Ray Marshall writes: ...I came across the www.eastlake.net blog... and up there what did my wondering eyes perceive, but [a link to] images and 50+ pages of documents pertaining to the 38th Street Station Area Master Plan. Now I was pretty much a skeptic, believing that there wasn't enough population density along the light rail route to justify the spending... But if the figures are right, people have fallen in love with our new mode of transportation... So those trains are going to be getting much longer, it would seem, by the time the plan is implemented.
Doug here: I'm guessing that one of the Met Council's best-kept secrets is that the LRT is running at capacity already. I live along the line, and yes, the cars are often standing room only at rush hour and packed to a crush for sporting events. A great deal of those riders are already coming from outside the city. I'm also guessing that since we have fewer cars on hand than the original system spec, that existing cars are running "overtime" and are not afforded the neccesary rotation and downtime for maintenance and overhaul. We could fill out the original order for cars, enough so that all trains are doubled up. Might add a thousand riders per day. However, a large increase in capacity really dictates an increase in train frequency. With that would come the added infrastructure costs (more LRV cars, more drivers, accelerated wear/replacement schedules, more killowatts. etc) and an inverse rate of traffic flow along Highway 55 and through the neighborhoods. Flow along Hiawatha is already at the barely tolerable stage. This leads me to wonder. CPED predicts a need for 24,000 new units to house 29,000 new residents by 2030 (Yes, that averages 1.2 people per unit). The Hiawatha Corridor is under a great deal of pressure to build medium to high density housing all along it's flanks. Looking at the developments built recently (all of which are high density) and the upcoming projects like Hiawatha Flats (250 units), I'm guessing we are looking at perhaps 15-20,000 new residents along the corridor in the next 25 years. How are we going to move them? And to where? As we start work on our own--and the last of the--Station Area Master Plans, transportation and traffic issues will play a much larger role in the discussion. Disclaimer: While I am a strong supporter of finding ways to reduce the consumption of non-renewable fuels, I don't for one minute believe we can socially re-engineer people out of their cars within a decade or less. At least not in this climate and amount of sprawl. Doug Walter Nokomis East Member of "Access Minneapolis" Steering Committee, and 50th St/VA Station areas Planning Committee. REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
