Central Corridor (Minnesota)

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The Central Corridor is the 11-mile stretch between the downtown regions of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota, which is currently proceeding with engineering work for a future light rail line to stem the growth of traffic congestion. The line is expected to follow the path of the current Metro Transit bus routes 16 and 50 along the combination of University Avenue and Washington Avenue (which runs from downtown Minneapolis past the University of Minnesota). However, an alignment along Interstate 94 had been considered. On June 6, 2006, the light rail option was endorsed by the Central Corridor Coordinating Committee.^[1] The Metropolitan Council gave final approval to this decision on June 28, 2006 and is expected to submit an application to enter preliminary engineering with the Federal Transit Administration soon. With the submission of the preliminary engineering application, the Central Corridor project will transition from the Central Corridor Coordinating Committee to the Metropolitan Council, who will manage the project through completion and operation.^[2]

The LRT line will be the second such line in the region after the Hiawatha Line, which opened in 2004 and connects Minneapolis with the southern suburb of Bloomington. It would also mark the return of rail to the corridor, as a streetcar line along University Avenue was the first of four "interurban" connections between Minneapolis and St. Paul as part of the old street railway that served the region. That line existed from 1890 until it was paved over in 1953. The tracks still lie beneath the pavement but will not be used for the new line. The line was best described as a streetcar, with frequent stops and a center-of-street right-of-way. It was one of four lines termed "interurban" because it ran from Minneapolis to Saint Paul. The others ran along Como Avenue, Selby and Lake, and West 7th in Saint Paul and then several streets in Minneapolis.

1 Projections
2 Opposition
3 Transit links
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Projections

Central Corridor

Stations (West to East)

Warehouse District

Nicollet Mall

Government Plaza

Downtown East - Metrodome

West Bank

East Bank

Stadium Village

29th Avenue Southeast

10th Street

Though the 2003 study commissioned by the Central Corridor Coordinating Committee placed the cost at US$840 million, current estimates place the cost of the light-rail line at about US$930 million, due to delays already encountered. Current projections expect final engineering to finish by 2010. The line will take about three years to build and should be operational by 2014.

Initial busway estimates placed BRT costs at less than $300 million, although the least-expensive options would have involved running the buses mixed with city traffic in downtown Minneapolis and near the University of Minnesota, regions that are already fairly congested and do not have enough room for dedicated bus lanes without taking away space for cars. Adding a tunnel for buses (which is already included in estimates for light rail) would have brought the cost up to about $600 million. Without a tunnel, projections indicate that buses would become a much less attractive transit alternative by about 2018 because they would become stuck in traffic, assuming Washington Avenue remained open to automobiles.

As with many other light rail lines constructed in the U.S. during the last decade, the Hiawatha Line became more successful than what was predicted. This led to some delays for the Central Corridor project because local transit officials were forced to retool ridership models before submitting projections to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The Metropolitan Council, which operates Metro Transit, submitted numbers showing that a light rail line would carry 43,000 passengers daily by the year 2030. The FTA agreed that the line would be cost-effective at this level, a key requirement for obtaining federal funding. ^[3]

[edit] Opposition

As with many transportation projects, businesses along the line have opposed development because of the economic impact it will cause while construction is underway. On-street parking is also expected to disappear in many places. However, another significant area of opposition comes from people who were displaced when St. Paul's nearby Rondo Avenue was ripped out to be replaced by the sunken Interstate 94 corridor starting in the 1950s. Rondo was the center of St. Paul's African-American community, and many area residents had low incomes. The Central Corridor's impact will be far less—hundreds of homes were demolished for I-94, while none are expected to be condemned for the new line. Still, there is concern that stops may be placed too far apart in the more ethnically-diverse regions along the line (parts now have a major Asian-American community), effectively bypassing many of the people who live there. Others are concerned about gentrification, where rising property values and taxes could force out lower-income residents.^[4]

[edit] Transit links

By the time the Central Corridor project is completed, it is expected that the Northstar Corridor commuter rail line will connect downtown Minneapolis with northwestern suburbs, with a station at or near the north/western terminus of the Hiawatha Line and Central Corridor. The two light-rail lines would share trackage in downtown between the Northstar station and the Metrodome. A short westward extension to the current Hiawatha Line is planned to make it easier to directly transfer from Northstar to either of the light-rail corridors.

It is fairly likely that the Central Corridor line would link to the Saint Paul Union Depot, considered one of the great architectural achievements in the city and formerly one of the main points of departure for area train riders up until passenger rail service in the United States was restructured in the 1960s and 1970s. The station would probably also become a transfer point for people coming into St. Paul along the proposed Red Rock Corridor commuter rail line. There is some talk of moving the Amtrak intercity station from its current location near University between the cities to Union Depot. Amtrak provides daily service along the Empire Builder to Chicago, Seattle and Portland. At the present time, the Union Depot is partially used as a mail hub by the United States Postal Service, as well as home to a couple restaurants. It has not seen the revitalization of similar depots in other cities.