76th Street

Thu 28 Feb 2008

Foresight

Posted by admin under 76th Street Streetscape, Blather
No Comments

I have heard it come from the city council before, why didn’t we have the gift of foresight? EX: “If we did we would have built the new city maintenance garage two years earlier we would have saved boat loads of taxpayers money.”

Unfortunately foresight is not a superpower or a secret ninja skill possessed by most city governments. However hindsight is a super power possessed by all and we can use it to learn and act on future projects provided we use the superpower of “Political Will”

What I am talking about is Richfield has an opportunity to save a pile of taxpayers dollars if they finish the trail and bike paths from 11th Ave to Cedar Ave. How so? First, construction costs are down as are material cost with the housing an d building slump. Waiting would only guarantee a higher cost down the road. Secondly, the road west of 76th Street is already being torn up and refinished, we would benefit in cost savings of tying into a larger project.

This happened to me just recently, I negotiated a price to have a company cut down my very dead red maple tree. I then priced out what it would be to have them come back out in three to five years to cut down my dying blue spruce. It was very pricey. I asked them what they would charge me if they cut down the limply pine when they were out to cut down the red maple. They gave me a ridiculously good price.

Now I have a ridiculously large amount of firewood.

Not only are we saving tax dollars by doing it now, in a time of economic downturn for the construction industry, Richfield is creating much needed jobs. Finishing the parkway is not only economically prudent and pro-business, it is downright American and a win-win for all.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Tags:

Thu 28 Feb 2008

Meet Mr. Devil

Posted by admin under 76th Street Streetscape
No Comments

I just attended the Richfield city council meeting where they approved of the of recommended streetscape design concepts for reconstruction of portions of 75th Street and 76th Street. The final results as approved by the city council is sidewalks on both sides of 76th street with the south being an 8′ trail managed by Three Rivers Park District. The south is a 5′ wide sidewalk from Nicollet to 11th Street and 6′ from 35W to Nicollet. Good Right?

They also approved of a partial bike trail on 75th Street with bike paths from Xerxes to Penn Ave. maybe to Logan Ave. but they were very, maybe somewhat deliberately vague about that. If it makes them happy to save two blocks of on-street parking in a city of parking lots and driveways so be it.

Definitely from Logan Ave. east, across 35W and connecting up with 76th Street there will only be a side-path to with no bike paths. And believe me, it is a big improvement from the situation at the beginning

I had to smile when I saw a Richfield Sun-Current reporter finally at one of the 76th Street presentations and talking to Howard Green Company, the consultants on the project, about the trail. I had to wonder if they were at the city council meeting hoping for a hot but not-so-fresh round-a-bout issue and settled for the 76th Street redesign, …and people wonder why newspapers are disappearing faster than highland gorillas.

So all this is good and I am doing the happy dance, however I could smell the brimstone – for as they say, “the devil is in the details” and there he was, in all his glory, at the meeting with the city council, the city workers, Howard Green Co. and the Three Rivers Park district all talking about him a bit.

“Asphalt or concrete side paths?” “How will the maintenance be done and by who?” “Who will shove the trail in the winter time?” “What to do about 11th Ave to Cedar Ave on 76th Street where the sewer will not go but it is presumed the trail and bike paths will?”

Also… as yet untalked about is what about Upton Avenue where the trail goes north to connect with 70th Street and into Edina. Also the very important but under discussed connection from 76th to 75th and making it bike and pedestrian safe. How do we plan to tie this with to future North South bike trails? Not a peep, but I hear Satan speaking “details, details, details….”

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Tags:

Sun 17 Feb 2008

The Slumburbs

Posted by admin under Blather
No Comments

The March 2008 issue of the Atlantic Monthly published an article titled “The Next Slum?” by Christopher Leinberger, had reinforced what I have learned on the changing tide of suburbanization. That renewed urban allure to Gen-xers and the Millennials, the second largest demographic in history after the baby boomers, combined with the disillusionment of urban sprawl, long commuting times and high gas prices (and home heating prices) have led to a critical glut in McMansions at metropolitan fringes and housing, and that the urban core, once a bargain twenty years ago, are now going for a premium.

