A few things to consider
Posted on July 12th, 2007 – 9:27 AMBy Roadguy
So, it’s about the halfway point through road construction season in Minnesota. How have you been faring? Does it seem better, worse or just like any other summer?
A random observation: It might be a good idea to hang up the cell phone when getting pulled over. I noticed a traffic stop in Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon in which a driver pulled over, phone to ear, and kept gabbing even as the officer approached her window. I can’t think that helps make one’s case against a distracted driving charge.
No solution yet to University and Snelling: The Star Tribune version. The Pioneer Press version. This St. Paul landmark is one of the more painful intersections in the metro that I frequently run into. There are also several intersections along Washington Avenue in Minneapolis to avoid at rush hour. What are your picks for bad intersections around the metro?
Congestion elsewhere: The San Francisco Chronicle has come up with the top 20 worst bottlenecks in the Bay Area. Here’s a fun fact: “Last year, the Bay Area’s 100 largest bottlenecks caused nearly 7 million hours of commuter delay during peak commute hours, or a quarter of all peak time congestion,” according to a newspaper analysis.
Guest poster Chris is a news editor at Star Tribune.com and contributor to the Cribsheet blog.
22 Responses to "A few things to consider"
Overall I think this year is about the same as any other year as far as construction is concerned. Though I have to admit I’ve been avoiding problem areas very successfully so far.
I can’t nail down any bad intersections right off hand, but I do know that one of the worst (and getting worse by the day) bottlenecks is the I-94 Westbound at Rogers, all the way back to Maple Grove (especially on Fridays) Some Fridays traffic can be stop and go all the way out to Monticello. For some reason people are often baffled by the road research project lanes.
The opposite direction is often just as bad. Last week Sunday evening I was heading to St. Cloud and there were backups in the Eastbound lane all the way from Rogers to Clearwater.
Seems like a typical summer to me. As usual, those of us in the SW suburbs have virtually no easy access to downtown Minneapolis, with both 35/62 and 394 under construction. But some version of that happens every year. It’s the price I pay for livin’ la vida suburbia.
Construction seems to be about the same. I guess it depends on which of the roads you take are under construction.
Worst intersections? I guess that my pick would be a tie for Franklin and Lyndale or Franklin and Hennepin. OTOH, anywhere along Hennepin between Franklin and 31st St can be nasty.
Shameless webpage plug:
http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/minnesota/rant/1959bottleneck.htm
This was a list of the top 10 bottlenecks (plus 12 more “honorable mentions”) from 1959, as published in an article series in the then-Minneapolis Star (precursor to today’s Strib).
Of interest, note that Snelling and University was the #5 bottleneck back then. And we’re still talking about it today…even moreso with the planned Central LRT line going through the intersection.
West Lake St in Minneapolis was also cited…at #8 in 1959. Lake and Hennepin is still a mess, as is Lake and Excelsior.
Where Lyndale and Hennepin converge was a mess 70 years ago. It was a mess in 1959 (#4 on the list). It’s still a mess today.
Amongst other bad intersections:
Hwy 10 and Thurston in Anoka
Hwy 101 and County 49 in Rogers
Hwy 65 and 242 in Blaine (thankfully will be fixed with the new interchange starting construction)
Gosh,
I just haven’t noticed any construction this year. Maybe I’ve been distracted.
Here comes a major vent:
How am I faring? HOW AM I FARING?!? Considering I spent this morning stuck in construction-induced traffic sinisterly contemplating how I could make those must be taking helicopters to work Mn/DOT employees’ commute as miserable as mine, I’ll tell you how I’m faring.
It’s IMPOSSIBLE to get anywhere in the metro without encounter major delays due to the orange cones. Just one look at this map:
http://www.511mn.org/Default.asp?display=construction&area=TC_Metro&textOnly=False
and you’ll see that Northern Plymouth/Southern Maple Grove are really the only suburbs not affected. But that’s probably good since they’re likely still recovering from the 494 expansion (which didn’t do much good since there are still 30 minute delays). Oh, but you’re trying to get home to Plymouth? I hope you have an extra hour to spare because it’ll take you that long from downtown where they’ve reduced 394 to one lane to Hwy. 100. Granted, they did open up the shoulder yesterday, but only after witnessing the gridlock on Monday & Tuesday. Aren’t you people supposed to be engineers? What do you THINK will happen when you take three lanes of traffic – serving DOWNTOWN nonetheless – and cram them into one?
