Downtown2015.com

TRANSPORTATION AND THE PEDESTRIAN
LIFE OF THE CITY

Archive Website 2005-2007

Website of John Van Heel appointed resident representative of Downtown Minneapolis on the steering committee of the Minneapolis Ten Year Transportation Action Plan. This plan will establish and prioritize initiatives to improve the pedestrian, bicycle, auto and mass transit circulation system of the city. The focus of this website is the greater downtown area.

PERSONAL COLUMN

Meeting Minutes from February Downtown Neighborhood Transportation Meeting

Comments on 2-16-07 draft Downtown Transportation Action Plan

Comments and Positions regarding materials prepared for the 8-6-06 Steering Committee Meeting

Urban Green Wall Strategies- Facade Greening

I am so pleased to have the opportunity to serve on this committee as the representative of Minneapolis' downtown residential community. The enormous growth we are currently seeing in the downtown residential population is part of a great resurgence in urban living. Transportation and the pedestrian environment are critical to improving and sustaining this life style. This ten year transportation action plan promises to have a significant effect on both of these areas of our life.

I hope downtown residents will take action to ensure that the needs of our uniquely urban community are addressed in this planning effort. I have set up this web page as a tool to keep residents informed about the content of the planning process, as a forum for your issues and ideas, and finally as a place that I can share the issues and ideas that I will personally be pursuing in the months ahead.
John Van Heel
john_vanheel@yahoo.com

Personal initiatives - The following are ideas that I would like to pursue in the creation of the ten year transportation action plan.
Note: These are indivdual ideas and are not intended to represent a complete plan.

1. Rework the downtown and center city transit network so that it will have the capacity to provide quick and convenient service for employees, visitors and residents to the major destinations of both the downtown core and also to the neighborhoods and major city institutions that encircle the edge of the core.
Intra-Downtown Transportation Concept 2-12-2007

As part of this system I believe we should consider a new network of streetcar rail lines. In the absence of any available maps that examine the potential future of such a rail system, I completed a personal visioning exercise of what this system might look like in November2005. It is a two page concept brief:
Minneapolis Center City Passenger Rail Network 11-8-05

I believe the city should give greater recognition to the larger urban core of the city in its planning. Beyond the ring of freeways that currently defines downtown there is I think an area that includes not only the central business district at the center but also the great institutions and landscape features that encircles the the center. Weaving it into a complete live-work habitat is a rich residential and commercial urban fabric.
Center City Mapping and Planning Concept 9-3-06

2. Strengthen pedestrian connections into and out of downtown by repairing pedestrian disjunctures along commercial corridors. The most significant damage exists where the historic street and avenue system is interrupted by the 20^th century freeway infrastructure that encircles downtown. Major locations include Washington Ave. at I-35w, Chicago Ave. at I-94, Nicollet Ave. at I-94, Hennepin/Lyndale Ave. at I-94

3. Reduce auto dependence and increase transit use: Transit and pedestrian oriented living is not the local norm. Where there is appropriate funding available, invest in promotion, education and advocacy to cultivate pedestrian oriented living habits of downtown residents and employees. Promote the center city area as a place of residency for downtown employees in order to increase the share of downtown employees who also live downtown. "Downtown Minneapolis - for individuals and families who seek a lifestyle where work and home are within the same beautiful urban setting, an environmentally sound lifestyle that is convenient, healthful and time gracious (no freeway comute)."

4. Reduce auto dependence and increase transit use: support the incorporation of car sharing as a standard service available to both downtown employees and residents. Utilize car sharing as a tool to support the viability of non-auto oriented urban living.

• Incorporate carsharing as an element of new high density housing developments.
• Make carshare vehicles available at transit hubs
• Work to enlist participation of most downtown businesses in carsharing programs. Logic: a significantly greater number of people would use transit to their jobs downtown if they new they had a vehicle available for possible meetings, errands and family emergencies.

Past transportation related concept papers

Integration of carsharing with high density residential projects
1/18/04

Expansion of the downtown bus fare zone in the Loring Park neighborhood 4/25/04

Storefront Bridge Concept Nicollet Avenue at Interstate I-94 - 2/26/04

Pedestrian Arts Corridor Cencept between Orchestra Hall and the Walker Art Center 10/4/05

Loop Line -A circulator bus system through downtown and Loring Park using buses with modified layouts and technology -2000

Loring Park Three Terrace Concept-2003

Oak Grove Steps - A Mid-block pedestrian easement concept - 3/26/06

Strategic planning Concept - Loring park neighborhood - 3-25-04

CLPC Documents

hennlyn page

clpc draft nrp phase II Plan

phase II pub mtg minutes