The article isn’t dismissive of all suburbs and that while there is a shift underway to walkable environments the author, Leinberger, doubts that the swing from suburb to city will be as dramatic as the swing from city to suburb was in the 20th century. Many will still prefer the big house/car lifestyle. However those suburbs with access to shorter commute times or close mass transit will be among the suburbs fairing well.

Those suburbs that are on the wrong side of town, and poorly served by public transport, are already suffering decline finding long time residents replaced by Low-income people, displaced by the gentrifying inner cities. He make an interesting prediction, that much of the future decline is more likely to occur on the fringes in recently developed areas, that many of the the McMansions will be resale at rock-bottom prices to lower income families and will suffer eventual conversion to apartments.

I have heard apocalyptic suburban ruin wishful thinking before and I am sceptical, however, there is definitely some truth in the matter. It is becoming increasing costly to runaway from problems instead of dealing with them. The days of cheap subsidised land are coming to an end, the costs are off-set by the cost of gas prices and home heating and the harder to measure but still costly – ever increasing commuting time.

There is also the issue that the article mentions I think has had a large factor in the return to the cities; most of the Gen-xers and Millennials have chosen not to have kids. The Baby Boomer’s parents generation (the settlers of Richfield), more than half of all households contained children, by 2000 they were only a third and by 2025 it will be closer to a quarter and there will be about as many singles households as family households. Schools, which once were a big selling feature of new suburban communities, hold less allure than they did fifty years ago.

Speaking of the value of city planning :

Having once owned a home on Saint Paul’s West Side and having been lived next to West Saint Paul has made me very much appreciate Richfield, which like West Saint Paul, initially started with little or no urban planning but unlike West Saint Paul has made serious efforts since the 1980′s to correct it’s previous blind eye to unplanned development and have some design standards and not be afraid of urban planning.

The sad thing is, with it’s rolling hills West Saint Paul probably had some of the most stunning landscapes in the Twin Cities area and has pretty much made a sows ear out of a silk purse. The following video was submitting to the Walker Art Center for their “Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes” exhibit and pretty much captures the spirit of West Saint Paul living at its finest.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Tags:

Sat 2 Feb 2008

OPEN HOUSE!

Posted by admin under 76th Street Streetscape
No Comments

It’s amazing what a difference an exclamation point can make! I went to the January 30th open house at city hall on the changes to the 75th/76th Street street scape plan, with the sidewalk now going from Nicollet Avenue to 11th Avenue on the south side of 76th Street and with bike lanes and limited parking on 75th Street!

A resident on 75th Street showed me a flyer he found on his door, it was a 4″x6″ card evidently sent out by the city and Howard R Green Company (Confirmed later) advertising the Open House! Normally I would say good going, transparency and getting the citizens out to the community meeting would be good. It was actually done in a style different than what the city usually does so no one this time could confuse it with a park and rec flyer as so often happens in the past! The font usage and graphics made it look more like the designs that have been submitted by Howard R. Green Company, the consultants on this project!

However the one thing that bothered me on this was the spin that was put on it! Up in the left hand corner was a “note” in yellow saying:

SPECIAL NOTE FOR 75th STREET RESIDENTS

Earlier requests for parking along 75th Street may be in jeopardy! If it is your desire to have parking along the corridor, please join us and let city officials know what is important to you!

Now if this was sent by a private organization like the Tax Payers League or individual I would have no problem with them sending it! I would even think them geniuses for this strategy. However, since spin this was city sponsored I really have to cry foul. When the note says “please join us and let city officials know what is important to you!” who are the “us” they exactly talking about?! Is Howard R. Green Co. the “us”?! Maybe is it the city protesting themselves! Another problem is, with the exception of Crime Watch Bulletins, I can’t recall when the city used exclamation points in their meeting notices! It gives it that crisis effect! A dishonest affect when the city should be playing neutral!

The other issue was the note was customized so that the residents along 76th Street between Nicollet Avenue and 11th Avenue got there very own note, alerting them of the new sidewalks! Now I did not get to see the note, so I cannot tell you just exactly want it said but the residents there did say that they did get it! The reason I can not tell you is because I did not get a note because only houses two houses in from 75th/75th Street were flyered so a lot of people interested in and affected by the the project were not privy to the notice!

I am not sure what version of the note was flyered in my area!

RESULTS!

So ultimately if the intent was to stir up the rabble I it certainly didn’t, especially the sidewalk folks! They were pissed! However, it backfired, because once they heard the other side and arguments many were either swayed to the sidewalk idea or became indifferent to it!

