing down the building without formal consideration of alternatives might be considered "anticipatory demolition" that could jeopardize access to future federal funding for new development on the site."
Erin Hanafin Berg of the preservation group tells me Episcoplal Homes has relied on HUD funding in the past.
And she says there's no question Porky's -- known for its neon pink pig sign and greasy-good onion rings -- holds historic significance.
"It is a very iconic emblem of the automobile age, which is really made University Avenue what it had been," she says. "There's not a lot of drive-ins in that good condidtion throughout the Twin Cities."
The site became eligible in 2004 when Central Corridor light-rail planners conducted a review of historic sites along the avenue, Hanafin Berg says. The Metropolitan Council is required to prepare National Register nominations for Porky's and 22 additional historic places sometime before 2014, when the first trains are expected to roll.
Preservationists are interested in seeing whether the drive-in could be relocated, Hanafin Berg says.
"We need to be able to have that conversation," she says.
The news is interrupting our nostalgia trip over the burger joint, built in 1953. An editor at MPR News got his first job there. He says he was promptly fired after one hour. Porky's loss was our gain, political editor Mike Mulcahy!
We featured Porky's back in 2008 as part of a project on the changing face of University Avenue. My piece focused on the historic car culture along the avenue, which would soon give way to light-rail. In the summer months, Porky's became a magnet for muscle cars and old-timers reliving their youth. As far as I know, parking lots to the east and west along University Avenue still draw other motor-heads, including Subaru enthusiasts.
Porky's was a symbol of that car culture -- and its demise symbolizes the changing times.
Of course, Porky's was also a place where matches were made. Larry and Rosey Kasella told me how sparks flew when they first met:
Rosey was a 19-year-old carhop delivering burgers to boys in their cars. Larry arrived in a 1951 Ford two-door hardtop. He'll never forget the first moment he saw her.
"Back then, the carhops all wore white sweaters -- tight white sweaters," he recalled. "I says, 'Hey, that's for me.'"But Rosey remembered it differently.
"No, you didn't. You said, 'I'm gonna marry her someday.'"
"Yeah, actually, I did say that," Larry said. "I said, 'That's the lady I'm gonna marry.' And two years later, we got married."
If you haven't had a chance to try Porky's onion rings, fear not: the Pioneer Press reports that the owner's son is taking his secret recipe to Tryg's, his restaurant in Minneapolis.
Fewer Twin Cities and Minnesota road fatalities
Posted at 4:20 PM on April 1, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Transportation
More new numbers -- these from the federal government -- show a decline in people killed on roadways.
They reflect the trend in Minnesota.
And the interesting contrast is that there are fewer road deaths on metro highways and byways than in rural Minnesota.
Hard to believe, isn't it, given the way so many of our fellow Twin Cities road warriors behave?
Of course it's good news that fewer of us are dead because of driving. However, there are still 414 deaths a year in Minnesota -- the equivalent of crashing a jumbo jet into the landscape every year. Think of the news that would make!
And using an average of 400 people on the big planes, the national 2010 road toll of 32,788 is the equivalent of crashing 81 jumbo jets a year.
Slow down. Buckle up.
Two I-35W ramps to close for several months
Posted at 1:08 PM on March 28, 2011
by Laura Yuen
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
Minneapolis motorists, start your detours.
Work on the Central Corridor light-rail project will require two Interstate 35W ramps to close for several months, and traffic delays are likely.
Starting Wednesday, the Fourth Street ramp to southbound I-35W will be shut down until this July. Drivers should instead take the entrance ramp from eastbound Washington Avenue to southbound I-35W.
And on April 4, the ramp from northbound I-35W to the University of Minnesota East Bank will close until the end of November 2012. To get to the East Bank, drivers can take the Fourth Street SE/University Avenue SE exit from I-35W.
Crews are preparing to build a bridge over the interstate to join Central Corridor and Hiawatha light-rail tracks, according to the Metropolitan Council.
Next week, crews will be strengthening the Washington Avenue bridge so it will be able to handle the new Central Corridor trains. That will close West River Parkway and the adjacent bike trail from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on April 5 and 6.
Visit the Central Corridor project page for more updates.
