Lowry Bridge Light Show

Post and video by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Yesterday the Lowry Bridge tested its LED lights for about an hour.  The display was dazzling, and here's hoping we get more such shows in the future.  I used my phone's time-lapse feature to condense the bridge's performance down to a more accessible two minutes.

Lowry Bridge Opening Photos

Post, photos, image, and video by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

On Saturday, October 27, 2012 the Lowry Bridge reopened first to bike and pedestrian traffic and then to vehicles in the evening.  Plenty of media were there to cover the event, and regular folks were ubiquitous in their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Google+, and Youtube postings.  The photos above are of the bridge at night, the signs thanking the public for their patience, and the ribbon moments before it was cut.

Next up, we have...

Political Speeches at Lowry Bridge Opening

Post and videos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Every so often, I find myself turning into the north Minneapolis version of C-SPAN.  We have these great events, like the opening of the Lowry Bridge, and of course a parade of politicians have to have their say.  Most of the time, what's said is predictable (thanks to the community and the workers and the fellow politicians and the businesses and the children, etc.), although even in this set of speeches we have a few surprises.

In any case, these are our community leaders, and what they have to say at an event like this should be recorded and readily available.  That's where this blog comes in.

Several of our speakers touted the new bike lanes, and there was that surprise...

Stenglein on Lowry Bridge: "Beautiful doesn't even BEGIN to describe it!"

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

On Wednesday the final piece of the Lowry Bridge arch was put into place.  This is going to be a world-class bridge that will bring north and northeast Minneapolis back together.  The aesthetics are already amazing, but we found out it's just getting better.  The bridge will have LED lighting similar to the 35W bridge, the bike lanes are done right, and the county is building storage tanks that will hold hundreds of gallons of rainwater before the runoff gets to the Mississippi.  Hennepin County really hit it out of the park here, and this bridge will help transform and revitalize our communities by leaps and bounds.

A side note on blogging and social media here:  the implosion of the Lowry Bridge was the first video I uploaded onto Youtube.  In the spirit of trying new ways to connect people and events through social media and smartphone technology, I streamed footage live from my phone on an application called Qik, and uploaded videos 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the event.  I'm still ironing out the wrinkles and looking for a way to stream live directly on Blogger, but live streaming is yet another way blogs and social media can get coverage of an event out faster and more nimbly than traditional sources.  (Although the Strib's video is quite cool if I do say so myself.)

The videos of the final piece being put into place are indicative of the building process as a whole.  The arch was completed so slowly as to be almost imperceptible.  I moved the camera from side to side a few times just to show anyone watching that the video had not paused in any way.  I am compelled to warn you, with some degree of irony, that you should not watch those clips while operating heavy machinery.  But once the arch was completed, one almost forgets how long it took to finish the job.

More photos after the jump...

Lowry Bridge Arch to be Complete Today

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

One of the arches on the Lowry Bridge was connected today, and tomorrow at approximately 10 a.m. the "keystone" piece of the arch will be put into place.  An event commemorating its completion will be held at Edgewater Park in northeast Minneapolis starting at 9:30 a.m.

Commissioner Stenglein's office released a press advisory that reads...

Arches of Lowry Bridge Near Completion

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

The Lowry Bridge arches are close to being completed, and they are looking tremendous.  Ever since seeing the original proposals, I was quite excited at the prospect that the bridge could become a visual feature that would come to define north Minneapolis in a more positive light.  (Okay, and northeast too.  We'll let them bask in the glory a bit.)  If anything, it seems my initial reaction was understated and I can't wait to see it completed.

The final piece of the arches is expected to be put in place within a week.  A press conference and other festivities will be scheduled to commemorate the event.

Lowry Bike Lanes and a Blogging Success Story

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, above image from Hennepin County, and photo below from the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition blog.

Last summer, I found out that the Lowry Bridge bike lanes initially planned were not up to the standards that I had hoped to see - nor did they meet what many bicyclist groups had wanted, nor did they pass muster in accordance with long-term plans for Lowry Avenue.  So I did a rather extensive post (linked above) about the topic.  What followed was a result that affirms why I put so much energy into both reading comprehensive area planning documents, and blogging about them as best as I'm able.

