Zachary Korb wrote: > Has a traffic study been conducted recently that > considered whether Nicollet Mall - with one driving > lane in each direction - is best used as a primary > transit corridor for large busses? The high volume of > passengers getting on and off the bus, and the lack of > a passing lane on Nicollet, seems to be creating both > the slow service downtown, and bus / bike > complications.
Given that over 40% of the people who work in the downtown take transit, it doen't seem out of line that there is one street that is given over to transit and that this street be central to the downtown. Having one street also allows easy transfer from one bus to another, allowing Nicollet Mall to act essentially as a central transit "hub" for the whole region. Also, even though the buses may not be going fast through the downtown, I believe that they are going faster than they would in mixed traffic and that there really is a limit of how fast you want buses to be going through the downtown in the first place. I think one of the biggest isssue with balancing modes in the downtown is that the City has taken a whole traffic lane out of automobile service and turned them into bike lanes on several major streets, substantially reducing the carrying capacity of the street system overall. Fewer people can now get in and out of the downtown because of this change and this is adding substantially to traffic problems in the downtown. This, in turn, makes the downtown less economically viable as a business center when compared to suburban locations. Accomodating all modes of transportation is very important but this tradeoff seems to have large negative concequences. Carol Becker Longfellow _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