And finally, the Met Council is supposed to receive word any day now about a finalized full-funding grant agreement that would obligate the federal government to pay for half of the nearly $1 billion project. Stay tuned.
Why is MnDOT asking us for our transportation vision?
Posted at 1:44 PM on March 25, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Transportation
How's this for a once in a lifetime request?
The Minnesota Department of Transportation is inviting us to comment on a 50 year vision for transportation in Minnesota.
Yikes!
I despair over the selection of socks for my workday fashion statement.
Some with a more cynical view of the world may see this as an empty, blue sky exercise with little meaning given our near complete dependence on hydro carbons for propulsion on ribbons of concrete and asphalt.
Others with a less jaundiced perspective will embrace this as a chance to weigh in at MnDOT with pearls of wisdom and insight about our transportation future.
Hard to tell how serious MnDOT is about this exercise, but if their use of social media is an indicator they certainly want to draw in those who tweet or Facebook or are otherwise comfortable swimming in the big digital lake.
Do you have a vision for the future of transportation in Minnesota that you plan to share with the state's transportation planners?
What does progress in the Central Corridor look like?
Posted at 4:48 PM on March 16, 2011
by Laura Yuen
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Public officials and urban wonks agree light-rail will have benefits that go way beyond moving people.
Economic development, vibrant businesses, and new affordable housing are among the desired outcomes of the planned Central Corridor line connecting St. Paul to Minneapolis. And now there's a new metric to assess progress made on such goals.
With help from Wilder Research, the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative today released a so-called "tracker" that will measure the impact of the new transit line. It includes 13 indicators, such as residents' accessibility to shopping as well as new construction jobs for women and minorities.
The report provides where the corridor stands today on these indicators, and it will be updated annually.
One of the stated goals of the funders collaborative is "effective coordination and collaboration," particularly when it comes to supporting existing businesses along the line.
Today is a big day for small businesses in the corridor for another reason: Light-rail planners are taking public testimony regarding the potential loss of business during construction. The planners recently concluded businesses would likely experience zero to 2.5 percent drop in revenues as part of their supplemental environmental assessment. Business groups say they plan to contest that finding -- and provide affidavits.
You can still catch the second hearing at 6 p.m. at Goodwill/Easter Seals, 553 Fairview Ave. N. in St. Paul. These comments will be entered into the public record.
Where are the worst potholes?
Posted at 11:59 AM on March 8, 2011
by Molly Bloom
(4 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Suburbs, Transportation
"Danger zone." "Sinking area." "The Widowmaker."
For the past month or so, we've been asking you, our lovely audience, to map the worst potholes across the state. We've partnered with SeeClickFix to help us track the potholes and alert the officials in charge of fixing them.
So far people have reported 125 issues with potholes in the metro and three of them have been resolved. The three most nefarious stretches of road (based on the number of people who want to see them fixed) are:
1) 28th Avenue between 38th and 50th Streets, Minneapolis: "I no longer drive on it - the road is too narrow to avoid the potholes, and the potholes are deep enough to do a lot of damage."
2) Washington Avenue North, Minneapolis: "Washington Ave is littered with potholes. Cars swerving to miss them are creating near accidents."
3) 46th and Hiawatha, Minneapolis: "I could probably bottom out a school bus on some of the holes in this stretch. And it's almost the only way to get to several of these businesses."
Check out the map below and vote for the potholes that you'd like to see fixed or add your own.
Gazing into the Central Corridor crystal ball
Posted at 5:07 PM on March 4, 2011
by Dan Olson
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Housing, Livability, Minneapolis, Race, St. Paul , Transportation
ISAIAH, the interfaith advocacy group, and a coalition of nearly two dozen community organizations, have been analyzing what life is like along Central Corridor, aka University and Washington Avenues in St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Their results help paint a picture of what life may be like when the light rail line is running.
Their findings raise interesting questions: 86 percent of the enterprises along the corridor are small businesses, collectively employing more than 4,000 people. Do those businesses have the resilience to survive light rail construction and the loss of 1,000 on- street parking spaces?
