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By Steve Pease
New I-35W bridge nears completion
The new Interstate 35W bridge should be open to traffic sometime between mid-September and mid-October, according to the latest Minnesota Department of Transportation update.
MnDOT Spokesman Kevin Gutenecht said Aug. 26 that he did not have a specific date the bridge would open but expected to announce it “soon.”
“[We] just want to make sure we don’t have to change the date once we announce it,” Gutenecht said.
The roadways around the bridge such, such as West River Road and 2nd Street SE, will open when the bridge opens.
No matter the date, the project is well ahead of the “contractually obligated” completion date of Dec. 24, according to MnDOT. Flatiron-Manson crews first began site preparation in October 2007, and have been working 24/7 since then. If the contractors have the bridge available for traffic by Sept. 14, they would reportedly earn a $27 million bonus.
In keeping with a long tradition of newly completed bridges, once the new 35W bridge is done, it will likely first be open to pedestrians before it opens to motorized traffic.
Flatiron-Manson Joint Venture is the contractor for the 234-million-pound bridge that initially cost $234 million — or $1 per pound — to construct.
The new I-35W bridge is expected to last 100 years, according to MnDOT estimates. National transportation officials recently recommended using the new bridge as an example of how to design, construct and pay for major transportation projects in the future.
Aside from 10 lanes of traffic over two separate spans, the bridge is also designed to support light-rail transit (LRT) and features river-level observation decks.
Until the bridge is complete, MnDOT says the best place to view Flatiron-Manson’s work is from the 10th Avenue Bridge.
Rybak tours Denver on free bikes
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak began his Democratic National Convention experience by biking into downtown Denver on one of 1,000 free bikes provided by the Freewheelin program.
In an effort to reduce carbon emissions, and increase exercise, the free bikes were also offered during the Republican National Convention and could be found throughout Downtown Minneapolis.
The bikes were offered as a result of a partnership between Humana healthcare and Bikes Belong coalition. There is no word yet on whether the free bikes — popular on college campuses — will be available after the RNC.
Crosstown closures
All lanes of state Highway 62 between Penn Avenue and the western junction of Interstate 35W are tentatively scheduled to close from 9 a.m. Friday, Sept. 12 through 5 a.m. Monday, Sept. 15. This closure is needed for storm sewer work, according to a MnDOT news release. Motorists should follow the posted detour routes.
Watch for nighttime lane closures on the Crosstown between 9:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. each night as work continues. The Crosstown is commonly referred to as the area where west- and-east-bound lanes of Highway 62 conjoin at the Minneapolis-Richfield borders. For up-to-date information on highway construction, traffic, detours and delays call 511 or go to www.511mn.org
Status of Crosstown ramps (closures, openings):
• The 46th Street exit ramp from southbound I-35W closes in September and reopens in October 2009. The 46th Street exit ramp to southbound I-35W will reopen in October 2010.
• The 60th Street exit ramp from southbound I-35W is closed and will reopen in September 2009.
• The Portland Avenue exit ramp from eastbound Highway 62 is closed, and will reopen sometime this fall.
• The Lyndale Avenue exit ramp from westbound Highway 62 is closed, and will reopen in September 2009. The Lyndale Avenue entrance ramp to eastbound Hwy 62/northbound I-35W is also closed and will reopen in September 2009. The Lyndale exit ramp from eastbound Hwy. 62 will also reopen in September 2009.
• The Penn Avenue entrance ramp to eastbound Highway 62 is closed and will reopen in July 2009.
• The 66th Street entrance ramp to northbound I-35W is closed and will reopen in June 2010.
Counties’ top transportation priority: Central Corridor LRT
The Counties Transit Improvement Board has picked the Central Corridor light-rail transit line, which will connect the Twin Cities, as it’s number one funding priority in 2009. Some of the $70 million in taxes collected from the new quarter-cent metro-wide sales tax will be spent, in large part, to fund the train line.
CTIB Chair and Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin said in a release that investments in light rail, commuter rail and intercity passenger rail, as well as in bus rapid transit, will help commuters, residents and businesses move more quickly and efficiently. The CTIB also committed 50 percent of transit operating funds for the Hiawatha Light Rail Line, and the new and expanded Cedar Avenue Bus Rapid Transit and I-35W South Bus Rapid Transit lines, among others.
