On Saturday, June 28, 2003, at 09:59 AM, Mark Snyder wrote:
Amen Brother Keith!
And that DFL gospel beat is as true and soulful as ever!
Dyna may want to sit down for a second because I pretty much agree with what
she said.
I knew you'd come around eventually- you've got something like 3 of your members in good standing of the "small is beautiful (to a fault)" caucus tag teaming me on the list now in this debate and your just starting to get your argument framed (what is a big box?) after weeks of back and forth.
West Broadway is far more suited to accommodate increased busing
than Lowry Ave. Dyna has mentioned before that rail would probably be a
better system than BRT, but we are in Minnesota (aka "Land of why have a
train when you can have 10,000 cars instead?"), so of course, that's not
going to be an option.
It's amazing that folks are so blind to the potential of the rail network that is all around them- no wonder they keep driving into trains! We have miles upon miles of underused freight tracks in the metro area, and the line from downtown to Monticello is one of the best. Know as the "Monticello Subdivision", these were once mainline Great Northern tracks that hosted the legendary Empire Builder. After the merger of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific raIlroads the Northern Pacific was left with three routes west, They decided to make the Northstar Corridor a high speed mainline, the Willmar line a secondary main for lower speed coal, grain, etc., and the Monticello Sub was the odd man out. The tracks were pulled up west of Monticello, but what remains is still in excellent condition and can handle the heaviest freight cars. With but a half dozen or so customers, one local freight train a day is enough to service them. This leaves an ideal route for commuter rail at minimal cost from Minneapolis to the northwestern 'burbs. Service could start in weeks instead of years if the political will were present.
but then I learned that that won't come into play because the BRT route would reportedly turn
downtown at Washington Ave and never get to that bridge.
Wonder how they expect buses to get up (and stop for the stoplight below) the hill on Lowry just west of Washington when it's icy. Methinks they'd need a whole new bridge with a lesser grade across I-94. I don't have a topo map with me, but the hill doesn't crest until about Lyndale so they'd need a whole new right of way as far west as Bryant at least. Then figure in that they'll need a transit station for transfers to the express busses on I-94, entrance and exit ramps, etc.. Sounds like an excuse to tear out most everything between Lowry and 33rd from I-94 west to Lyndale and heaven knows where west from there? Figure in "transit hubs" at Emerson, Penn, Broadway, and then clearing a block or so radius around for anticipated "redevelopment". Then add in clearing a few more blocks for "storm water storage ponds" and the Jordan crime problem has been pretty much eliminated along with pretty much Jordan.
So now I guess I wonder if the reasoning behind BRT on Lowry is because someone wants to widen it like Broadway? As Dyna pointed out, Lowry is currently far too narrow for such a system to work without giving up on-street parking and any hope for bicycle lanes.
Oops! forgot about the bike lanes, and while were at it 4 traffic lanes plus turn lanes plus parking lanes on Lowry too. Same for all the major cross streets for a block or two on either side of the Lowry BRT/bike lanes/expressway. Figure on taking down a few more blocks...
Has anyone actually heard of any reason given for why Lowry would be
preferable to West Broadway for a BRT route? I could keep speculating, but
it would be better to just hear from someone who actually knows.
I suspect deep in the bowels of the Highway Building at the Capital the highway engineers who tried to bring us the 29th Street Crosstown, I-894, etc.. are plotting their revenge. BTW, does anyone remember the planned Northwest extension of I-894 from downtown to the northwest suburbs? Could this be.... the resurrection of I-894? Built to current standards, the interchange with I-94 would level pretty much the northeast quadrant of Hawthorne including that pesky public housing high rise at 3rd Street and Lowry. Of course this would also require a mile or so long flyover across the river followed by another over the railroads as I-894 levels a blocks wide swath east to MN36.
With road building Republicans in power and the Princess of Pavement at the wheel of the Highway Department, anything is possible...
a bit of (hopefully just) humor from Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.)
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