Their study finds that the educational attainment of people living on and near Central Corridor is slightly less than the rest of the Twin Cities, that the diversity rate is higher, that a fourth of the residents don't have a personal vehicle. How will the rail line affect their education, job and earnings prospects?
One of the most interesting findings is that gentrification of the area has already begun, it started a decade ago. Housing costs are on the rise, and in fact, the study finds that some of the poorer residents are paying as much as half their income or more for shelter.
Among the recommendations: Government should make plans now for preserving and creating affordable housing, rezoning of property should be done with utmost care to preserve housing and business opportunities for the people living there.
All of the findings will be on the table at a community meeting Saturday morning, March 5, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer on Dale street North in St. Paul.
Suburban lawmakers try to halt Central Corridor
Posted at 7:00 AM on March 4, 2011
by Laura Yuen
(3 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Those sprawling holes in the ground in downtown St. Paul would remain wide open if four Republican lawmakers from the suburbs and outstate Minnesota have their way.
The state representatives introduced a bill today that would halt all work on the light rail line until the Metropolitan Council amends its final environmental study to reflect how construction would hurt nearby businesses. The other condition? A majority of plaintiffs in the Rondo lawsuit or a federal judge would have to sign off on the findings.
The bill's authors are Reps. Mark Buesgens of Jordan, Bob Barrett of Shafer, Linda Runbeck of Circle Pines and Bob Gunther of Fairmont. Admittedly, this metro reporter had to get out a map to find out where these cities are -- and I can tell you they're nowhere near University Avenue in St. Paul.
The bill might be a reaction to recent developments in the business vs. light rail debate. You might recall about a month ago, Judge Donovan Frank ruled that the Met Council's environmental-impact study was "deficient," and ordered up a new assessment of how the project would affect businesses.
The Met Council did just that -- and this week completed a study predicting businesses would experience a zero to 2.5 percent decline in revenues during the build-out. Those figures weren't what University Avenue businesses had in mind.
And they're apparently getting a little sympathy from lawmakers far, far away.
Hey! You're blocking the (Twin Cities) road!
Posted at 4:00 PM on March 3, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Transportation
MnDot says Minneapolis St. Paul area freeway congestion is up.
It increased about three percent last year over 2009 numbers.
But be careful how you read the report. The numbers were calculated before the completion of the Crosstown Commons. That was the four-year-long, $288 million project designed to relieve congestion in the south metro. The engineers say it's working.
Another caveat. Yes, the economy and the population are growing and they are factors contributing to roadway congestion.
However the traffic engineers say the bigger picture when all causes are poured into the congestion cauldrom looks like this: roadway "incidents," including crashes, stalls and our interesting Minnesota weather can account on a given day for up to half the freeway delays.
Not the Oscars, but the (Met Council) winners are....
Posted at 5:04 PM on March 2, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Housing, Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Suburbs, Transportation
The Dayton administration's list of appointees to the Metropolitan Council is out, and their collective resumes are replete with other public sector service, including transportation, housing and natural resources.
Roxanne Smith from Champlin, Gary Van Eyll from Carver County, Gary Cunningham from Hennepin County, and Steven Chavez from Eagan all have experience with housing issues.
Jon Commers and Richard Kramer from St. Paul, Jim Brimeyer from St. Louis Park and Harry Melander from Mahtomedi have experience with urban planning issues.
Jennifer Munt from Minnetonka, Steve Elkins from Bloomington, Edward Reynoso from Ham Lake, Adam Duininck from Minneapolis and John Doan from Blaine know about transportation issues.
Sandra Rummel, a former state Senator from White Bear Lake, and Wendy Wulff from Lakeville, the lone Met Council holdover from the Pawlenty administration, know about environment and resource issues.
Lona Schreiber from Brooklyn Park is a former state lawmaker who follows issues related to the region's older residents.
Dayton appointed five women and eleven men. Make that six women when you add his earlier appointment of Susan Haigh as Met Council chair.
The Met Council is the Twin Cities' 40 year old regional governance agency that manages waste water treatment, transit, parks and planning.
Ironic, iconic: the saga of a new St. Croix River bridge?
Posted at 10:45 AM on March 2, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
The 80-year-old hated and loved Stillwater lift bridge was built in 1931 in the depths of the Great Depression.
