By Rick Nelson
The first of what will be many bus shelters on downtown Minneapolis' reconstructed Marquette and 2nd Avs. made a low-key debut today, on Marquette Av. between Washington Av. and 3rd St. Designed by Eric Amel of HGA, the grey metal structure's most distinguishing feature is its rippled roof (covered in a pale blue translucent material), a playful foil to the design's crisp modernist profile and an echo of the waves on the city's lakes and the Mississippi River.
Workers working Wednesday on new bus shelter / Photo by Rick Nelson Here's what's apparent from the get-go: It's roughly 500 times better looking than the tacky and increasingly shabby greenhouse-inspired eyesores lining Nicollet Mall, which, by the way, just might be supplanted as downtown's most pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare once this ambitious 2-mile, $32 million project is finally finished next year. One concern: Will the advertising panels that bookend the structure (a change from prototype images, which feature clear glass on one end and advertising on the other) make it difficult for pedestrians to see oncoming buses or, for that matter, potential bad guys?
