Transit alternatives studied in Southwest Corridor
Residents weigh in on proposed light-rail routes
Residents and other stakeholders in the Southwest Transitway Corridor turned out in large numbers at three public scoping meetings in October to comment on proposed routes for a light-rail-transit (LRT) line in the corridor.
In their comments to members of the Hennepin County Regional Rail Authority (HCRRA), speakers at the meetings focused primarily on the impacts of three proposed routes on:
- Access to jobs and regional attractions
- Business and residential development
- Open space and natural features
- Traffic
Discussion was lively at a public scoping meeting on the Southwest Transitway Project at Eden Prairie City Hall in October.
Many residents at the meetings expressed eagerness for a line to be built. At the meeting in St. Louis Park, one resident stood up with a copy of a 20-year-old study of light rail in Hennepin County and urged the HCRRA to build the line soon, so that 20 years from now he wouldn’t be standing there again.
Routes diverge at northern, southern ends
Starting in Minneapolis, two proposed routes go west/southwest out of downtown to the Kenilworth rail corridor until it joins with rail right-of-way owned by the HCCRA just west of Lake Calhoun. The third route runs south out of downtown on Nicollet Mall/Nicollet Avenue until it turns west on the Midtown Greenway, going through Uptown before joining the HCCRA right-of-way.
The Uptown Association, a nonprofit trade association for the Uptown area, voted this fall to support an alignment that includes Uptown.
“Uptown is a regional destination,” Thatcher Imboden, the association’s president, said at the meeting in Eden Prairie, “and LRT is a regional investment…that would improve transit connections between Uptown and the rest of the region.” It would also help businesses in the area deal with “very real and significant problems” related to traffic and parking, he said.
The Bryn Mawr neighborhood, on the other hand, is on record supporting the Kenilworth route out of downtown. A resident at the St. Louis Park meeting called the route choice a “racial justice issue,” and said the Kenilworth alignment would give much better access to residents of North Minneapolis.
Two different routes are being studied for the northern end of the alignment; one uses the Kenilworth corridor and the other goes east through Uptown and north on Nicollet Avenue. View larger map (pdf).
All three routes follow the HCCRA right-of-way – which is currently a regional walking/biking trail – from west of Lake Calhoun southwest to the Hopkins/Minnetonka border near Shady Oak Lake. At that point, one route would continue southwest along the right-of-way. The other two would head south through Eden Prairie’s Opus/Golden Triangle area – the region’s sixth largest employment center, with over 50,000 jobs – then turn west to the Eden Prairie Town Center, Southwest Transit Station and terminate at Mitchell Rd.
The Opus/Golden Triangle route would provide greater benefit to the business community and help Eden Prairie’s tax base, said Kevin Schultz, Eden Prairie resident and member of the city planning commission. While that route is expected to be more expensive to build, he said, “We also have to look at the back-end benefit of how it would affect the corporate community.”
Some residents who live in the Opus area said they are concerned the route would add to traffic congestion. “It will create a major traffic problem,” said resident Linda Allen.
Both northern route options would impact residents of the Calhoun Isles Condominiums, located along the Kenilworth Corridor and north of the Midtown Greenway, said resident Donna Peterson. Members of the condo association have a number of concerns, she said, including:
- The fate of mature trees and shrubs on the property border.
- Potential access problems to Calhoun Village and other commercial destinations south of the Greenway.
- The close proximity of the line to homes and the possible resulting vibrations. “We would want this to be mitigated,” she said.
Several residents who live along the regional trail in Eden Prairie said they oppose light-rail in the trail corridor. “I live along the trail, and use it almost every day,” said Dennis Bruns. “I would love to see the trail remain as it is.”
Next stop: Drafting an environmental impact statement
The public comment period on the project’s scoping document ended Nov. 7, and now the rail authority will begin developing a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). The DEIS, required by federal and state law, documents the potential social, economic and environmental benefits and impacts of the proposed project. It will refine capital and operating cost estimates, ridership forecasts and station locations for each alternative. The DEIS will lead to a recommendation by the rail authority of a preferred alternative by October 2009.
Peter McLaughlin, HCRRA chair, told residents at the Eden Prairie meeting that the region’s investments in a network of planned transitways will be as important in shaping future development as the nation’s investments in freeways were 50 years ago, and will help keep the economy of the Twin Cities area competitive.
And with the new metro area sales tax, allocated through the County Transit Improvement Board, “We now have the capacity to make some of these plans and dreams come true,” McLaughlin said.