Would anyone else find it ironic if the deciders - members of Congress and state lawmakers - came together on a replacement as we struggle to climb out of the Great Recession?
Our elected leaders tell us we're broke. But we now have Democrats (Gov. Dayton) telling us all the options for the stalled project are reopened, Rep. McCollum saying a new if smaller bridge is ok, and Republicans (members of Congress -- Bachmann in Minnesota, Duffy in Wisconsin) telling us the time is right to build a new St. Croix river crossing to replace the creaky Stillwater span. The diagram is fun because it shows the old lift bridge in hot pink and the proposed new span in vibrant orange. And note all the road expansions on either side. They account for at least half the project cost.
What should a new bridge look like? Submit your design ideas to The Cities. We'll send 'em to MnDOT, WisDOT.
\
More money for safer Twin Cities walking, cycling
Posted at 2:20 AM on February 28, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Transportation
Transit For Livable Communities is aiming more money -- $1.172 million -- at safe walking and biking.
The largest amount, a million dollars, will go to add as many as 50 stations for the Nice Ride Minnesota bike sharing system. There'll be eight, for example, for north Minneapolis, an area not previously served.
Then there's money for a walking and biking connection in Fridley to the Northstar commuter rail station.
There's also some money to put those fancy talking, countdown street crossing signals in Minneapolis' Seward neighborhood.
This follows news earlier this year that Minneapolis will add up to 35 miles of bike lanes and trails to its system. That's noteworthy because typically the city adds about five miles a year.
Most of the money is from federal transportation funds.
Washington Avenue bridge redo will test drivers
Posted at 2:54 PM on February 25, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
Get used to delays while trying to use the Washington Avenue bridge near the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
And then, around May, get used to not driving on a portion of Washington avenue through the east bank U campus.
The Central Corridor light rail construction folks are rebuilding the bridge to handle the trains when (if?) they start in 2014. Lanes will be reduced to one direction each way.
Washington Avenue through the U becomes a transit way - no personal vehicles - as the project unfolds.
Plan to use the 10th Avenue and 35W bridges for your U of M east bank commuting purposes. Or walk, bus, or bike. By the way, the upper level Washington Avenue bridge biking and pedestrian ways remain open throughout.
Tell us here at the Cities blog how you're coping.
Metro Transit lines ready for a name change
Posted at 2:47 PM on February 22, 2011
by Dan Olson
(8 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, St. Paul , Suburbs, Transportation
Here's a chance to have your kid, your favorite uncle or maybe Electra your cat memorialized forever in Twin Cities transit history.
The Metropolitan Council invites us to name the system many of us know as Metro Transit or, 'the bus.' To be clear, they're not changing the name of Metro Transit, they're inviting the public to name specific transitways, such as the blue line or the red line.
The Portland, Oregon light rail arm of their transit network is MAX, the commuter rail portion is WES.
MAX and WES, sort of the daytime soap opera approach to transit branding. Especially once you add MARTA from Atlanta.
In other cities, the systems are BART, DART and so on. In San Francisco, a city with an unbeatable mix of charm and hipness, their antique cable car system has named individual vehicles with labels such as, 'cable car 15.' Still a ways to go on the branding front there.
We can do better. Get that name in now, make history. Share your ideas here on the The Cities Blog.
Thaw not enough to lift Mpls winter parking rules
Posted at 3:43 PM on February 18, 2011
by Elizabeth Dunbar
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
As snow and ice disappeared off of roofs and sidewalks this past week, some of us wondered if the Minneapolis winter parking restrictions would go away, too.
Not yet.
Tom Crann and Sam Choo of MPR's All Things Considered did a ride-along today with Mike Kennedy, director of transportation, maintenance and repair for the city of Minneapolis. Their reporting focused on potholes, but they also asked Kennedy about the parking restrictions, which call for parking on only one side of the street on non-snow emergency routes.
"Yes, we've lost a lot of snow cover," Kennedy said. "But the windrows that restricted the streets have not really receded as much. We still have very narrow conditions."
Without the restrictions, fire trucks would still have a hard time getting through, Kennedy said, adding that crews did some measurements during the thaw to make sure.
