Transportation leaders address the need for jobs, long-term investments in infrastructure
Central Corridor LRT: Putting People to Work
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood talked about the
importance of putting Americans back to work.
Scores of workers at the Union Depot and the new LRT station
listened to the speakers.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Federal Transit Administration head Peter Rogoff, flanked by scores of construction workers in front of St. Paul’s Union Depot on Monday morning, spoke forcefully about the importance of transportation investments in creating jobs and improving the quality of life for the next generation.
Union Depot is undergoing a major renovation for its renewed life as a major rail and bus hub in the seven-county metro region. In front of the depot, a Central Corridor light-rail station is being erected, one of 18 along the 11-mile line that will connect downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis when it opens in 2014.
“These are American infrastructure projects built by American workers,” LaHood said. “That’s what we’re known for. That’s what we want to get back.” LaHood and Rogoff are crisscrossing the country to advocate for President Obama’s American Jobs Act.
Rogoff emphasized that investments like the Union Depot and Central Corridor LRT will not only create jobs now but are also important to the quality of life for people for generations to come. He credited people and elected officials in the Twin Cities region and Minnesota with “setting aside partisan differences to see to it that a big vision can move forward.”
Gov. Mark Dayton made a special point of thanking “the working men and women who are here today. This is not a photo op, this is jobs,” he said.
In addition to the 3,300 jobs that Central Corridor LRT construction is expected to generate, the line will attract new employers to the corridor, said Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh. “There are 280,000 workers in this corridor. When we invest in transit, we are investing in jobs and in connecting workers to their employers.”
Rep. Betty McCollum praised the private sector in the region for their strong support of transit.
“What is happening [in this region] can and should be happening all across the country,” McCollum said. “We can’t allow our global competition to pass us by.”
Rep. Keith Ellison recalled the Eisenhower Administration and the investment that “our grandparents and parents” made in the nation’s highway infrastructure. “We’re still benefitting from the investment they made years ago.”
Earlier this year, Administrator Rogoff signed a Full Funding Grant Agreement to provide $474 million in federal New Starts funds for construction of Central Corridor LRT, nearly half of the $957 million project. A combination of federal funds also paid for more than half the cost of the $243 million rehabilitation and construction of the Union Depot multi-modal transportation hub, which will accommodate Amtrak, regional transit buses and inter-city buses, and future rail lines as well as easy access to LRT. That project created more than 225 jobs between July and November of this year alone.