Again, I think it was very important to have the open house again and I applaud the efforts to get the people effect out to the meeting because in the end I think it was a very good thing and everyone got to hear the arguments and ideas! However, it is the spin on the those efforts to get people to come that I disagree with!

I also wish Howard R. Green would fix their in accurate graphics which they presented to another meeting again!!!!!!

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Tags:

Fri 1 Feb 2008

Branding your City

Posted by admin under Blather
No Comments

So there has been a series of interesting articles and blog entries about the metro area cities attempts to market themselves. The Pioneer Press came out with a piece on cities in the metropolitan area attempts to brand themselves usually with all the flare and charisma that one could expect when you have the office intern, or your very talented high school age son or daughter execute your city’s marketing plan, except many of these cities paid good money to ad agencies to come up with city slogans and branding like “A ‘Small Town’ City” (Mahtomedi) the mouth full that North Saint Paul uses, “a small-town atmosphere in a large metropolitan area”. They talk about the old stale standards that cities aways fall back on when coming up with these things; bodies of water, community, geographic gateways and history are usually popular.

In case if your wondering what Richfield’s slogan is, it is “Your urban home town in the heart of the Twin Cities.” A slogan I certainly would not confused at least with, say, Moorhead, Minnesota.

I have been harping on city officials at meetings on the need for marketing and developing Richfield’s brand. Unfortunately Richfield’s brand at present is more like “Laurence Welk Village” and less like “Johnny Carismaville.”

Unfortunately what most cities fail to understand, including Richfield, is that brand is more than just a catchy slogan. It is an essence. Imagine going into a Starbucks and finding it looking instead like a White Castle. A brand is a promise, an expectation on want to expect. If employees are rude at Starbucks that effects their brand. If the restrooms are dirty that effects their brand because it effects the customers experience.

Most cities create a bad slogan and leave it at that when thinking of brand, and some might push their brand identity as far as people’s impressions of their school system or even street scapes, but most go no further than that.

Most corporations are very concerned about brand control. To most cities, brand is a by-product something to react to.

The blog “twin cities sidewalks” whose post on the subject inspired my post, paraphrases Louis Mumford and American historian known for his studies and writings on cities, I will quote him here

Creating memorable places is really the key to attracting people and business to your area. Cultivating streetcorners and sidewalks worth walking on, emphasizing historical landmarks like a watertower, old church, library or city hall, and trying to get people to come together physically in the same spaces at the same times are all ways to really brand suburban cities, and to replace empty spaces with memorable places.

Brand for a city is more than just one element. It is about creating an experience. Looking at the city holistically.

Is Richfield’s brand really perceived by most people that we want to locate here as: “Your urban home town in the heart of the Twin Cities” or is it perceived more like my friend puts it as: “God’s Waiting Room”?

Personally I think our brand Slogan should be more like: “As Sexy as South Minneapolis, only with big backyards.”

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Tags:

Fri 1 Feb 2008

Lyndale Bridge Presentation

Posted by admin under I-494
No Comments

The design of Lyndale Avenue bridge over I-494 was unveiled yesterday at Bloomington City Hall. Unfortunately the low turn out (about 12 people) to see the design probably reflects the poor time slot that the viewing was put into (4:00pm-7:00pm). However, the Bloomington city staff that were there were very accommodating to myself and another person that arrived late at kept showing past 7:00pm.

It was nice to see TKDA‘s street scape designs and nicer still to see attempts to correct and improve upon the lack of street scape design from a similar design on the Penn Avenue Bridge. It has the same pressed faux brick concrete on the sidewalk that Penn Avenue has but unlike Penn the median islands have planting, trees and shrubs over the land areas of the islands. However, it looks like most of the islands are going to be combination of concrete and landscape rock (rock mulch), in a design that I would imagine must look pretty from the airplanes would not have any visual impact what so ever from car of pedestrian point of view. The other problem with the concrete rock mulch combination is that it does nothing to help reduce or eliminate the “Heat island” that is created with vast spaces of stone and pavement. Yet another problem with rock is it seems to be inviting trouble by having a collection of rock sitting next an overpass, but maybe I am just a pessimist when it comes to my faith in humanity and lack of belief that no kids will throw rocks over the bridge. So while the light colored concrete and rock proposed is better than asphalt, better still is the use of vegetation.