The other issue: Winter isn't over. It could snow again as soon as Sunday.
"If we get the 4 to 6 inches that they're talking about, we'll be right back to where we were when we had to implement [the rules]," Kennedy said.
So much for that hopeful "winter is almost over" feeling many of us got during the thaw.
Last year the winter parking restrictions went away the first week of March. Kennedy said the parking restrictions will be lifted by April 1 at the latest.
Woodbury woman named new state bridge engineer
Posted at 12:07 PM on February 15, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
Civil engineer Nancy Daubenberger takes over tomorrow as the new state bridge engineer at MnDOT.
The words bridge engineer carry extra weight in Minnesota following August 1, 2007. The 35W bridge collapse at 6:01 that evening re-focused the country's attention on infrastructure.
Part of the fallout from the collapse and the death of 13 people is a ten year bridge replacement and repair program. It totals $2.5 billion. As many as 120 spans will be affected.
Daubenberger will have a key role in inspecting the state's more than 19,000 bridges. The LeCenter native has a Master of Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Structural Engineering from the University of Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from North Dakota State University.
Daubenberger also becomes MnDOT's first female state bridge engineer. Men outnumber women at MnDOT 3839 to 1066.
More people rode Northstar commuter rail last month
Posted at 7:37 AM on February 15, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Suburbs, Transportation
One month of numbers does not a comeback make. But Metro Transit folks are very happy about January's uptick in Northstar commuter rail ridership - weekday ridership is up nineteen percent.
You may recall last year's ridership, the line's first full year of operation, was nearly 21 percent below projection. Northstar boosters say it's worth keeping in mind Northstar is young and it takes time to build a following.
Political jousting over whether the service is a taxpayer boondoggle or a true transit option seems to have died down. One opponent says the service is here, it's time to help make it work.
A proposal aimed at attracting more bus riders to rail calls for new station in Ramsey. It could cost as much as $14 million.
There's some money on the table for the idea, but more to be found, not an easy task in this fiscal climate.
You think potholes are bad now?
Posted at 4:32 PM on February 11, 2011
by Brandt Williams
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
If you're like me and you drive to work over the same route every morning and evening, then you've memorized where you have to swerve or change lanes to avoid potholes. My eight-year-old car feels like it has the knee and hip joints of a 90-year-old marathon runner. There's not much 'cartilage' left in the suspension system to cushion the blow.
Well, the problem will likely get worse with the warmer weather. Today the city of Minneapolis sent out a press release reminding drivers that the daily thaw and nightly freeze will further damage already pockmarked roads. So the city is adding crews to work on weekends in addition to the round the clock work going on Monday through Friday.
Since the start of January:· More than 5,000 truckloads of snow have been removed from City streets. That's in addition to the regular plowing efforts by Public Works.
· More than 200 tons of temporary asphalt mix, or cold patch, have been used to fix potholes.
· About 16,000 of the 20,000 corners in the City have been cleared of snow piles left after plowing.
City officials urge drivers to call 311 to report potholes. In the meantime, hold on to your axles. It's going to be a bumpy ride.
New Twin Cities airports chair: No MSP expansion soon
Posted at 9:05 AM on February 11, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
Dan Boivin predicts MSP passenger traffic will grow.
But probably not to the 55 million passengers a year predicted by the FAA for 2030.
Boivin, the new Metropolitan Airports Commission chairman appointed by Gov. Dayton, says the airport needs to expand.
But not until airline company tenants are ready to help foot the bill.
Boivin says the MAC's job, among others, is to keep the place competitive so airlines want to use it. That means, he says, keeping MSP user costs in the lower third of bigger airport costs.
Boivin also knows what the MAC needs to avoid: losing its hub status like Cincinatti.
He says way down the road, there may someday be the need for a new airport. But not in the short term. Short term, in airport parlance, is twenty years. It's worth pondering. MSP is 3,400 acres, a postage stamp, compared to 33,000 for Denver.
Timing those pesky Twin Cities traffic lights
Posted at 2:33 PM on February 10, 2011
by Dan Olson
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Suburbs, Transportation
Richfield and Bloomington drivers on streets next to Interstate 494 may soon be spending less time stopped at red lights. That's what appears to be behind the Hennepin County board approval this week of spending $30,000 to hire a stop light timing consultant.
