Dave Piehl wrote:
>Is it really worth all those millions of dollars to
>spare suburban commuters three blocks of city driving?
>
It's to spare us from having to breathe in all the toxic particulates
left by cars sitting at two lights, 31st St. and Lake St.
WizardMarks, Central
This project is not about reducing pollution, it is about externalizing the costs of transportaion "needs" created by corporations and employees who still operate under the model of urban sprawl, which in turn subsidizes the status quo of the petroleum and auto industries.
The I35W expansion project is simply an urban sprawl project. Behind the gripes of people not wanting to drive through three blocks of a certain neighborhood is classism and racism.
Behind the claim that Lake Street needs this project is a similiar kind of bias which turns a blind eye to the wonderful, pluralistic, multi-racial and colorful revitalization of Lake Street that is already going on.
If this project goes through, pollution will be increased, as car traffic will be encouraged and congestion will be worsened. Increasing numbers of folks will drive -- one or two at a time -- in cars designed to carry between 4 and 8 people -- through these traffic ways. Pollution will be far worse.
There are better, cheaper alternatives:
1) Turn the I35W corridor into a true transit corridor. A dedicated busway could start immediately. Cleaner-running busses could be developed to replace the ones already used. (If we were smart, we'd have p[eople at the U of M already working on this.)
2) LRT and PRT could be developed in or overe the I35W trench. The U of M professor who has been working on PRT for over 30 years is a terrific local treasure here, a visionary who has too long been ignored. But he has raised over $500,000 on his own -- no help from MnDOT or local or state governments -- to build a model.
Why not work on a visionary, cutting edge design for the I35W corridor instead of going back to a 1960's model of transportation there?
The LRT or PRT designs would cut pollution by as much as 80%. (Adding more cars adds more toxins, and as traffic builds to fill the new capacity, worse congestion follows, with worse pollution....see LA, Atlanta)
In other words, while new, truly effective plans are being made, we can provide excellent bus service in the corridor -- even tailoring it to the shift-related needs of Allina -- for far less money than the I35W expansion project currently proposed.
I submit that our Mayor, City Council, County Commissioners, and State Representatives all need to consider this as an alternative to dumping huge sums of taxpayer money into the counterproductive proposal being put forard under the guise of "I35W Access".
Tranform I35W into a transit corridor, not into a worse traffic congestion corridor!
Gary Hoover
King Field