I can understand TKDA, the designers of the bridge, concerns with site lines and root systems effecting the bridge however, the best solution it seems would be the use of prairie grasses which are drought tolerant and low growing instead of concrete and rock mulch. The biggest problems with prairie grasses, are first to get established they do need to be maintained for the first two years and also problem of perception. Richfield is a city that appreciates its mowed lawns and it may have a difficult time adjusting to unmowed islands. However, Minneapolis made the change of attitude and no longer boats out lawn mowers to mow the islands on Lake of the Isles, Powerhorn, and Loring Park – I think Richfield can make the adjustment too.

The design also showed an increased if not interesting use of railings. Which I while I think it is a good start I think there could be much to improve on. First, they put railing in-front of the islands. It is an interesting but not all necessary. The islands do not need barrier protection from traffic. This is not done with Penn so I imagine it is not needed and it only for effect. But what is the effect? First if the islands are landscaped with plantings, the effect will be to block them from view of cars using Lyndale and somewhat from the pedestrians. The railings have an unfortunate design of concrete for the bottom half and metal railings on the top. Better would be to do what was done near the 76th Street over I-35W Bridge which was metal railings set in concrete posts that go most of the way down exposing the landscaping or to do away with the idea of railings all together. The other problem with the railings is this design creates is a loooong corridor effect. Better would be to break it up with simple unique designs in each island center, using designs not unlike the work by Amy Cordova on Saint Paul’s West Side which consists of organically cut thick plate steel which is allowed to rust naturally. Together with the mosaic on the retaining wall the natural vegetation surround, it makes a stunning yet subdued effect.

The artwork in the island centers would probably cost less than the railing in front of the island centers. That being said, it is important to note that the cost of aesthetic improvements in the design are just a fraction of the over all bridge cost. The decision to upgrade and over build the bridge to a diamond design vs. the lower cost traditional bridge design probably added far more to the overall cost of the bridge than any street scaping improve ever could add.

Hopefully when the city posts the designs on their web site I will have something to show rather than describe.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Tags:

Sat 19 Jan 2008

Curb Appeal

Posted by admin under I-494
No Comments

The proposed design of the Bridge is to be a single-point diamond interchange and will look similar to the Penn Avenue Bridge over I-494. While the Penn Avenue Bridge won awards and gets an “A” for its traffic engineering, it fails to enhance the aesthetic of the road, respect neighborhoods, and provide opportunities as a gateway into Richfield. While it is a great improvement for mobility for pedestrians and bicycles, the bar was not very high in the first place as the old bridge, like the current Lyndale Avenue Bridge provided none. Cars zipping along I-494 at 55 to 65 mph might not be overly concerned about streetscapes but it does affects the people, neighborhoods and businesses near the bridge. Bridge designers tend to be conservative in their approaches to bridge design with a form follows functions edict. This is understandable, the I-35W bridge disaster only underscores the human tragedy of design flaws.

However, unlike over 40 years earlier when the original Lyndale Avenue Bridge was built, aesthetic design is becoming a consideration in the overall design of highway project. New highway bridge developments like those in Woodbury and other outer ring suburbs are not just being with incorporated sidewalks and bikepaths but are being designed with enhancements to the streetscape which contribute to the experience for pedestrians and help define neighborhood character.

Aesthetic design is not only being considered in new construction, but also in replacement of older bridges as well. The reconstruction of I-94 between the State Capitol and Downtown Saint Paul allowed the State to rebuild a freeway with design that reflected the design of the State Capitol Mall and provided an opportunity to reconnect downtown Saint Paul with the State Capitol, a connection that was severed by the earlier I-94 freeway which was designed only with the goal of moving motorized traffic. The Excelsior Avenue Bridge over Hwy 100 in Saint Louis Park was recently replaced with a bridge that incorporates elements like pedestrian level street lighting, ornamental iron railings and molded concrete to mimic stone. The bridge incorporated elements of the Excelsior Avenue streetscape redesign tying bridge into the neighborhood. Currently the I-35W / Crosstown interchange is being rebuilt, molded is beginning

The Road Ahead

The challenges in the aesthetic design of the new Lyndale Bridge are both in the length and the breadth of the bridge. The Penn Avenue Bridge gives a good idea of the problems the Lyndale Bridge will have if nothing is done. The single-point diamond interchange creates four very large triangle patches of land. While there are several advantages to this type of design over other more traditional bridge interchanges, one problem is the single-point diamond interchange has a much larger foot print covering the land surface and while the bridge engineers have taken into account water removal, the solution to cover the triangles with concrete has created barren stretches of land and a much hotter surface area.

