During the Johnson Administration, metropolitan Washington, D.C. faced a critical decision about its traffic-clogged highways: would it opt for a subway system to move about its two million residents or would it choose the more conventional path of tearing up its central city to construct more roads? Ultimately, leaders there recognized that the region�s population would surge and roads would not suffice to meet future growth. They committed themselves to a vision that was daring but practical: a 98-mile subway system.
Forty years later, the Twin Cities is in a similar situation. Its population is nearly 50 percent larger than when metropolitan Washington, D.C. leaders committed themselves to constructing a subway system. The region�s 2.9 million people are literally stalled in traffic. As commuters waste hours each week crawling in cars on our region�s highways, they lose time that could be better spent at home relaxing with family. Traffic and the time spent in it are often cited as one of the top factors affecting one�s quality of life.
Nonetheless, entities like the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, Wells Fargo, Allina, and Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau are dedicated to paving more land to relieve traffic tie-ups. One of the state�s largest construction projects is slated for the Lake Street interchange with Interstate 35W. Wells Fargo and Allina are driving the $460 million plan to build new ramps at Lake Street, move existing ramps, and widen the freeway from eight to ten lanes from downtown to Crosstown/Hwy. 62. Moreover, plans outlined in 1991 to build light-rail transit in the median of 35W have been abandoned by Metropolitan Council Chairman Peter Bell.
It�s time for Minnesota leaders to listen and realize that roads are NOT the answer to alleviating the region�s congestion. The Twin Cities is too populous to continue pushing for more highway construction, which destroys communities, impairs air quality, and continues to leave cars stranded in a sea of traffic.
Instead, it is time to create a vision for the region�s transportation needs that goes well beyond a 12-mile light-rail line between downtown Minneapolis and the airport. Just as Washington, D.C. did, the Twin Cities should build a system of several light-rail lines, which serve as spokes radiating from the region�s two central cities. This structure allows not only urban and suburban residents to easily work and play in each other�s backyard, but it also allows those same citizens to work and shop in a suburb on the other side of the metro area.
Building light-rail transit in the median of 35W from downtown Minneapolis to the southwest suburbs, the state�s fastest growing region, would be a sensible beginning. Some of the tens of thousands of cars that flood 35W each day could be pulled off the road and negate widening the freeway through Minneapolis� core.
Another practical location for light-rail is University Avenue between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. Business interests support this initiative and the Minnesota Senate included $5.25 million in its bonding bill to study the feasibility of rail on the corridor. Connecting the two central cities on an underutilized and sometimes forgotten thoroughfare makes sense.
The Twin Cities is the country�s fifteenth largest metropolitan area, and its population continues to grow. Let�s hope that our leaders finally embrace this reality and accept that a light-rail system is neither too expensive nor beyond the Twin Cities� needs.
The Twin Cities is an attractive and prosperous region, one which should not see its growth stifled because of an outdated dependence on roads.
-Sean Wherley, Kingfield
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