On Thursday, July 3, 2003, at 09:04 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Why is West Broadway not mentioned on the Map or Matrix at the Website of the
Northwest Corridor? Why haven't the West Broadway Business Assoc., and West
Broadway Area Coalition been informed of, and invited to, CAC monthly meetings
in Robbinsdale? Why haven't Mpls. Neighborhoods, and neighborhood groups,
abutting proposed Northwest Corridor, and proposed BRT routes, been solicited,
regularly or at all, to attend and participate in CAC meetings, in Robbinsdale?
It's interesting how this Northwest Corridor "BRT" (Bus Rapid Transit) plan has managed to morph into a Bus Not Very Rapid Transit (BNVRT) plan over the last few months. In it's current form this BNVRT plan has a busway for only a small portion of the route, and buses will be stuck in traffic just like they are now on much of the corridor. Meanwhile, the planners have strangely ignored the one train a day freight rails right next to their beloved highway 81... perhaps because we have no manufacturer of rail transit vehicles in Minnesota?
We used to make things right here in the once great cities of Minneapolis and St.Paul. Metro Transit's predecessor, Twin City Rapid Transit, built most of their own streetcars at the Midway shops in St.Paul. Built them so well that many are still in service over half a century later. Trucks were built across the street from the Grain Belt Brewery. Even today, the Minnesota Transportation Museum rebuilds buses, boats, and railroad rolling stock so throroughly that they are damn near manufacturing new equipment. Despite this heritage and skill base Metro Transit's light rail vehicles were built in Mexicao and they even tried to outsource bus engine rebuilding to heaven knows where.
There is one hell of a disconnect here- we have hundreds of unemployed young folks on the Northside, a lonely branch line railroad, and enough oldtimers left to teach the youngins' how to build a railcar, and maybe some buses too. Certainly the transit market could use more competitors- the owner of the St.Cloud bus plant damn near has the market to themselves. That may explain why a basic transit bus costs a couple hundred thousand, or a half million or so if you want a low floor articulated. The rail passenger car business is pretty much owned by Bombardier and Kawasaki, and they start at over a million apiece. Need a locomotive? GE will build you one of their lemons for two or three million and the only other manufacturer, GM, pulled passenger locomotives from their catalog.
As we speak Amtrak is hurting for cash and has at least 20 locomotives and over 100 passenger cars in storage or waiting for repairs. Across the river in Northeast, the home of Milwaukee Road 261, they have 2 coaches bought fresh from Amtrak in operable condition. How soon would you like your commuter rail service to start? And why does Metro Transit send it's millions to Canada and Mexico when we can build buses and railcars right here?
Please be proactive here: Tell me how you intend, from here forward (the
"bottom of the seventh inning") to get us Urban Stakeholders to the planning
table? I, and others, feel that we haven't been linked to the planning, design, and
implementation of the Highway 81 Roadway, nor the Public Transit additions,
that are being developed in our name, and on our behalf.
Keith, another Amen. With the Northwest Corridor's main line transit needs best met by commuter rail, the highest ridership connecting bus line will be down West Broadway. The rebuilding of West Broadway is a rare opportunity to build transit advantages into the redesign of West Broadway. This is where the bus belongs, rather than losing the race to commuter rail on the Monticello Line.
hanging on in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.)
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