The county, MnDOT and the two cities want to "optimize" the timing of 43 signals between York Avenue and Highway 77 or Cedar Avenue.
The county says it has an overall goal of completing traffic signal timing on one-third of all coordinated traffic control signals annually.
This may sound like pretty small potatoes, but that's probably not the view of the folks who drive those streets regularly. It's certainly not the view of traffic engineers.
Better timed lights, they argue, improves traffic flow, saves lots of gas and obviously reduces pollution as cars spend less time idling at a dead stop. That's the good news. The bad news is that many municipalities including Minneapolis, the state's most populous city, no longer have the person power to do extensive signal timing.
Maybe the county action is the start of a change.
Where is all the Twin Cities road salt going?
Posted at 8:13 AM on February 10, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
Road salts ends up in the region's lakes, streams and ground water, according to University of Minnesota professor Heinz Stefan.
His research shows spring melt washes the road salt into the Twin Cities watershed. Measurements show dramatic salt spikes in the spring and early summer in the region's water bodies.
The harm? Not clear. But the high salt concentrations are not a good thing for a variety of microscopic plants in lakes and streams. The long term effects on ground water may be a bigger, but still unknown risk.
Stefan presented his continuing research at a, "Science Happy Hour, " at the Aster Cafe on Main Street in Minneapolis, held every month, the second Wednesday.
Will Central Corridor be jobs machine for women/minorities?
Posted at 10:00 AM on February 9, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Race, St. Paul , Transportation
Gilbert Odonkor owns YAW Construction, one of the Central Corridor's minority-owned contractors. He says his business doesn't solely depend on set-asides, but he favors the program to help others get work.
Before you know the job is done and there were no minorities on it, so I think holding the generals to a higher standard helps everybody.
The whole Central Corridor project is expected to cost $957 million, creating 3,000 construction jobs over four years of work.
Those are the rough parameters of the Central Corridor light rail project, the 11-mile rail line from downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis. The Metropolitan Council hopes to finish construction by 2014.
The Met Council's goal - they admit it's a stretch goal - is to have the five prime contractors subcontract up to fifteen percent of the value of the work to women and minority owned companies. Already, more than 60 of them have been hired for various jobs.
Minnesota does not have a commendable history of women and minority hiring on transportation projects. Officials have committed to changing that and the Central Corridor project will be the biggest and most ambitious test.
Safer biking in Minneapolis? City stats say yes.
Posted at 2:12 PM on February 7, 2011
by Dan Olson
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Livability, Minneapolis, Transportation
The rate of bicycle crashes of all types are down by nearly a quarter in Minneapolis the past 15 years. The new numbers are from Shaun Murphy the non motorized traffic (that means biking and walking) specialist in the city's public works department.
You can get all the statistics including state numbers here.
It's good news, of course, but as the numbers show there are still fatalities and plenty of life-changing injuries happening to bicyclists.
One way to reduce bike and car accidents is to create more trails. And according to Murphy, this will be a bumper year for bike lanes in Minneapolis.
Normally the city of Minneapolis adds about four miles a year. This year it's poised to add up to 35 miles.
More women and minorities on Minnesota road projects?
Posted at 6:03 AM on February 7, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Race, Transportation
Maybe. At least there's a plan in place. That's the outcome of nearly two years of talks. Almost one hundred people representing women, minorities, unions, contractors and the Minnesota Department of Transportation met each month.
They delivered the outcome recently. The rub was MnDOT repeatedly failed to attain federal goals for hiring women and minorities for road and bridge projects. It's a goal not a quota. The rule is the agency and contractors must make a good faith effort to subcontract nearly nine percent of a project's cost to women and minority owned firms.
The hiring goal for individual construction workers in the Twin Cities goal is 11 percent minorities and six percent women.
Sounds doable, but it's been a tall order finding qualified companies and workers. Most of the prime contractors are white male-owned companies with mostly white male crews.
Protests two years over the inequities prompted lawmakers to direct MnDOT to shape up.