As each year goes by the large concrete triangle casings become more cracked and as weeds grow it becomes more and more desolate looking. There seems to be an overlooked solution would have been to landscape and put plantings in there. Minneapolis has tried landscaping at its downtown interchanges with a resulting reduction of speed of the traffic as well as an overall increase in aesthetic appearance.

Design for the Public

Central/Broadway Bridge – Northeast Minneapolis

One of the more clever and appealing treatments to a bridge was in Northeast Minneapolis. Back in 1990 the Broadway Avenue / Central Avenue Bridge was replaced. Because the bridge was not only a major intersection for two main roads, but was also a neighborhood landmark to the the community, Artist Susan Fiene was hired through the Minneapolis Dept. of Public Works and Art in Public Places Program to work with the community and create a work that would represent the diverse ethnic groups that made up Northeast Minneapolis. The result was the creation that use traditional design motifs found in textiles from each ethnic community that made up Northeast. At first the motifs were freestanding panels away from a chain link railing, but later in 2007 an iron railing was put in place and the panels were incorporated into railing. One of the benefits from this was not only did the work enhance the street scape, but from an intimate level, the walkers experience with the work would allow them to learn more about the different ethnic cultures that made up the neighborhood.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Tags:

Wed 16 Jan 2008

Wow, The Show REALLY ISN’T over til the Fat Lady Sings….

Posted by admin under 76th Street Streetscape
No Comments

“It ain’t over ’til it’s over” ~Yogi Berra

I guess I was right. I attended the January 15th meeting of the Community Services Commission meeting where the “Final” 75th and 76th Streetscape Schematic Design” was presented by the H.R. Green Consultants to the commission members for action. The only thing was that Jonathan Vlaming, the Planning Manager for the Three Rivers Park District was there as well and informed the Community Services Commission that the Three Rivers Park District prefers one 10 foot wide trail on the boulevard instead of bike paths on 75th Street. It appears the Three Rivers Park District is concerned that a 8′ trail is not wide enough to accommodate all the walkers, rollerbladers, and children on bikes that want to use the side path. So the on street bike paths will have to go to make room for a wider side path and evidently the commuting bikers and adult recreational bikers will have to join the above mentioned on the side path. He also made a case that bike paths were not nesassary according due to the amount of traffic on the road. He held up a print out of the “MnDOT Bicycle Bikeway Facility Design” to emphasise the states guildlines. I am glad to know someone is reading my blog.

Fun with Graphics

The strangest part, there were the drawings presented by H. R. Green Consultants. There were three different alternatives. First, alternative “A” which had no bike paths and a 10′ foot side path, which appeared to the be clear favorite of H. R. Green Consulting and the Three Rivers Park District, next was alternative “B” which was approved of by the Transportation Commission and presented at the January 10th City Hall meeting to the public and has an 22′ roadway, two 6′ bike paths and one 8′ side path, and alternative “C” which has an 18′ roadway, two 5′ bike paths and one 8′ side path. What struck me was the actual graphic that was presented. Alternative “C” was the very same graphic as Alternative “B” but it marked that the north boulevard was 12′ instead of the 6′ boulevard in ”B”. To me the graphic was very misleading since it gave the impression that the skimpy boulevard left no room to add on to the side path. However, 12′ is a very generous boulevard, that could hold its own even on Summit Avenue and that was not reflected in the graphic.

Alternate A	Alternate B
Alternate C with measurements outlined

It occurred to me that you could reduce the boulevard to 10′ (still a mighty boulevard by any measure) and increase the side path to 10′ and everybody should be happy. However, again it appeared to me that H. R. Green and the Three Rivers Park District were not exactly keen on it. One of there big objections to the bike paths is their perceived need for “Green Space” As a gardener that has created several community gardens I am a sucker for green space. However, I can’t help resent that they were framing it as an argument as a bike paths vs. green space. I can understand parking lot vs. green space, shopping mall vs. green space or eight lane highway super highway vs. green space but bike paths?! The irony is that much of the bike path goes a long the open fields of a school and of Donaldson Park. Is there really a lack of green space there?

