Fredric Markus wrote:
WM: There is a special service district proposed for Lake St. from 35 to Hiawatha. This proposal is by either the Chicago Lake Business Assn. or Lake St. Council. I don't know how far it has progressed, nor whether it has expanded in length.Senator Berglin arranged for the 35W Access Project presentation at Horn Terrace Tuesday evening and Tom Johnson was ready to roll. There were many visual aids and also some visitors opposed to the access project that I had invited for balance.I've been tracking on this project for a while - nothing like the four-year duration, but enough to get the sense of the thing. We're aware of the proposed expansion of Lake St. and one moment of truth came when I asked for clarification about the change in footage from the current curb-to-curb (60') to the proposed 18' median with roughly 40' for one segment and 30' for the other. Setting aside the occasional rigors of Minnesota weather, this is a lessening of pedestrian risk. Nothing short of a special service district will keep the median and the 14' sidewalks clean.
It will be helpful to have a new transit station at 35W and LakeWM: A better solution to the bus stops exists. It was nixed by MCTO, but could still come back. It proposed shallow stores under the bridge, dedicated bus lanes on the outside edges of the bridge, two elevators. It was really slick and welcoming. MCTO said it was too expensive and, by report of other committee members, "it's only Lake St."
especially with elevator access for mobility impaired passengers.
Security is an issue here as it is in the Greenway and having populated
activities in the vicinity of the transit features - eyes on the street
- suggests an opportunity for a pedestrian mall with carts and
storefronts with shallow facades.
WM: Yes, you're right. The HOV lane as currently proposed is a dud from the start. The logical solution is this bus rapid transit idea with the lanes MNDoT wants to add becoming the bus right of way, two bus stations on the Lake St. Bridge (northbound and southbound).We would derive greater benefit from a link to a dedicated light rail or wheeled transit vehicle system in the proposed HOV corridor than from the curious intention to have both public transit and private vehicles in that corridor. That seems inherently unsafe to me especially given that solitary drivers are free to abuse existing HOV lanes. Maybe someday there can be an automated way to track and ticket these scofflaws, but for now extending HOV capacity north of the crosstown would add to congestion and duck the real challenge which is to extend high-occupancy transit south and west from the CBD into the suburbs.
The changes to the 35W exits and entrances that tidy up earlier mistakesWM: I'm not sure, but I think you're describing the "6B" alternative. Personally, I think the 6A alternative is more logical. It puts people on Lake St. not Nicollet. The project engineer opined, when I asked about it, that there wasn't enough to be gained with the 6B alternative to justify it. The vote for 6A or 6B is next Tuesday.
have a certain allure but I can't say I think well of a southbound exit
that would funnel major traffic into an already cluttered Eat Street
region. Unless somebody gets serious about parking ramps beyond what's
planned for the Cub Foods/Sherman Associates area, I can't imagine that
increased traffic will find a handy way to stop and shop.
WM: I thought catapults would be interesting. They could flip cars and trucks to their destinations. (Actually, I'm still thinking about that feature and haven't made up my mind entirely.)The flyover ramp also seems awkward to me.
WM: People can still get off the freeway at 31st., go through that light to Lake St. and turn right into the mercado district or left to Nicollet. This fly-over is supposed to take non-shoppers off Lake St. like traffic destined for places further East than Chicago Av., people destined for the hospitals, Welles Fargo, St. Mary's, Anderson, Four Winds, and truck traffic. However, the mercado district is mostly incubator businesses. The notion is that as they get to be bigger businesses they will leave for bigger spaces.There needs to be a way for local destination freeway traffic to get to the Mercado district on Lake St. - that will increase mightily over the years and I don't have alternatives in mind - just appreciation for the arguments of those who say such major public goals can be achieved with less cement.
The bigWM: This is the kicker. This money has not been dedicated yet and until it is dedicated we've got nothing worth making the effort for. The project is supposed to be access and mitigation. Nothing less, nothing more.
institutional uses north of Lake St. are functioning now and they are
income generators - I just see the value of being able to walk or bike
to work as being potentially preferable to Atlanta-style gridlock as a
condition of employment.
I also caution that the promise of mitigation dollars has to be
considered somewhat ephemeral in a public process environment that must
confront major capital shortfalls from the federal level on down.
The notion that Hennepin County can bond its way through potentiallyWM: Dedicated bus transit lanes and staying within the boundaries of the current trench is the most logical and puts a limit on MNDoT's fervor for additional lanes. It also has the potential to become a gateway to the city, both for people coming from the airport and for Minnesotans coming from the South and Southwest sectors of the state.
even larger financing dilemmas seems to me more a matter of counting
certain local elected noses in the short run - letting the runaway
commuter herd continue to pour over the cliff. Better policy suggests
coming to grips with the "less is more" lesson that the economy of scale
can tame and channel this flow with improved public transit when the
dollars aren't there for ever more freeways.
Expecting an eventual loan guarantee from the State of Minnesota would
seem particularly daft when the state's revenue shortfalls are so
intractable.
It is my understanding that until all the money is firmly in place, the whole thing is a no go. It is also my understanding that the HOV lanes as now configured are not necessarily what will happen, the counter proposal being dedicated bus lanes on the outside edges of the current lanes.
WizardMarks, Central _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
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