Take a Ride on the Yellow Line
As the Metropolitan Council considers a final design for the Central Corridor Light Rail Line and a rebuilt University Avenue in St. Paul, MN, we take a ride (and a look) at the Yellow Line which runs down Interstate Avenue in Portland, OR for comparison. Interstate Avenue was redesigned with space for transit, space for bicyclists, and space for pedestrians and is very similar to University Avenue in St. Paul including having a major interstate freeway running adjacent to it just two blocks away.
Can a Complete Street design work for University Avenue in St. Paul?
Related posts: Stark proposes Road Diet for University Avenue >, PiPress: Loss of on-street parking due to LRT to affect business owners >, and On Transit episode # 30 - Max Yellow Line - John Akre talks to small business owners about their experience along the Yellow Line in Portland >.
Comments
Thanks
That was very informative. Liked seeing a bit of portland, too. Wonder what kind of traffic Interstate Ave carried before the redesign.
Matty Lang, you are SO the man!
Dear Matty,
A few of us in Saint Paul are trying to push the complete street plan forward and this video is very helpful. Do you have any idea (as the previous commenter asked) what the daily traffic volumes on Interstate Avenue were prior to the installation of LRT?
Interstate Avenue data
Andy,
Thanks for the praise although I don't think I deserve that much. I think I'm blushing.
Here's a link to a PDF that goes over the Interstate Avenue project in Portland, OR comparing before and after traffic counts:
http://www.pdc.us/pdf/ura/interstate/max_light_rail_data_summary.pdf
You will find lower auto traffic numbers than are found on University Avenue, but I think the point to take away is that with the complete street design on Interstate traffic counts at many intersections decreased greatly--about 50% at Lombard Ave which is the most comparable intersection to University and Snelling with a major I-5 interstate interchange a block and a half away.
Auto traffic counts are largely self-fulfilling prophecies and I think that's what the data from Portland's experience demonstrates. If they built a multi-lane auto-oriented Interstate Avenue I would wager that they wouldn't have seen the drop in auto traffic that they did see with a complete streets design.
Good luck to you on this important work to get a great University Avenue in St. Paul.
-M.