The Board (comprised of Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington counties) will also fund 30 percent of Central Corridor capital project costs, not to exceed $300 million, as well as 50 percent of operating costs for the light rail line between Downtown Minneapolis and Downtown St. Paul.
The $892 million Central Corridor Project has also received a combined 20 percent capital funding commitment from the regional railroad authorities in Hennepin and Ramsey counties and the state.
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35W Bridge Collapse/Reconstruction
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Newest development proposal: A courtyard with pool and movie screen in the heart of the Uptown nightlife scene
UPDATED August 31, 2010, 11:04am
By Nick Halter
A new development proposal in Uptown calls for the construction of a three-level restaurant with a rooftop patio, plus a private, ground-level courtyard with a pool and movie screen in the heart of the Uptown nightlife scene. The courtyard would go between Cowboy Slim’s and the new restaurant, which would be built directly across from the Lagoon Cinema on Lagoon Avenue, according to a plan submitted to the city of Minneapolis. The owner of the site is Uptown Gassen LLC, which is owned by Clark Gassen. Gassen is proposing a 3,000 square-foot, single-level retail building that would go along Girard Avenue between Lake Street and Lagoon. Underneath the proposed development would be a 125-car parking ramp. The restaurant’s three
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Harriet concession contract nears approval
UPDATED August 30, 2010, 1:00pm
By Jake Weyer
1 Comment
The board will decide this month whether to approve local restaurateur Kim Bartmann’s concept, Bread & Pickle.
After more than a year of community review and a selection process that narrowed a field of nearly a dozen applicants, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is scheduled to vote this month on a new Lake Harriet concession contract.
Staff recommended local restaurateur Kim Bartmann’s concept, Bread & Pickle, based on the suggestion of a community group that reviewed and interviewed the applicants. That group was made up of former members of a Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) the Park Board assembled last year after public outcry over a proposed concession change that would have required a new building. The CAC examined concession opportunities and drafted recommendations used to review applicants.
“The CAC was really a lengthy, drawn-out, long process,” said Park Board General Manager Don Siggelkow. “But it yielded the information and the understanding that I think brought this conclusion the way it needed to happen.”
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Urban fashion store and art gallery opens on Hennepin
UPDATED August 26, 2010, 10:14am
By Nick Halter
With rare Michael Jordan sneakers dating back to 1985, local art work, a DJ table and pinewood floors, Moh Habib on Aug. 21 unveiled Studiiyo 23, an urban fashion store and art gallery at 2319 Hennepin Ave. Everything about Studiiyo 23, from the name to the design to the merchandise, is a reflection of Habib, a 34-year-old world traveler who spent his high school and college years in Minnesota. “In those travels — I’ve been to 30 countries and 169 cities so far — I picked up the best of what I like from all those spots, and what I did was try to merge everything I love in life into one space,” he said. Habib has spent the last eight years working in Japan and Switzerland, first for Northwest Airlines and later as a
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Bryant Lake Bowl operator plans to buy Casey’s Bar and Grill
UPDATED August 25, 2010, 2:12pm
By Nick Halter
Kim Bartmann, who runs popular Lake Street establishments Bryant Lake Bowl and Barbette, said she has a purchase agreement for Casey’s Bar and Grill, 3510 Nicollet Ave. Bartmann wouldn’t offer specifics on what she will do with the space. She is asking to present to the Kingfield and Lyndale neighborhood groups soon to show them her plans. She said the renovation will last a couple weeks and said work will be done on the kitchen and dining area. Casey’s has a very limited food menu. “We’re a very food-focused company, so I think that will be a major change,” she said. Bartmann said Casey’s current owner has taken good care of the place and kept it clean. “It has a lot of potential,&rdq
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Neighborhood notebook
By Dylan Thomas, Nick Halter and Sarah McKenzie
THE WEDGELHENA hires new newspaper editorLowry Hill East Neighborhood Association hired a new editor for its monthly newspaper, The Wedge. Wedge resident Quentin Skinner took over with the July issues of The Wedge. Best known as the theater critic for City Pages, Skinner also has written two novels set in the Wedge, where he has lived for 15 years, according to an announcement posted Aug. 2 on thewedge.org. ——— WHITTIER Rex Hardware demolishedWrecking crews in early August demolished the former Rex Hardware building at 2601 Lyndale Ave. S. The demolition came 11 weeks after the Minneapolis City Council overturned a Heritage
