Somnifor
February 29th, 2008, 08:17 AM
Needless to say this will be a big deal for the Twin Cities, especially St Paul.
From today's St Paul Pioneer Press:
Central Corridor planners approve the St. Paul-Minneapolis rail route
While the decision is historic, many major issues must be resolved.
By Dave Orrick
dorrick@pioneerpress.com
Article Last Updated: 02/28/2008 06:32:11 AM CST
We have a route.
Not proposed, not envisioned, but planned — and supported by just about every public official with a say in it.
That's the bottom line after two votes Wednesday chose the route of the Central Corridor light-rail line linking downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis via University Avenue.
What we'll get is a $909.1 million, 11-mile, 20-station train running every 7 minutes, 30 seconds, 21 hours a day, seven days a week for a fare price that likely will be comparable to a bus ticket.
Decades of on-again, off-again hopes for such a connection coalesced in recent weeks as political, civic and business leaders compromised under the hammer of a looming federal deadline.
"This is a quantum leap forward," said Peter Bell, chairman of the Metropolitan Council, which will build the line beginning in 2010 and run trains starting in 2014.
"To get Minneapolis, St. Paul, Hennepin County, Ramsey County, leaders of the Legislature, the University of Minnesota and the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) anywhere near the same page, much less on the same page, is amazing."
While many leaders called the votes historic, plenty of questions remain.
If the federal government signs off on the plan, the line will transform areas in its path, and no one has yet figured out exactly how. For example:
-- A six-block stretch of Washington Avenue through the University of Minnesota will be closed to cars — and possibly buses — to make way
for the two-car trains. Streets surrounding the U's East Bank and West Bank campuses will be significantly altered to handle the traffic; no one yet knows how.
-- University Avenue will be ripped up and resurfaced to accommodate trains running down the middle. Bus schedules will be altered, with some service being eliminated, some scaled back and two north-south routes added. Of the 1,156 curbside parking spaces now serving the thoroughfare's businesses, many will be gone. No one knows how many or how to deal with it. No parking lots are planned.
-- Downtown St. Paul will see trains running along Cedar Street, with parking eliminated and southbound traffic reduced to one lane. The block bounded by Cedar, Minnesota, Fourth and Fifth streets will be diagonally bisected to accommodate the tracks and a station. Along Fourth Street, parking will be eliminated and traffic reduced to one lane — no one knows which way yet — as the train travels to Union Depot in Lowertown, where more roads and potentially buildings will be altered by tracks leading to a train maintenance yard near the Lafayette Bridge over the Mississippi River.
-- The previously rail-less region will have a virtual transit party at the new Minnesota Twins stadium in downtown Minneapolis. There, riders from the Hiawatha Line (serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the Mall of America), the planned Northstar Line (serving Hennepin and Anoka counties and points northwest) and the Central Corridor will share a station.
It took plenty of compromising to get there.
The U gave up on hopes for a tunnel beneath Washington Avenue on the East Bank campus.
Ramsey County gave up, at least for now, on plans to bring the train to the backside of Union Depot, where it could link with other envisioned transit lines.
And St. Paul and Ramsey County leaders agreed three additional stations along University Avenue — at Hamline Avenue, Victoria Street and Western Avenue — must take a back seat.
Infrastructure for them will be "roughed in," but the only way any will be built before 2014 is if the federal government changes its funding formula, or if other parts of the project appear to be cheaper than now thought. If that happens, building at least one of the stations is top priority, leaders agreed Wednesday.
The Met Council overwhelmingly approved the route Wednesday evening. Hours earlier, a key advisory panel, which includes St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and representatives from the Hennepin and Ramsey county boards and the University of Minnesota, unanimously approved the route.
On Monday, key leaders from the state House and Senate signed off on it during an informal meeting. Bell is appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has said he'll support the plan if everyone involved agrees, though a funding plan for the state's share of the cost — about $300 million — has not been formed.
The federal government, which will pay half the construction cost, must give its approval — a lengthy process that will formally begin in September, when the Met Council submits detailed engineering studies of how the project will be built. Officials are confident the plan has a good chance because the route approved Wednesday meets the FTA's complex funding formula.
"Transit funding can have more drama than Lindsay Lohan's social life," Rybak observed.
Indeed, a lot must be done before September, Bell said, "particularly at the university."
The U's Board of Regents has yet to address the route approved Wednesday, and Kathleen O'Brien, vice president for university services, said her vote in favor of the plan was "with reservations."
The U plans to continue studying its preferred options, a pair of paths through Dinkytown and along the northern edge of campus, where a series of new research and academic facilities are planned. Detailed studies on that route won't be available until May or June.
If it turns out that such a route is cheaper or better, officials could decide to go with it, but the move would delay the project at least a year.
O'Brien said her vote in favor of the Washington Avenue ground-level route was largely because the U doesn't want to force an unwarranted delay.
Bell said he's especially concerned about the impact of the so-called "transit mall" that would replace Washington Avenue between Coffman Memorial Union and McNamara Alumni Center.
Although it is not definite, Bell and others involved said it is unlikely cars would be able to use the Washington Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River, creating a traffic engineering imbroglio.
The plan adopted Wednesday calls for $39 million to deal with traffic snarls created by trains along the entire length of the line, and Bell said he fears, given the scenario at the U, the amount is "woefully inadequate."
The issue could be clarified by March 12, the next scheduled meeting of the advisory panel and the Met Council.
