First off, if anybody would like to respond to this post, please remember to send your response to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The last time I posted, I got a private response and I don't think it was intentional. Now down to business.
Light rail. I'm not fully sure if people will ride the Hiawatha Line, but I kind of hope so. One advantage of rail over road is that it is more sustainable in the long term. Instead of retarring a road every few years after trucks and buses tear the asphalt up, we have a track that is relatively costly to install, but then simple to maintain. If it turns out there isn't a real market for the Hiawatha Line and our politicians get pies in the face over it, it'll send the wrong message about our transportation needs. Half a century ago in Minneapolis, one could concievably live at S. 48th and Pleasant and work in Northeast Minneapolis, commuting entirely by streetcar. This transit form, remarkably like LRT, connected to within two blocks of almost every nook and corner in the city, and cost a nickel to ride. If the current LRT project doesn't sell tickets, and thus sends the message that we don't have any regrets to ripping up the streetcar lines for auto lanes, we may be destined to spend a lot more time sitting behind someone's bumper. Unfortunately, I don't foresee myself riding the Hiawatha Line much. I tend to take my bike everywhere within 5 miles or so, and bus or car otherwise, rarely visiting Bloomington or the airport. Hopefully travelling businesspeople will support the line during brief visits to the state, getting downtown without a cab or rental car. I am definitely behind the Northstar Line. It is getting into the Sherburne county area during a time of rapid expansion, just in time to foster transit-oriented development. I foresee a new wave of commuter villages by train stops, with shops and amenities for anyone waiting for trains. I also hope more of the 40-mile commuters leave their cars at park-n-rides along the line. Since less construction is involved (the track's already sitting out there) it's more feasible than Hiawatha. I didn't know there was a corresponding bus line going up to St Cloud to correspond to Hiawatha's 7-bus for competition. I would definitely like to see areas like 394-east where you sit in one lane for anywhere south or east all the way back to Penn Ave, alleviated not through pipe-dream expansion of the Lowry Hill Tunnel, but by getting some of those poor commuters out of their cars and into anything else. Any efforts toward that end are steps in the right direction for the Twin Cities. Luke Engan Student, U of M East Bank _______________________________________________ Twin Cities Metropolitan Issues Forum http://www.e-democracy.org/tcmetro Rules: Sign posts with real name. You may not post more than twice a day.