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Parks update // Lake Harriet health
By jake weyer
Park Board applies for grant to study Lake Harriet healthThe Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has decided it’s time for Lake Harriet to get a checkup. The board frequently receives complaints about the lake’s smells and surface algae and is hoping to perform a diagnostic study — funded by a $55,000 matching grant from the state — to see just how healthy the popular body of water is. “These grants are specifically being put out to prevent lakes from being designated as impaired lakes,” said the board’s Environmental and Field Services Director Debra Lynn Pilger. Pilger presented the details of the “clean water partnership grant” to the board at its Aug. 4 meeting. A
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Green digest // More mini markets
By Dylan Thomas
Farmers market season is at its late-summer peak, and more neighborhoods this year have easy access to fresh tomatoes and sweet corn thanks to an expansion of mini farmers markets sites. The number of mini farmers markets located mainly in low-income neighborhoods has tripled between 2008 and 2010, reported the Whittier-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), which established the market program in collaboration with the city. The Walker Place Farmers Market in the East Harriet neighborhood near a senior housing facility was one of the mini farmers markets to debut this summer. The Stevens Square Farmers Market, Southwest’s only other mini farmers market site, opened in 2008. The mini farmers markets are limited to five or fewer
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Wine may flow, after all
By Dylan Thomas
Uptown wine tasting was in question this springStart working on your swirl, sniff and slurp technique: The annual wine tasting sponsored by Hennepin Lake Liquors may go on this year, after all. This spring it appeared the wine tasting, an important fundraiser for Uptown-area neighborhoods, might not return for its 28th year. In mid-August, though, event organizer Pat Fleetham said he was nearly ready to announce a fall wine tasting. Fleetham said he was “tentatively proposing” a date in October for the tasting but still needed to finalize agreements with event sponsors before he could announce a time and location. The event in recent years had been held in early June. In March, though, Fleetham wrote in an email to
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Biz buzz // New improv theater
By Nick Halter
New Lyn-Lake improv theater will focus on long-formA new improv theater is coming to Lyn-Lake this fall, leasing the space formerly held by Lava Lounge clothing store at 3037 Lyndale Ave. Huge Improve Theater, the nonprofit company that is leasing the space, plans to have a roughly 100-seat theater open in late October and is pursuing a beer and wine license from the city. While Minneapolis already has improv theaters like Comedy Sportz and Brave New Workshop, HUGE Executive Director Butch Roy said the Lyn-Lake theater will be dedicated to a unique form of improv — long-form. No theater in the Twin Cities is devoted to the form. Most know improv in its short form through the “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” TV
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Schools notebook // Southwest steady on AYP
By Dylan Thomas
Six Minneapolis Public Schools in Southwest met goals for student proficiency in reading and math this year, down from eight schools in 2009. The district as a whole saw slightly fewer schools making AYP, or Adequate Yearly Progress, toward student achievement goals. About 14 percent of district schools met benchmarks on state standardized tests, down from nearly 19 percent in 2009. The slide means more district schools will face escalating sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind law, although many in education say the law sets an unachievable goal. Approved by Congress in 2001, No Child Left Behind set a goal of 100 percent proficiency on math and reading assessments by 2014. But the ever-rising benchmarks mean more schools every year are
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Park Board organizing LRT advisory group
By jake weyer
Adding another facet to the ongoing Southwest light rail discussion, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board voted last month to organize a citizens advisory committee (CAC) to mitigate the impact of the route on parkland. Park Board commissioners, City Council members, neighborhood associations, Mayor R.T. Rybak and County Commissioner Gail Dorfman will appoint the 17-member CAC. The group will consider historical, cultural, visual, social, and safety issues associated with the 14-mile Southwest Light Rail Transit line (LRT). The route will start Downtown, travel along the Kenilworth trail between Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles, then stretch through St. Louis Park, Hopkins and Minnetonka, ending in Eden Prairie. Along the way, it will intersect or run
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