Council nears decision on Central Corridor transit project
Mode will be selected June 28
After years of careful study and planning, local and regional officials are moving toward the selection of a mode for improved transit in the Central Corridor along University Avenue between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis.
The Metropolitan Council is expected to select the “locally preferred alternative” for the project June 28 after receiving a recommendation from the Central Corridor Coordinating Committee. That committee consists of elected officials from St. Paul, Minneapolis, Ramsey and Hennepin counties, and representatives from the Metropolitan Council, Minnesota Department of Transportation and University of Minnesota.
On June 6, the Coordinating Committee voted to recommend light rail transit after reviewing the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and receiving public comment on three alternatives — LRT, bus rapid transit and enhanced bus service
Peter Bell, chair of the Metropolitan Council, said the decision is an important one because the Central Corridor is “an essential element of the Council’s plan to grow transit ridership, slow the growth in traffic congestion and improve mobility. It will allow us to build on the success of the Hiawatha LRT line and the public excitement it has generated.”
In its first full year of operation, the Hiawatha line recorded 7.8 million rides, exceeding pre-construction estimates by 58 percent.
Bell said the Central Corridor has “enormous potential” for transit because it links five major centers of activity in the region — downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, the Midway area, the state Capitol complex and downtown St. Paul. All told, the corridor contains almost 280,000 jobs, a number that is expected to grow to 345,000 jobs by 2030.
The two alternatives for the corridor
Ridership capacity
The 2030 ridership of BRT is still being calculated, but it is expected to be significantly less than LRT because of capacity issues. The draft EIS says “bus congestion is already a problem along University Avenue” and that the corridor could not accommodate enough buses to serve the projected transit demand.
The business-led Central Corridor Partnership has been actively working for the selection of LRT. “The costs are more up front, but there is a big capacity issue with bus rapid transit,” says Rick Beeson, president of Park Midway Bank in St. Paul and co-chair of the partnership.
Redevelopment possibilities
Planners believe LRT also could help accelerate redevelopment in the Central Corridor, where revitalization efforts already are underway. In the Hiawatha corridor, more than 5,400 new housing units have been built along the LRT line since 2000 and another 7,000 units are on the drawing boards. “All along the line, you see examples of new housing and commercial development in a corridor that once had large tracts of vacant and under-utilized land,” says Bell.
See draft document
See the draft EIS online or request a copy from the contact information listed above. Copies of the Draft EIS also may be viewed at the above address or at libraries along the corridor. Additional information on the project can be obtained on the Central Corridor website at www.centralcorridor.org.
The proposed light-rail route and stations
Light rail transit: LRT would operate on exclusive right-of-way for the entire 11-mile length of the corridor. It would have 16 stations and would connect with the Hiawatha line at the Metrodome station. Travel time between the two downtowns is estimated at 35 minutes during peak travel hours. The estimated cost is $840 million (in 2007 dollars), a figure that includes a tunnel at the University of Minnesota. By 2030, ridership is expected to reach 43,000 riders per day. LARGER MAP (PDF)
The proposed bus rapid transit route and stations
Bus rapid transit: Buses would operate on an exclusive guideway in the median of University Avenue between Bedford Avenue in Minneapolis and Rice Street in St. Paul, but otherwise would operate in mixed traffic and existing diamond lanes. The line would have 22 stations. Travel time between the two downtowns is estimated at 42 minutes during peak travel hours. The estimated cost is $241 million (in 2007 dollars). LARGER MAP (PDF)