Commuting to Disneyland

[Jeff Smith]

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/14/commuti ... um=twitter

A very nice article: fair-use quote below.

Minneapolis’ Great Northern Depot was never as boastful as its palatial East Coast cousins, but its well-appointed, spartan, Midwestern reserve was gorgeous nonetheless. Sterling white walls overlooked long, dark benches, and an enormous naturalist painting depicting pre-fur trader Minnesota hung over the ticket counter. But like much of the city (40 percent of downtown Minneapolis was leveled for urban renewal), the Beaux-Arts train station found itself on the business end of a wrecking ball in 1978.

On Monday, 99 years after the Depot welcomed its first locomotive, history came full circle as the city broke ground on what’s being called “an open-air version of New York’s Grand Central.” That’s a slight exaggeration, but in some ways the new hub, called the Interchange, more accurately reflects today’s urban ideals than those monumental terminals of the railroading era. “Minnesotans do describe this as their Grand Central,” says Peter Cavaluzzi, principal at EE&K, which designed the complex. “But the difference is that this really functions in the new wave of transit hubs where we’re trying to blend transit and culture.”

Imagine talking to Pete Campbell as he’s schlepping home on the 6:45 to Cos Cob about blending transit and culture. But that’s what’s been happening over the past several years. For better or worse, transit is coming to be seen as one more urban consumption option, a lifestyle choice almost as defining as buying a car was 60 years ago. Ridership is soaring, going car-less is cause for bragging rights, and people are clamoring for transit options that suit their aesthetics and values, from streetcars to bike shares. And the new transit hubs are striving to reflect this. “In the old days you had the station house, an iconic edifice associated mainly with transportation,” says Cavaluzzi. “Now the definition of the station is being broadened to make it a larger ‘transit environment.’”

[mtuandrew]

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/14/commuti ... um=twitter

A very nice article: fair-use quote below.

Minneapolis’ Great Northern Depot was never as boastful as its palatial East Coast cousins, but its well-appointed, spartan, Midwestern reserve was gorgeous nonetheless. Sterling white walls overlooked long, dark benches, and an enormous naturalist painting depicting pre-fur trader Minnesota hung over the ticket counter. But like much of the city (40 percent of downtown Minneapolis was leveled for urban renewal), the Beaux-Arts train station found itself on the business end of a wrecking ball in 1978.

On Monday, 99 years after the Depot welcomed its first locomotive, history came full circle as the city broke ground on what’s being called “an open-air version of New York’s Grand Central.” That’s a slight exaggeration, but in some ways the new hub, called the Interchange, more accurately reflects today’s urban ideals than those monumental terminals of the railroading era. “Minnesotans do describe this as their Grand Central,” says Peter Cavaluzzi, principal at EE&K, which designed the complex. “But the difference is that this really functions in the new wave of transit hubs where we’re trying to blend transit and culture.”

Imagine talking to Pete Campbell as he’s schlepping home on the 6:45 to Cos Cob about blending transit and culture. But that’s what’s been happening over the past several years. For better or worse, transit is coming to be seen as one more urban consumption option, a lifestyle choice almost as defining as buying a car was 60 years ago. Ridership is soaring, going car-less is cause for bragging rights, and people are clamoring for transit options that suit their aesthetics and values, from streetcars to bike shares. And the new transit hubs are striving to reflect this. “In the old days you had the station house, an iconic edifice associated mainly with transportation,” says Cavaluzzi. “Now the definition of the station is being broadened to make it a larger ‘transit environment.’”

I've seen more of the renderings of that station - it's hard to wrap my mind around where it is, but it's definitely impressive. I don't know how impressed I'll be when it's -30 degrees though, haha.

For more information about the Minneapolis project, see http://www.theinterchange.net/.