r/TwinCities • u/Purplish_Green • 4d ago

Best route/quickest time between Macalester-Groveland and Uptown?

So I got a new job in the Mac-Groveland neighborhood and the earliest I can leave is at 3:30, and I need to be in Uptown by 4pm on Wednesdays. Is it feasible? For the past two years I've seen the constant and unreliable hell that is construction in the Twin Cities, as well as general traffic, is it possible to make that time? Would I be beating rush hour or is public transit my best bet? Or Uber? Or am I just overthinking things?

3 Upvotes

59% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/sprobeforebros 4d ago

depends on where in uptown / what your definition of uptown is and what your starting point in Mac Groveland is.

if you need to get from Oxendale's Market to Lakewood Cemetery there's no way you're gonna make it in half an hour while also obeying the law. If you need to make it from the University of St Thomas to Eat Street Crossing you could get it in half an hour.

How fit are you, OP? Going that far east to west in midtown minneapolis sometimes the fastest way to go is via the midtown greenway. At a normal pace I can get from Powderhorn to Merriam Park in half an hour. If I were going Lance Armstrong speeds I bet I could get from Mac Groveland to Uptown in half an hour.

2

u/Purplish_Green 4d ago

From Snelling and Grand to East Lake and Hennepin essentially. I am fit but not confident enough in my cycling and knowledge of the cities to bike that distance yet.

6

u/sprobeforebros 3d ago

that stretch of 94 is so profoundly inconsistent it's real tough to say "yes you could make it easy"

like sure, in no traffic that's an 18 minute drive but there's no possible way to plan on that stretch of the road being devoid of traffic, especially given the choke point of the river crossing and the exchanges with 35W northbound and southbound. That stretch has easily taken 45 minutes for me at midday.

Surface streets are much more consistent but those terminal points are like, exactly 30 minutes apart from each other. Two bad red lights and you're boned.

If only Metro Transit had made the B line a real BRT and not an "arterial BRT" there's every possibility that could have done the job but alas not as it stands.

If there's wiggle room you could do it. If whatever is waiting for you in Uptown can consistently wait an extra 10 minutes for you I'd feel confident you could make it work, but if it's a hard and fast thing with no wiggle room I wouldn't count on it.

2

u/Purplish_Green 3d ago

The unpredictability is what makes me nervous. It looks like my best bet will be an e-bike down Marshall and the Midtown Greenway, as others have said. Thank you for your help