While there are a myriad of secondary issues and effects associated with the proposed 35W Access Project, I want to discuss for a moment the actual highway traffic problems the redesign of the Lake Street interchange is supposed to address, as well as the current proposed solutions.
First, the proposed 28th Street fly-over ramp is incomprehensibly bone-headed. It appears to be completely unnecessary, unless the goal is simply to allow some number of terrified, white-bread suburbanites to get closer to Wells Fargo or Abbott before having to drive "in," versus above, the Phillips neighborhood. This proposed ramp will eliminate having to drive through 2 traffic lights (maybe 3 -- can't tell from the design drawings).
Is it really that horrible to have to negotiate those traffic lights? Once across Lake Street on 2nd Avenue, the road is essentially empty of most traffic. On recent rush-hour trips through that stretch driving to Abbott, it must have taken all of 2 minutes from 35W to the hospital parking ramp.
In sum: for tens of millions of dollars, we destroy part of the Phillips neighborhood; build a big, ugly eyesore; get an elevated ramp sure to be the source of traffic accidents on those icy road days; and slightly reduce some of the traffic going through the 31st and Lake intersections. Who wants this useless monstrosity? Abbott so they can build their new heart center? -- oh, wait, it's already being built. Wells Fargo so they can tear down a building and build a new one? I don't think they'll stop if they don't get their flying ramp.
Next is the proposed northbound on-ramp from Lake Street. That's a tough one. How many drivers leaving that neighborhood need to get on 35W to go northbound to points beyond the 35W / 94 commons? They're the population who it makes the most sense to serve via such a ramp. Those going downtown shouldn't be getting on there, since it's only slightly over a mile, and requires weaving completely to the left-side across 4 or 5 lanes to make the downtown exits, in a stretch of 35W known for being somewhat more dangerous and congested due to curves, descent grade, over-passes and traffic merging and splitting for the downtown / 94W exits.
Do the numbers support this ramp? I don't know, but it seems doubtful.
Likewise, the southbound exit ramp for Lake Street. How many drivers from north of Minneapolis will be coming down 35W and wanting to get off there? I've made that trip many, many times myself over the past 23 years. I get off at 35th, take it over to Nicollet or Pleasant and then head north to Lake Street. Hasn't been a problem for me.
Drivers coming from the east on 94 and destined for the Phillips neighborhood might have a better argument since there's no easy way to get off 94 before 35W and down to Lake Street, once you pass Cedar Avenue. If one is headed to west Lake Street, taking the Lyndale exit works better.
Another tough call, but the benefits of this ramp seem doubtful.
Lastly, closing the entire 35th/36th Street interchange and moving it down to 38th to fix the "weaving" problem only on the southbound side where 35th Street exiting traffic has to share the space with entering 31st Street traffic, seems penny-wise, pound-foolish. For a whole lot less money than what the project proposes, one of the two traffic ramps (35th exit, 31st entrance) could be elevated to /bona them in their own backyards, and pay for them, too. Carol Molneau's second-ring highway sounds great to me -- as a self-funded toll road, like Denver's E-470 / Northwest Parkway.
Minneapolis (and Richfield, and perhaps other inner-ring suburbs) have suffered too much neighborhood disrupting, real-estate value and quality of life diminishing highway construction ever since the Crosstown / 35W debacle, while providing huge amounts of tax revenue to the state so that they could continue to pave us over for other drivers' convenience (and of course, for the fun and profit of the construction companies).
It's time that stops.
Lastly is the Rule of Unintended Consequences. If we perturb the current traffic flow on nearby city streets and 35W by moving ramps and adding ramps, what's it going to do to the rest of south Minneapolis?
The project doesn't even mention this facet. It wasn't even considered. Just because a problem is hard, doesn't mean it should be ignored.
Drivers may react in what may seem like "strange" ways, but in reality the psychology of driving can be fairly well understood. People like to feel like they are getting where they are going with the least amount of personal hassle, and with the perception that they are making reasonable progress. Two examples: Most of us know drivers, perhaps ourselves, who prefer to take a longer route but one in which they are not forced to stop and sit at a light, a ramp meter or a traffic jam, which may even take longer in minutes, but "at least the traffic is moving." Second, an example that's been repeatedly demonstrated by traffic studies: take a stretch of road, say 1/4 to 1/2 mile, where the average speed from point A to B is 35mph. Now, say the residents complain about the speeds, and the city puts in a stop sign, along this stretch. Absent any other changes, the average speed will remain 35mph between A and B. What does that mean? After cars make their "approximations" of complete stops, they actually drive faster to make up the lost time!
I contend that rearranging the 35th/36th street ramps and adding ramps at 38th will cause heavy traffic in places most people don't even imagine. And the result will be really unhappy people, and shockingly large drops in real estate values in those areas. Bad idea.
Thus, on the whole, from the highway traffic perspective, the 35W Access project is an expensive, mostly unnecessary project with many negative side effects. It has few positive side effects, but are they worth the high price? No. And most of them could be purchased for a lot fewer dollars.
While this is, of course, my opinion, I like to think it's an extremely well-informed opinion. [My original posting of this message then continued to list my "bona-fides" for claiming some small amount of expertise in this area, but the list administrator bounced my message as too long. So now it's shorter -- hopefully short enough. If you want to know my background, feel free to write me.]
Chris Johnson Fulton
TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible.
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