Let’s start with north and south. If 35W isn’t entirely closed – I get the feeling Mn/DOT enjoys a nice power trip with that – the lanes are reduced from 280 to 94. If that’s not enough, you can take part in the gawker slow down (Look at all that DIRT! Do you see how BIG that crane is?) that regularly occurs around 46th street or Diamond Lake Road, where they are building a bridge in the space of one they just tore down. And if you’re in the Northeastern suburbs you could try 35E, but that “unweave the weave” project has woven an even bigger mess at the moment.
Traveling east or west? Will that Wakota Bridge project EVER be completed? I think it’s going on five years now. And I feel for the folks in Stillwater, I hope you can telecommute since Mn/DOT figured it’s not a big deal to completely shut down 36, your major artery into the cities.
I’m likely just bitter because I feel as if Mn/DOT is plotting against my trip home in the evening. Officing in Nordeast – near Surdyks – with my humble abode stationed in Edina, I have multiple options for my afternoon commute. The fastest has typically proven to be 394 W (I cross the Hennepin Ave Bridge to enter 394 from 3rd St) to 100 S. But after spending an hour to simply get on to the ACTUAL 394 - those familiar will know that it’s really on ramp from the 3rd St entrance, past the Target center and the outskirts of downtown to where 394 and 94 merge – I stopped cursing and started thinking of alternate routes. I could take 35W south. Typically I’d travel east on University and enter the freeway from there. But even if that southbound ramp wasn’t closed, they’re still tearing up the pavement on the Mississippi river bridge. Scratch that route too. I’ve resorted to taking 55W to 100 S, finding that the stoplights are less annoying than the congestion caused by the orange signs. And since 100 S is still faster than 35W, I’ll let it slide that the “temporary fix” lane addition around Minnetonka Blvd, supposedly alleviating congestion until 2010 (now 2014, due to lack of funding. See http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/hwy100xlane/index.html and Strib article 5/29/07) is already at capacity. 3 YEARS is a little off in your calculations, Mn/DOT.
Now before you label me as a witch with too much time on her hands – I could by typing this while I sit in traffic for all you know – I DO understand the importance of road improvements. Obviously, if there weren’t any additions or expansions or revisions, I’d have just as much to complain about. I’m far from being an engineer, but I fail to find the common sense in this stuff. Why can’t these projects be scheduled so they don’t impact so many areas at one time? And really, there’s no better way to improve the roads than to shut down entire lanes (394 serving as a perfect example) or the freeways altogether (35W will be closed 9 times while they fix the 62 mess)? If you or someone you know is employed at Mn/DOT, I’d love to hear your side of the story. And take a ride in your helicopter because you’re obviously not driving on the same roads as me.
Oh, and I promise not to yell. I’m done venting now.
Thanks Roadguy, I feel better. Maybe even good enough to let someone merge into my lane on my way home!
Froggie is absolutely correct in his evaluation of the above Minneapolis and St. Paul intersections. Note the dates of the bottleneck article. The article was written a few years after the destruction of the Twin Cities Streetcar system and the invasion of the automobile.
The problem (in 1959 as well as today) is too many cars at these intersections. Investing in rail transit and bicycle and pedestrian facilities on these corridors will go much further in reducing congestion by offering mobility and transportation choices than creating quasi freeway exchanges ever will.
Thanks for pointing out the 1959 article which demonstrates clearly the problem and solution here.
The only construction in my way was the 394 stuff, but it has made traffic *lighter* because I found a secret ramp that no one else used during the one-lane-westbound stuff. I would be the only car during rush hour. Weird.
Construction has been everywhere I go. I’m looking forward to being complete, but by then there will be slowdowns from the snow!
Terrible intersections: The one that I hate the most (because I have to pass through it regularly) is the godawful 5-way intersection at the east end of the Franklin Ave. bridge. I have yet to figure out whatever twisted schema they use to time the traffic signals, but in any event it can take FOREVER to get through there.
I just saw a Harris Poll wherein 58% of the respondents felt it was “essential” to have a cell phone to stay connected with others.
Having overheard quite a number of inane cell phone conversations, all I can say is I don’t get it.
Frank,
I used to feel the same way I think. I solved that problem by using my blackberry.
KAJ: that location made the #1 bottleneck on the 1959 list I posted previously…
My least favorite place to be in the city is the ‘intersection’ of Hennepin and Lyndale. I was completely miffed when I happened to be in the Minneapolis engineering dept office and saw a picture of this intersection on the wall celebrating some sort of design award. Yea Right. I’ll give someone an award when they knock all those ramps down - even if it means worse congestion. I HATE that ‘intersection.’
As a Western Suburbanite, this summer has seemed so much better! I tend to run the 494 drag N & S, and since the “death tunnel” was removed upon completion of adding the lanes, my travel has been blissful.
When trying to get into Mpls, as previously mentioned, not so much. And I start working in NE on Monday. Ouch.
