Only one of multiple scenarios for Central Corridor LRT meets cost constraints

Contact:
Laura Baenen
Central Corridor LRT Project
Communications Manager
651-602-1797 office
612-269-4365 cell
Laura.baenen@metc.state.mn.us

St. Paul – Feb. 13, 2008 – Only one of the multiple scenarios presented Wednesday to Metropolitan Council members for the scope of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line meets federal cost requirements and would be operable.

At $909.1 million, this plan has a cost effectiveness index of $23.80. The CEI must be less than $24 to receive federal approval. Details of this plan include:

Trains stopping for passengers at the front of Union Depot at Fourth and Sibley streets. However, the tracks would continue to a maintenance facility to be built on Ramsey County-owned land near the depot’s rear concourse south of Kellogg Boulevard. That would make it easier for a connection to be built in the future to the concourse once it becomes a transit hub for buses and other trains.
Underground infrastructure so three additional University Avenue stations at Hamline Avenue, Victoria Street and Western Avenue could be built later.
Trains running on Washington Avenue at street level with traffic or on a transit mall for buses, emergency vehicles and pedestrians through the University of Minnesota East Bank. The transit mall could extend from the Mississippi River to Oak Street. Non-emergency and non-transit vehicles would be rerouted. This plan includes additional money for traffic mitigation.
A diagonal route in downtown St. Paul through the vacant Bremer Bank building from Cedar and Fifth streets to Minnesota and Fourth streets, combining two stations to save costs.
Reduced reconstruction of University Avenue to recognize savings due to findings that the roadbed is in better shape than expected.
Construction of three-car train platforms so trains can add a third car in the future to accommodate increased demand.
Additional modifications to the Washington Avenue bridge over the Mississippi.

At the university’s request, Director Mark Fuhrmann of the Central Corridor LRT Project also presented a plan with a shortened train tunnel on Washington Avenue with an open-air station in front of Coffman Union. The approximately 1,900-foot tunnel would extend from just west of Church Street to just east of Oak Street. But this $988.6 million plan, which includes everything else in the $909.1 million plan, has a CEI that is too high at $25.62.

These two scenarios are less expensive than the $990 million plan as defined by the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. At $26.05, this plan’s CEI is too high. Also, the university is now building a football stadium in the path originally proposed for LRT so the DEIS plan can no longer be built.

At $845.9 million, another plan comes in under the CEI at $22.20, but would not be operable because it lacks funding for an additional vehicle maintenance facility which is needed for the project.

Met Council members must approve a plan at their Feb. 27 meeting to give project staff time to finish preliminary engineering by the end of August and meet the Federal Transit Administration’s deadline to apply for permission to enter final engineering in 2009. Missing the deadline would mean a year’s delay, costing the project an additional $40 million. The federal government will pay half the construction costs, the state 33 percent, Ramsey County 12 percent and Hennepin County 5 percent.

Central Corridor LRT Project

The Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Project linking downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis via Washington and University avenues would be the fourth in a planned network of rail and bus ``transitways’’ in the Twin Cities. Construction would begin in 2010 on the planned 11-mile Central Corridor line, with service beginning in 2014. The line would connect with the Hiawatha LRT line at the Metrodome station in Minneapolis and the soon-to-be built Northstar commuter rail line at the new Minneapolis multimodal station. The Metropolitan Council would be the grantee of federal funds. The regional government agency is charged with leading the design and building of the line in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The Central Corridor Management Committee, which includes the mayors of St. Paul and Minneapolis and commissioners from Ramsey and Hennepin counties, provides advice and oversight.
The Central Corridor LRT Project website is www.centralcorridor.org

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