It appears from this discussion that the well known
"Minneapolis Myopia" has infected yet another civic discussion.
Folks, we are a metropolitan area of 4,000,000 souls and growing that
stretches from St.Cloud to Rochester. That means that while you'd
love to have a subway/elevated train/light rail line/etc. in front of
your home it may not happen fro a long time, if at all.
Those four million citizens stuck in traffic are ready and in
fact increasingly demanding rail transit. Even if all our dreams came
true and we had a billion dollars a year to spend on transit, we'd
still have to make compromises. Commuter rail costs a couple million
dollars/ mile, light rail at least $50,000,000/mile, and tunnelling
is so expensive that it's a non starter. The North Star and Red Rock
commuter lines are over 100 miles long and will cost at least
$300,000,000. In line behind those lines are the Southwest line, Dan
Patch, and lines north to Mora, northeast towards Hinkley, East into
Wisconsin, and west towards Willmar. Then comes a very expensive link
to Rochester, either by a new light rail "interurban" line down the
median of U.S. 52 or by rebuilding the very tired DM&E tracks through
Owatonna and the not quite so decrepit CP or UP tracks to Northfield
to connect with the Dan Patch line.
With all the lines absorbing hundreds of millions of dollars
in public investment for years to come, it'll be difficult for the
more expensive light rail lines to compete for funding. That leaves
the line down University Avenue as the most likely candidate for
funding. Those political realities also mean that a Southwest Light
Rail line will probably follow the Kenilworth corridor- commuters
from the "burbs won't tolerate several minutes delay while that train
stops at every corner on Nicollet Avenue. An even more likely outcome
is that the Southwest Corridor will see commuter rail- there are
lightly used tracks already in this corridor from Minneapolis to
Montana!
So be glad that the rest of the state is increasingly
appreciating transit as we Minneapolitans always have- but be
realistic in what you demand and you're more likely to get it.
by Northside Station in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
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