The Science of Graphics

Also interesting are the ”charts” H. R. Green Consulting came up with. They are a spreadsheet showing how all their subjective design criteria in an official and professional looking format that supports their original plans of no bikeways on 75th and no south sidewalk east of Nicollet Avenue. The irony is that they said that they did not have the time to correct the graphic in alternative “C” for the meeting but they did have time to create these.

So what was the Result of the Meeting?

The Community Services Commission was interested in parking along Donaldson park, the also liked alternate design “C” with with the change of widening the side path from 8′ to 10′. They were also interested in keeping the sidewalk on the south side of 76th Street east of Nicollet, but keeping it only 4′ vs 6′ wide. The only trouble with that is the city’s current equipment can only go down 6′ paths, the 4′ would be inaccessible to plow during the winter. However, it appeared not to be a problem that was insurmountable. As far as what’s next, its a bit unclear to me. It will go in front of the Transportation Committee again as well as the city council, but I am unsure about if there be another public meeting addressing any changes.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Tags:

Mon 14 Jan 2008

The Show ain’t over til the Fat Lady Sings….

Posted by admin under 76th Street Streetscape
No Comments

75th Street with bike lanes January 10th at Richfield city hall, was the presentation of preferred alternative. That is, bike lanes on BOTH 76th and 75th and sidewalks on both sides on 76th following the complete span from 35W to Cedar Avenue. So needless to say I was doing the happy dance. At the January 2nd Transportation Commission Meeting, they voted to go with recommending to the city council the alternative, adding in the bike lanes and extending the sidewalk from Nicollet to Cedar. The presentation itself was interesting. I was the first time I saw representatives from the Metropolitan Council as well as the The Three Rivers Park District. Both were on hand to talk about the different aspects of the project, the Metropolitan Council talked about ever-not-so-sexy but important sewer project and the Three Rivers Park District talked about and answered questions about the trail. The one thing of interest was other than the great news about the path improvements was that there looks like there are no plans for boulevard trees due to the narrowness of the boulevard… that has me confused and I find it hard to believe, I have lived in Minneapolis and anyone from there can tell you how Minneapolis can grow mighty trees on slivers of boulevards half the size of what is proposed. So all this does give the impression that the planning part it close to completion, however that would be an error. There is still at least three more meetings and one being with the Community Services Commission. The plan also has to get voted on by the city council before Pinocchio can become a real boy.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Tags:

Fri 4 Jan 2008

Lyndale Bridge over I-494

Posted by admin under I-494
1 Comment

It’s coming, I look forward to it with both hope and dread. The current bridge is not only pedestrian and bike unfriendly to say the least (I think the 1 foot sidewalks were only designed as a place for trash in the summer and plowed snow in the winter and never were intended for human feet) but it is waaay inadequate to handle the traffic on it now. Besides all that, the bridge is butt ugly, it is rundown and built with all the soulless charm and creativity of an Eisenhower/Johnson era highway project.The current design calls for a Penn Avenue style interchange. Not really a quaint covered bridge design that would go with the “small town” image that many in Richfield try to convey to the rest of the world. However, it will be a traffic mover which is what is need for the area.

However, it is the bridge’s aesthetics that worry me the most. If anyone has gone over the Penn Avenue Bridge, it becomes quite obvious while it has the sidewalks that the Lyndale Bridge lacks it is large desolate span of concrete in an “Eisenhower/Johnson era” design. This is troubling because Lyndale is a major gateway into Richfield, and a bridge with all the flare of a Soviet five year plan project doesn’t speak well of Richfield. Sadly there has been a tread that Richfield has appeared to have missed completely by other communities, such as St. Louis Park, Woodbury, Minneapolis, St. Paul etc…. to sex up and humanize their bridges with decorative lighting, railings and formed concrete mimicking stone. This of course costs money which some frugal non-fussy Richfield residents are loathe to part with. Sadly, if the Penn Avenue bridge is setting the stage for the rest of the 494 expansion and redesign, it will keep it concrete river look and feel.My guess is that aesthetic design while not a requirement in civic projects, it makes the difference between swilling with pride in your pig pen or swelling with pride in your community.