Ken, thanks for that great history of the alignment on Hiawatha Ave. I would like to also add some comments on the start and end points, which Emilie expressed some concern about.
Given out nodal style of transportation system in Minneapolis, it was almost a necessity to have the line start in Downtown Minneapolis. This is the destination on a tremendous percentage of transit riders, as well as a key location for transfers to/from the LRT. Given our desire to get as many people as possible on LRT, the end of the route makes a lot of sense, too. Service to the airport has needed improving for a long time. The #7 bus took forever, and didn't travel that frequently. The Hiawatha line will be a tremendous improvement (and will stop at Humphrey terminal). More importantly, the Mall of America is one of the biggest transit destinations outside of downtown Minneapolis--by having the LRT travel there, we are assured that thousands of people will ride the LRT. As far as connecting the airport to Rochester, I'm not sure if you were serious or not . . . but that seems a tad expensive to do with light rail, not to mention the fact that I don't think we'd be able to come up with enough trips to justify it. Sounds like a good place for BRT to me (Of course, so does the LRT route, but I guess I'm too late). --Jeff Rosenberg Cedar-Riverside . . . Close-ish to the LRT, with nowhere to take it. REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
