While the Star Tribune�s support for light rail is encouraging, it is difficult to square the paper�s enthusiasm for the Hiawatha line with its advocacy for more highway construction in south Minneapolis.

The June 25 editorial succinctly summarized the fight of roads versus transit: �Freeways are notoriously expensive to expand, and even the widest new roads fill quickly with traffic.� In a Jan. 30, 2004 editorial, however, the paper defended the 35W Access Project, a $152 million construction project planned for the interchange of Interstate 35W and Lake Street. The Access Project has no plans for mass transit and only perpetuates the sea of cars on the state�s busiest corridor.

By combining the Access Project with the state�s plan to widen 35W to as many as ten lanes between Crosstown/Hwy. 62 and downtown, south Minneapolis becomes an area even more illustrative of the outdated dependence on highways.

Light rail is an excellent means for moving more people around without the environmental impact of building new highways. The Star Tribune should reverse its position on the Access Project and embrace the vision that light rail offers for 35W.

Sean Wherley
Kingfield

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