So far -----> Yes = 13
No = 6Here is the vote total so far. However, the totals themselves are distorted by the fact that some people didn't like the question and didn't respond. Some folks voted YES, but then said "NO" to a University route.
What was really interesting, was reading the explanations that people gave - I plan to summarize in a few minutes.
I'll continue to take votes/summaries the rest of today. If your first post was too long, you may send me (privately) a shorter version (150 words or less), for the final INFORMAL summary of the discussion. I'll re-post all of the answers tomorrow.
(Next time, I'll add an UNDECIDED option to the list of possible responses).
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Post your votes to either:
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1) Based on what you know today, would you like to
see a light rail system built in St. Paul ALONG -
University Ave. (similar to the Hiawatha
corridor system)?YES or NO
Optional: short explanation of vote (or caveat).
150 words or less
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Paul SkrbecYES ------------------------------------------------ Joelle Tegwen
YES
We need public transit and a line between Minneapolis and St. Paul is essential. However, I'm with Dan. It really aught to be along 94. When we go to Chicago we drive in, get off at Cumberlain, park in their 1.75/12 hr parking and take the walk bridge over the freeway to the train. Then we can go to all the places we like/need to go. In the dense areas (like between the cities) we could put parking ramps over the freeway and not use up that space either.
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Pat Byrne
NO
At this point I'm not sure we have paid the proper attention to development of the mass public transit system needed to make this work as it should, and I think there may be higher priorities and a better return in spending money elsewhere - other than light rail - for mass public transit.
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Andrew M. Hine
YES
But use 94 or RR corridors for high-speed East-West service, with North-South spurs coming off this Mainline every mile. The Victoria Line, for example, could be boarded at Juut and make stops northward until it gets to 94, when it turns to either downtown for a straight shot. The southbound Snelling Line could be boarded at Har-Mar Mall, stopping at Larpenteur, Midway, Como, Hamliine U., Thomas!, over Univ Av through the ugly Green Thing, Frontage Road, and off you go to Downtown.
I just think considering the ring, or Triangle, on it's own is short-sighted. What would 494-694 Loop be without 280 and 100 and 169? Where would the tree be without the branches? The hand with no fingers? The aorta sans capillaries? x, y, z, dimensions and beyond!!!
The reader is left to apply this approach to the Riverview Corridor on hir own. ------------------------------------------------ Gail O'Hare
YES
to an east-west route!
But then I'm overwhelmed with questions. We did indeed destroy Rondo with nary a qualm. (Well, ok, maybe a few qualms, but no one cared about saving communities - especially minority communities - back when the interstate was envisioned as a defense system.) Now we can weigh impacts. I look at University and see an emerging success-story that might be seriously threatened. Someone said a line along I-94 would threaten those businesses, but I'm thinking it could build up the area substantially. As I think over the terrain I don't picture any vibrant businesses right along 94. Please forgive me if my ignorance is leading to another Rondo-like blindness. Wouldn't stations and park-n-rides lead to diverse businesses, jobs and improved housing?
I want to emphasize the park-n-rides. As I remember it (again, could be wrong) the way Hiawatha was kept on-time and on-budget was by reducing the number of railcars and park-n-rides. Shortsightedness we should not repeat.
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Andy Driscoll
YES
(Explanation Too Long - Feel free to submit shorter version) ------------------------------------------------ Mike Wassenaar
YES
(Explanation Too Long - Feel free to submit shorter version) ------------------------------------------------ Katherine Sherman
YES
As a person who lives a block from Uni in the Midway area, and works on the U of M East Bank, I've used both cars and buses in my commute. Right now I'm a car person, because the 16 is way too slow and the 50 is timed wrong, but LRT would put me firmly and permanently back on public transit. U of M staff and students-- especially the graduate, professional, and commuter students-- are huge riders of the 16 and 50. If you're even going to consider LRT in the I94 corridor instead, you're going to have problems linking it to the U of M-- or you're going to have to bypass it all together, and the U of M is a place that would provide enormous ridership for the LRT, and could really use the service. I'm going to confine myself to these points, or I'm going to get way too long-winded.
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Bruce Gaarder
NO
To lrt on University. Merely increases congestion while not improving bus service. A large fraction (hard to tell from the EIS books) of the opportunities to drive straight across University or to turn left across University will be closed off for the sacred tracks. Many businesses that have a lot of patrons who drive will suffer because people won't fight the backups to get in and out of the businesses. $840 million for only 10 miles of new track, and no new maintenance facilities as part of the deal. The EIS says that an underground tunnel between a parking ramp at the U and the hospital will be cut of by the proposed train tunnel. Most train riders will be displaced from the buses. The bus isn't expected to be significantly faster than the #50 bus.
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