In early December, Hennepin County and L&H Station (“the development team”) submitted plans for the development of L&H Station at 2225 East Lake Street, at the southwest quadrant of Lake Street and Hiawatha, a six-acre site immediately adjacent to the Lake Street station of the Blue Line. Below is the ground level plan submitted. In the context of the years of planning that led up to this submittal, and posts of my own, the following are a few questions I think the Planning Commission should ask. Can meaningful improvements be made to activate the 22nd Avenue frontage? (see below for…
A colleague of mine (from a more urban city) recently visited. When he arrived, I offered to show him around and he wanted to see transit-oriented development (TOD). Hmm…. I wanted to impress him, but I was stumped. Despite all our attention as a city and region to TODs, I don’t believe we have any great transit villages right off the platform where we could go that would really resonate with him. There’s Nicollet Mall and Target Field Station, but I wanted him to say, “wow, this is great!,” but I didn’t feel those would produce that response. Maybe I have impossibly high standards (maybe I’m just getting old and codgery), or…
Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin sent me a pointed email in response to my latest post about Minnehaha Avenue. He was frustrated that I didn’t mention the one bicycle advocate at the September 30 public meeting who spoke up, saying “these will be the best bike lanes in the city.” As well, I failed to mention lane widths will be 11 feet instead of today’s 12, and the numerous bumpouts will make crossing safer for pedestrians. All of these things are well and good. I’m all for reducing lane widths and installing bumpouts. I’m still concerned a nice new street with left turn…
Hennepin County has decided to proceed with rebuilding Minnehaha Avenue in 2015 and 2016. A good plan, but not great. The much-discussed cycletrack is off the table, and the street will be rebuilt with bike lanes similar to today but with some improvements for pedestrians and cyclists alike. The Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition’s announcement shows that organization’s disappointment with the County’s unwillingness to both listen to significant public input favoring a cycletrack or to provide a meaningful cycletrack design for the public to respond. As this video on Upworthy by a mystery Dutchman shows, the county’s proposal doesn’t ensure much of an improvement for cyclists (the county will…
A rebuilt Minnehaha Avenue can be a street that benefits residents and businesses. Another set of public meetings is happening next week, where Hennepin County will present revised designs for the street. One version will contain on-street bicycle lanes (somewhat similar to the current iteration), another a separated cycletrack option. Yet there seems to be a gulf emerging between cyclists and others over which of the two designs for the future of the street. There is a perception that cyclists want the cycletrack and everybody else wants the version with on-street bike lanes. Let’s hope after next week there is a…
A potentially spectacular and game-changing transit-oriented development may be revived in Minneapolis. And man do I mean “may be.” Hennepin County may get involved with the development of 6.5 acres of property adjacent the Lake Street Station of the Blue Line. The county maybe relocating offices and services to the site, which is owned by the Minneapolis Public Schools, and may be helping set the process in motion to allow development of more than 500 housing units and a permanent home for the Midtown Farmers Market. Maybe. If the school board is actually willing to move forward. I’ve been involved on a pro bono professional basis on this…
Thank you for your response. I’m sure citizens and voters will take these in to consideration and get back to you with additional questions regarding the reconstruction of Minnehaha Avenue. And I see we have our first questions now. You cite five pedestrian crashes from 2010 to 2012 and two pedestrian fatalities in 2009 (Question 26, Page 4 of the response). How many vehicle crashes have occurred in that time and how many fatalities? What is the primary culprit of these accidents (speed, inattentiveness, etc.)? With regard to trees, why do you continue to provide a false choice between cycletracks and…
After attending last week’s meeting hosted by Hennepin County regarding the reconstruction of Minnehaha Avenue in Minneapolis, I have a few questions. First question. Designs shown at the meeting generally indicate an increase in vehicular traffic of around 1% per year, or about 20% by 2030. Why? What is the County basing this on? Isn’t that a self-fulfilling prophecy? Build it and they will come. Making it easier to drive results in more traffic, something called induced demand. Do we really want more traffic on Minnehaha? The question was raised during the meeting and the answer from the County representative was that household…
