The route of the Hiawatha light rail also follows a much older trail, that of the residents of the area for centuries who traveled from the bluffs where Ft. Snelling sits to the Falls that we call St. Anthony. Soon after Ft. Snelling was built the route became well traveled by those going from the saw mill at St. Anthony back and forth from the Fort. The route was only NOT a major thorough fare of the region for the short time from the 1960s until June of 2004.
>From my house, the bells of the Hiawatha Line are a pleasant tinkle 4 blocks away. My family and I will be at the head of line at the 46th St. Station on the 26th, and will be frequent users in both directions thereafter. Dan McGuire Ericsson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Earl Netwal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 12:14 PM Subject: [Mpls] Origins of Hiawatha Light rail route > Kem Bradley's response to Emille's query on the origins of the light rail > along Hiawatha are incomplete. The community proposed light rail along this > corridor all the way back in the early 1970's as an alternate to what had > been planned as a full freeway routing. Those who moved into the area since > then may never have fully appreciated the fact that a deal was struck at > that time to make the route a multimodal highway and light rail line rather > than a freeway. This compromise put light rail on the political and civil > engineering agenda for the first time in Minnesota. The only prior mass > transit proposals were for subways taking advantage of the limestone cap > under most of Minneapolis and the earliest versions of the never say die, > PRT utopian pipe dream. Back in 74-75 the final Hiawatha road routing and > right of way were formally decided by the city council. It just took an > awful long time to arrange financing for the project. Many of us with > longer term roots in the community, have always felt an obligation to uphold > our end of the bargain, in large part because of our belief that light > rail/parkway was a superior solution when compared to a full freeway. When > "newbies" entered the fray at the point of time when things were finally > happening after decades of effort and appeared be willing to risk the > benefits of our hard won compromise. Many of us took umbrage at their > efforts. We feared their efforts would snatch defeat from the jaws of > victory. However well meaning they may have been, it appears that some of > them saw the issue only from the point in time at which they came into the > story. A fault I suspect we all have. The routing along Hiawatha was > successful for two reasons. The first as pointed out was that the right of > way largely existed. This is a significant portion of any capital project > of any scale. The second reason was the consistent long term support of the > project by political leaders from the area and beyond. John Derus should be > credited for making Light Rail a regional priority, Commission Peter > McLaughlin and former state senator Carol Flynn championed the local > politics, while Martin Sabo brought home the federal bacon. In this case > all DFL'ers, although had this been a Republican area, I suspect republican > leaders would also have continued to push the project as it represented a > hard fought and truly community based compromise solution to a serious > transportation issue. Today already thousands of recently arrived South > Minneapolis residents live in the area who do not remember how bad Hiawatha > Avenue was. It's only a slight exaggeration to say the pot holes were big > enough to swallow Volkswagon beetles. > > > > Earl Netwal, from the Nokomis East Neighborhood, > > but beyond the clanking of the light rail crossing bells, > > and an Alderman at the time the compromise was struck. > > > > 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 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
