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Council holds “listening sessions”

Community weighs in on Central Corridor light-rail line

About 90 community members from the east end to the west end of the proposed Central Corridor light-rail line testified at four listening sessions held by the Metropolitan Council between Feb. 6 and 11 to solicit input on the massive project.

Speakers raised a variety of issues, but the majority of comments addressed two major decisions that the Council will make on Feb. 27 about the scope of the project: the alignment through the University of Minnesota and the potential addition of three stations along University Avenue in St. Paul. 

At-grade line would ‘cripple’ medical school

Many University officials said that an at-grade line on Washington Avenue in mixed traffic would be detrimental to the University and especially to its hospitals and clinics.

The at-grade line “is an option that will suck the lifeblood out of our hospitals and clinics, as patients decide there is another, easier place to get their care,” said Maureen Reed, M.D., vice president of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association and former chair of the University Board of Regents.

Bobbi Daniels, M.D., chief medical officer for University of Minnesota Physicians, said her organization predicts a 10% decline in patient visits because of increased traffic and difficulty accessing the U’s facilities with an at-grade line, resulting in an estimated $100 million loss to the University. It would “cripple the medical school,” she said.

The U’s police chief, Greg Hestness, cited safety concerns, especially for student pedestrians who are inclined to be particularly preoccupied with their schedules, cell phones and I-PODs, he said.

Another option: Make Washington Avenue a pedestrian/bicycle/transit mall

While some speakers favored a tunnel under Washington or an alignment north of the University for LRT, others at the sessions favored moving all car and truck traffic off of Washington Avenue and creating a pedestrian-bicycle-transit mall. “$130 million for a tunnel is a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist,” said student Lois Braun.

Barb Thoman, program director for Transit for Livable Communities, said that a transit mall will “improve accessibility for pedestrians and transit users, improve safety, and make the campus a national model in sustainable transportation.”

‘An issue of justice’ – Add three stations on University Avenue

Many speakers urged the Council to add three stations along University Avenue near the intersections of Hamline, Victoria and Western Avenues in St. Paul, reducing the space between stations from one mile to one-half mile. Environmental and social justice was a common theme of the remarks.

“Transportation is second only to education in its power to make social mobility possible,” said Stephen Wilson, of the Summit-University District Planning Council.  He cited the high concentration of “racially and ethnically diverse,” poor and transit-dependent households in the neighborhoods along the eastern stretch of University Avenue. Without the added stations, and with the proposed reduction in local bus service, these households would actually experience reduced mobility with LRT, he said.

Referring to the devastation of the Rondo neighborhood when I-94 was constructed, Dan Kravitz, of the Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation, urged the Council to make sure the line “serves the community that it is passing through.” He expressed concern that in the current plan, “those communities that need [the project] the most are the ones receiving the least.”

Additional stops would spur development

Other speakers talked about the development opportunities that additional stations would create. Brian McMahon, of the community coalition University United, questioned the lack of a station near Hamline Avenue. He said the almost 50 acres of undeveloped or vacant land represents “a huge amount of development potential.”

“There’s a direct relationship between the level of transit services and the level of development,” McMahon said. The new development spurred by a light-rail stop would increase transit ridership, have a positive impact on the environment, bring in new housing and jobs, and expand the tax base, he said.

Long Her, a business owner on University Avenue, said that he is very concerned about the construction process and how his business will be affected. He said he hopes the city will provide some aid to local businesses so that they don’t fail during construction.

Scoping decision scheduled for Feb. 27

The Council is scheduled to make decisions about the scope of the Central Corridor project – such as the number of stops, whether or not to tunnel under Washington Avenue at the University of Minnesota and how far to extend the line in St. Paul – at its regular meeting on Feb. 27.

Council Chair Peter Bell said the deadline is necessary in order for preliminary engineering to be completed by September, when the Council must apply to the Federal Transit Administration for permission to enter final design on the project in 2009. He has also talked about the need to bring the costs of the project down to an estimated $900 million in order to meet federal cost effectiveness requirements.

The 11-mile light-rail line will link five major centers of activity in the Twin Cities region - downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, the Midway area, the state Capitol complex and downtown St. Paul. As currently proposed, the line shares five stations with Hiawatha light rail in downtown Minneapolis and has 16 new stations.