The plan includes a commitment by prime contractors to do more mentoring, an agreement by the state and contractors to make the hiring results more transparent and a vow by the community groups to rustle up more qualified applicants.
Many voices once at each others throats now agree there's a much more cooperative tone. The proof is in the results.
Central Corridor rail funding closer to reality, or is it?
Posted at 12:45 PM on February 3, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
The Central Corridor light rail transit folks have learned they're almost guaranteed a federal full funding grant agreement for the train line.
Word came from the Federal Transit Administration. The agency has sent to Congress its proposal to pay half the cost, nearly $500 million, for a St. Paul to Minneapolis light rail service. Congress has 60 days to review the proposal.
So what will Congress do? Will the new Republican House majority give a thumbs down to transit spending?
In the opinion of Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Project director Mark Fuhrmann "there's now a 99.9% chance the project will get federal funding." Fuhrmann, a veteran of seven previous transit projects here and elsewhere and on a first name basis with a scad of bureaucrats at FTA has some credibility behind this prediction.
Fuhrmann predicts a full funding grant agreement by April for the $957 million project. Fuhrmann and colleagues haven't exactly been sitting on their hands waiting for the feds to act. All the major contracts totaling tens of millions have been let. Construction is underway, the trains have been ordered, all on the assumption the funding agreement will be approved.
What does MSP aiport plan to do with $2B over 20 years?
Posted at 8:50 AM on February 3, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
It's a 20 year airport expansion plan with a $2 billion price tag. And that's after Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport just finished a ten year plan that came in about $3.2 billion.
Where's all the money going? The new plan expands terminals - first Humphrey, then Lindbergh - and parking. Parking is a big deal, actually the biggest source of revenue, at the airport. It supplies about a third of the Metropolitan Airports Commission's operating budget.
Money spent on the just finished expansion also went for terminal and parking expansion and a new north south runway. The next plan doesn't include any new runways. Sort of a moot point, maybe, since there's not a lot of room left at the airport.
Why all the expansion? The airport is widely viewed as an essential component in the region's economy. Not having one that's up to date risks losing air service. The projection is the expansion is needed to meet air travel demand by 2030 of 55 million passengers a year. Up from about 33 million now.
Don't bet on expansion as a guarantee MSP will continue as a major hub airport. One big factor is the price of oil for jet fuel. Some futures prices spiked above $100 today due in part to the upheaval in Egypt. Rising fuel costs can drive up ticket prices and influence consumer travel choices.
Light rail prep to begin on Washington Ave. bridge
Posted at 8:24 AM on February 2, 2011
by Elizabeth Dunbar
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, Transportation
Mark your calendars for more Central Corridor construction, especially if you work or study at the University of Minnesota.
Traffic on the Washington Avenue bridge on the U of M campus will be reduced to one lane each way starting Feb. 26. Crews will remove medians that weekend, and traffic controls will be installed on March 2. Construction starts in late March.
The lane reductions will be between Cedar Avenue on the west side of the bridge to Church Street on the east side.
That could cause delays, so start thinking about using alternative routes. And you might end up using those alternative routes permanently, because the Central Corridor light rail line will dramatically change Washington Avenue through the U of M East Bank campus.
As for the bridge, crews will begin construction in late March to replace the vehicle deck and add tracks for the trains. Here's a few more details from the Metropolitan Council's news release:
One lane will be maintained in each direction on the bridge during construction. Traffic will be restricted to one lane in each direction on the north side of the bridge while crews remove the vehicle deck on the south side this year. In 2012, traffic will be shifted to the newly built south side while the vehicle deck is removed on the north side.Cyclists and pedestrians on the upper deck of the bridge will use the north side this year and be shifted to the south side in 2012.
We'll take a more detailed look at bridge construction in future posts -- it's a pretty major endeavor involving adding girders and other elements to strengthen the bridge so it can carry cars, trains, bikes and pedestrians.
You can also check out the Central Corridor website.
Twin Cities bonding projects, no sure thing
Posted at 1:30 PM on January 31, 2011
by Elizabeth Dunbar
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Minneapolis, St. Paul , Transportation
Minneapolis and St. Paul officials were quick to praise Gov. Mark Dayton's bonding bill, which includes projects like a downtown ballpark in St. Paul and repairs to the Plymouth Avenue bridge in Minneapolis.