The Central Corridor will be the region's second light-rail line since streetcars disappeared half a century ago. The Hiawatha Line opened in 2004 and has exceeded ridership projections by 65 percent, according to the Met Council.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_8386089?nclick_check=1
From today's St Paul Pioneer Press:
Central Corridor planners approve the St. Paul-Minneapolis rail route
While the decision is historic, many major issues must be resolved.
By Dave Orrick
dorrick@pioneerpress.com
Article Last Updated: 02/28/2008 06:32:11 AM CST
We have a route.
Not proposed, not envisioned, but planned — and supported by just about every public official with a say in it.
That's the bottom line after two votes Wednesday chose the route of the Central Corridor light-rail line linking downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis via University Avenue.
What we'll get is a $909.1 million, 11-mile, 20-station train running every 7 minutes, 30 seconds, 21 hours a day, seven days a week for a fare price that likely will be comparable to a bus ticket.
Decades of on-again, off-again hopes for such a connection coalesced in recent weeks as political, civic and business leaders compromised under the hammer of a looming federal deadline.
"This is a quantum leap forward," said Peter Bell, chairman of the Metropolitan Council, which will build the line beginning in 2010 and run trains starting in 2014.
"To get Minneapolis, St. Paul, Hennepin County, Ramsey County, leaders of the Legislature, the University of Minnesota and the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) anywhere near the same page, much less on the same page, is amazing."
While many leaders called the votes historic, plenty of questions remain.
If the federal government signs off on the plan, the line will transform areas in its path, and no one has yet figured out exactly how. For example:
-- A six-block stretch of Washington Avenue through the University of Minnesota will be closed to cars — and possibly buses — to make way
for the two-car trains. Streets surrounding the U's East Bank and West Bank campuses will be significantly altered to handle the traffic; no one yet knows how.
-- University Avenue will be ripped up and resurfaced to accommodate trains running down the middle. Bus schedules will be altered, with some service being eliminated, some scaled back and two north-south routes added. Of the 1,156 curbside parking spaces now serving the thoroughfare's businesses, many will be gone. No one knows how many or how to deal with it. No parking lots are planned.
-- Downtown St. Paul will see trains running along Cedar Street, with parking eliminated and southbound traffic reduced to one lane. The block bounded by Cedar, Minnesota, Fourth and Fifth streets will be diagonally bisected to accommodate the tracks and a station. Along Fourth Street, parking will be eliminated and traffic reduced to one lane — no one knows which way yet — as the train travels to Union Depot in Lowertown, where more roads and potentially buildings will be altered by tracks leading to a train maintenance yard near the Lafayette Bridge over the Mississippi River.
-- The previously rail-less region will have a virtual transit party at the new Minnesota Twins stadium in downtown Minneapolis. There, riders from the Hiawatha Line (serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the Mall of America), the planned Northstar Line (serving Hennepin and Anoka counties and points northwest) and the Central Corridor will share a station.
It took plenty of compromising to get there.
The U gave up on hopes for a tunnel beneath Washington Avenue on the East Bank campus.
Ramsey County gave up, at least for now, on plans to bring the train to the backside of Union Depot, where it could link with other envisioned transit lines.
And St. Paul and Ramsey County leaders agreed three additional stations along University Avenue — at Hamline Avenue, Victoria Street and Western Avenue — must take a back seat.
Infrastructure for them will be "roughed in," but the only way any will be built before 2014 is if the federal government changes its funding formula, or if other parts of the project appear to be cheaper than now thought. If that happens, building at least one of the stations is top priority, leaders agreed Wednesday.
The Met Council overwhelmingly approved the route Wednesday evening. Hours earlier, a key advisory panel, which includes St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and representatives from the Hennepin and Ramsey county boards and the University of Minnesota, unanimously approved the route.
On Monday, key leaders from the state House and Senate signed off on it during an informal meeting. Bell is appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has said he'll support the plan if everyone involved agrees, though a funding plan for the state's share of the cost — about $300 million — has not been formed.
The federal government, which will pay half the construction cost, must give its approval — a lengthy process that will formally begin in September, when the Met Council submits detailed engineering studies of how the project will be built. Officials are confident the plan has a good chance because the route approved Wednesday meets the FTA's complex funding formula.
"Transit funding can have more drama than Lindsay Lohan's social life," Rybak observed.
Indeed, a lot must be done before September, Bell said, "particularly at the university."
The U's Board of Regents has yet to address the route approved Wednesday, and Kathleen O'Brien, vice president for university services, said her vote in favor of the plan was "with reservations."
The U plans to continue studying its preferred options, a pair of paths through Dinkytown and along the northern edge of campus, where a series of new research and academic facilities are planned. Detailed studies on that route won't be available until May or June.
If it turns out that such a route is cheaper or better, officials could decide to go with it, but the move would delay the project at least a year.
O'Brien said her vote in favor of the Washington Avenue ground-level route was largely because the U doesn't want to force an unwarranted delay.
Bell said he's especially concerned about the impact of the so-called "transit mall" that would replace Washington Avenue between Coffman Memorial Union and McNamara Alumni Center.
Although it is not definite, Bell and others involved said it is unlikely cars would be able to use the Washington Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River, creating a traffic engineering imbroglio.
The plan adopted Wednesday calls for $39 million to deal with traffic snarls created by trains along the entire length of the line, and Bell said he fears, given the scenario at the U, the amount is "woefully inadequate."
The issue could be clarified by March 12, the next scheduled meeting of the advisory panel and the Met Council.
The Central Corridor will be the region's second light-rail line since streetcars disappeared half a century ago. The Hiawatha Line opened in 2004 and has exceeded ridership projections by 65 percent, according to the Met Council.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_8386089?nclick_check=1