Obviously in this case I wanted to see a better design for bike lanes on the Lowry Bridge.  But after the initial post I did not have the time, energy, wherewithal, or connections to see things through to a full and successful end goal.  Others did.  The Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition and a whole host of other cycling activists began a dialogue with Commissioner Stenglein around how to improve the bike lane designs.  That dialogue has proven successful, and I'm told that the bridge will have "slip ramps."

An example of a slip ramp, although the lanes on the Lowry Bridge will be much wider.

In a poetic twist, the bike lane pictured above is from the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland, Oregon.

So thank you to Commissioner Stenglein, the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, and anyone else who helped the Lowry Bridge get much-improved bike lanes!  And check out the coalition's post for the specific details about how the lanes came about and how they will work.

We always knew the Lowry Bridge would be well-built, but now we can rest easier knowing it will be built right.

Lowry Bridge Pictorial

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Every once in a while, I wander around just taking photos of what strikes my fancy, hoping to either make a blog post or be able to use the pictures at a later date.  I did so one day late in the fall when the Lowry Bridge was being connected.  The photos just sat on a camera that I don't use too often, until now.

More pics after the jump.  Enjoy.

Bike Lanes on the Lowry Bridge

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, images from the Lowry Avenue Bridge website.

One of the bright spots (of which there are many) on the redesigned Lowry Avenue is the ample space provided for bike lanes.  Last week some cyclists and I had a very wonkish discussion about how those lanes would be incorporated into the shiny new Lowry Bridge.  If you'll notice from the design specs above, there don't seem to be any marked bike lanes.  If the bridge is built exactly like this, I see three possible prospects, all of them unappealing in their own right:  bicyclists will have to share the road with high-speed traffic, bikers will share the walkways with pedestrian traffic, or bikers will be required to get off of their bikes and walk with pedestrians if they're not willing to brave traffic conditions.

In an email exchange with some cycling activists and staff from County Commissioner Mark Stenglein's office, it's unclear how bicycling will be supported on the bridge.  A biker claims there will be no marked lanes while a staffer says there will be two 11-foot lanes of traffic and two 4-foot marked bike lanes in each direction.  For the record, the Minneapolis Bicycle Master Plan, passed in 2001, calls for the entirety of Lowry Avenue to have bike lanes.  Readers of both this blog and the Irving Inquisition will know how much I want to see the Lowry Bridge adhere to master plans.

With the formal public comment period over and done, and construction underway, changing the actual width of the bridge is out of the question.  But if the lane configuration needs to be tweaked, perhaps that can be done.  For instance, I'm told that...

Lowry Bridge Will be Built the Right Way!

Photo found here.

Photo found here.

Image from the Lowry Bridge homepage.

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman.  Photo sources included in hyperlinks in photo captions.

Not too long ago, the Irving Inquisition blog and I had ourselves a disagreement over whether it would be best to build the Lowry Avenue Bridge quickly, or if we should wait until enough funding was allocated so that a NoMi bike/walk path underneath could be built in accordance with the Above the Falls master plan.  We'd heard rumblings that our side of the bridge would not extend far enough for that path to be put in place.  The Irving Inquisition position was to build it sooner, regardless of whether it met any comprehensive plans.  My stance was to wait however long it took so that we get it done right.  If the plan is a 50-year plan, and the bridge will last for 100 years or more, then there's only one shot at getting this amenity or NoMi.

Well, it turns out we were both right.   (but I was more right)  According to Tom Leighton at the most recent Hawthorne board meeting, Hennepin County and Mark Stenglein were diligent in pursuing enough funding so that the bridge can be built with the space for a bike/walk path underneath, and this won't cause any significant delays in construction.  Connecting the North Mississippi Regional Park and the rest of the Grand Rounds (admittedly, the full connection will take many, many years to complete due to property acquisition) will do wonders for biking in and through NoMi.

On a somewhat random note, as I was searching for images to use for this post, I came across another Lowry Bridge, this one in Manchester, England.  Notice any similarities?

Photo found here.

Photo found here.