Froggie - I need to disagree with some of your posts on the page. For example, Larpentuer/Lexington did have some upgrades not that long ago and Hwy.36 takes a lot of the traffic away.
Personally, having attended Hamline Univ., I am convinced that Larpentuer-Snelling is much worse than Univ.-Snelling.
As for worst intersections - trying taking 35W north out of downtown Minneapolis. Good luck getting through the antiquated one lane, short left turn lane onramp.
I don’t think it qualifies as the worst bottleneck by any means, but KAJ reminds me that I am continually frustrated by the intersection of Lyndale and American in Bloomington. The traffic light favors Lyndale, even though American has twice the traffic. It’s not uncommon for a string of traffic on American to back up to the next light while a handful of cars cruise through on Lyndale. My only thought is that the city wants to discourage people from using American as an alternative to 494. Of course, I don’t think that’s very realistic. I’d much rather move at 35 in a 35 than sit at 0 in a 60. If they are serious about keeping through traffic off of American, they A) should not have built the bridge over 35W and B) should put some serious resources into widening 494 and removing bottlenecks like the disappearing lane after 12th Ave.
I would say that the 35W/494 interchange is one of the worst bottlenecks. It is not uncommon for the backup to extend all the way to the MN 5 exit - something like 5 miles away.
Froggie–How can you say that no chnages have been made to University/Snelling since 1959? You do cite in your notations that “some” traffic shifted to I-94. Actually, I-94 feeds much of the 2007 traffic TO that intersection. Also, the Fry St. by-pass was constructed in the last decade or so (lotta good that did!), and Snelling between Marshall and University has been widened to probably twice its 1959 width (judging from its width north of University and south of Marshall).
In 1959 this intersection was #5 on the congestion list, of late it has been #1. I’ve never been 100% convinced of the “you can’t build your way out of congestion” theory, but the Snelling/University intersection gives some serious creedence to it.
Here are the intersections I hate the most:
1. Hennepin and Franklin
2. Larpenteur and Snelling
3. Washington/University (during construction)
4. KAJ’s 5-way intersection between Franklin, E. River Parkway, and 27th Ave SE.
Snelling and University is up there, but it’s not even in my top 10. It’s busy, but it flows relatively smoothly enough that you’re not sitting waiting as often as you do at the other ones.
As someone who used to traverse #4 (the Franklin 5-way) twice a day before a recent job change, I’ve noticed a few things about that intersection. First off, it’s always been bad, but not as bad as it is now. When I first started driving it 2 years ago, there was usually a one-cycle lineup going east-west on Franklin. About a year and a half ago they closed River Parkway north of the intersection for repairs to the Bridal Veil Falls bridge. In other words, it was temporarily turned into a 4-way intersection. However, it took a couple months for someone to change the light accordingly, during which there was usually a two-cycle wait on Franklin. After they changed it, though, ahhhh, relief. Once again, never more than one cycle to wait on Franklin. Back around the New Year they finished construction and reopened the 5th leg of the intersection and the wait was still no more than a cycle because they reset the lights to the original setting. Then, inexplicably at the end of January, they retimed the lights so that each cycle is about half as long as before. Typically during my morning commute, that meant about 3-4 cars could make it westbound down Franklin each cycle. That lengthened my commute significantly, because even though the cycles were shorter, a greater proportion of your time is spent “clearing” the intersection with the yellow lights, as well as maintaining the same time for the pedestrian part of the cycle (which is necessary for a 5-way) so that people can walk across. My wait at the light probably increased by 50%. Now, I don’t know how that compares to people going elsewhere across that intersection, but I sure wish they would return to the old timing. Luckily I don’t have to mess with that intersection twice a day anymore because I work somewhere new, but it still drives me crazy when I go to pick my wife up at the U or run errands.
I have heard there was consideration given to building a roundabout there a few years ago, but that it didn’t happen. It seems like it would be a good idea to me.
This year’s construction season has been the best in memory.
Why?
With gas averaging over $3/gal since May I’m avoiding extra driving and have sacked the car commute in favor of light rail.
Construction, HA!…what construction?
Prof. S: I annotated the note that Larpentur Ave was reconstructed in the ’80s (as I recall that now). But 36 has existed since the ’30s and thus hasn’t “taken traffic away” from the intersection. Traffic at Larpentur/Lexington is all natural traffic (for lack of a better term).
Agree that Larpentur/Snelling is worse than University/Snelling.
Tom: I can say that because there really haven’t been major changes to University/Snelling in the intervening decades. University in both directions and Snelling to the north remain the same width they were in 1959. Now Snelling between University and I-94 has been widened (as you noted), but that’s a combination of the “Midway development” and your “I-94 feed”.