Both cities' mayors applauded the bonding bill proposal in press releases sent out within 90 minutes of Dayton's press conference.
But the GOP-controlled Legislature might not go along with the plans. Republican leaders said it's the wrong time to use the state's credit card to fund projects that might take years to complete. One GOP lawmaker said bonding should be reserved for emergencies.
Here's a rundown of what's in Dayton's bonding proposal for each of the cities:
St. Paul: $20 million for a new regional ballpark where the St. Paul Saints would play
Minneapolis: $8 million for capital improvements to the Target Center; $7 million to repair Plymouth Avenue bridge; $5 million to construct phase 2 of Granary Road near TCF Bank Stadium and the U of M Transitway
St. Paul has been talking about building a downtown ballpark for more than 10 years. Voters in 1999 rejected a sales tax to pay for a stadium. The city and Saints have pledged $10 million each for a stadium this time around, but if the other $20 million doesn't come through in a bonding bill, officials would have to figure out another way to pay for it.
In Minneapolis, the Plymouth Avenue bridge seems to be the most urgent of the three projects. That bridge has been closed to vehicle traffic since October after inspectors found corroded cables.
The city has said the bridge could be closed until early 2012, depending on whether officials can find money for the needed repairs.
Twin Cities 'transit guy' gets off the bus
Posted at 11:18 AM on January 31, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Transportation
Well, actually, Bob Gibbons will probably still ride the bus from his home in Roseville to wherever he's going. But he's retiring from his role as the main source of information for Metro Transit.
Gibbons (who turns 62 on Feb. 1, wish him Happy Birthday) was the guy on the morning news telling us how transit was faring in the face of another dumping of snow. He was the voice intoning news of Hiawatha or Northstar service burps due to construction or some other reason.
More seriously, Gibbons had to collect, digest and prepare statements on transit tragedies in the very rare instances of fatalities and injuries involving riders, pedestrians and others. Or drivers being assaulted by riders. Painstaking, emotionally wrenching work.
On a happier note, Gibbon's voice bubbled with enthusiasm as he reported rising transit use by Twins fans with the opening of Target Field. He waxed poetic about park and ride lot openings, federal grants for building double bus lanes in downtown Minneapolis.
To be Bob Gibbons is to command a bus and train load of transit minutia: ridership (strong and rising), funding (always dicey), route alterations (constant), all the while juggling a daily collection of calls, texts and emails from reporters and others wanting more. All skills honed over 17 years at Metro Transit, and before that, at the old Republic Airlines.
Safe travels, Bob, you always made the ride more informative and worth taking.
No train in my (Lakeville, Bloomington, Edina) backyard
Posted at 8:51 AM on January 28, 2011
by Dan Olson
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Suburbs, Transportation
Never underestimate the power of neighbors.
In the early 1990's, Twin Cities transportation planners looked longingly at abandoned or little used railroad rights of way for use as something more than bike paths. They spied a collection of tracks running from Northfield to downtown Minneapolis and named it the Dan Patch corridor in memory of the world famous Minnesota harness race horse of the early 1900's.
The north south corridor, the planners thought, would make a dandy route for a commuter rail line through fast growing southern suburbs. The planners were sidetracked by neighbors fearing declining property values from commuter rail running literally through their backyards. They lobbied lawmakers to successfully pass in 2002 an amendment prohibiting any study or spending for Dan Patch Corridor commuter rail. The law still stands after several repeal attempts.
Again this session there'll be another repeal effort. Is it moot? There's no dough for commuter rail anywhere, at the federal, state or local level. In fact, there's precious little money for any kind of transit. Central Corridor light rail might squeak across the finish line with a full funding grant agreement from the federal government expected in March. But no one is holding their breath for funding Southwest corridor or other projects.
More alarming, there's concern about whether there's enough money to pay the annual operating bills for what we already have - the bus system, Hiawatha light rail and Northstar commuter rail. On the road and bridge side of the ledger, money has been found, about $172 million, over the next two years for the rebuild of the 169/494 interchange to eliminate those three pesky stoplights not all that far from the Dan Patch corridor.
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