A recent Star Tribune article by Jim Anderson had an interesting update on the Gateway Corridor fiasco. According to the article, the plan is to run "along I-94" with "a BRT route -- or possibly light rail, if funding allows."
If funding allows?!?
That's the deciding factor -- for either a bus or a train -- how much money is available?
That's not how to make decisions.
If funding allows, use golden rails and call it the gold line. The Gateway Corridor has been renamed the Gold Corridor or the Giveaway Corridor.
But then, these are the people who wanted to put light rail trains on residential streets.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Foung Hawj
Congratulations to Foung Hawj in winning the Minnesota Senate seat for District 67.
He will do great things for our district and our state.
He will do great things for our district and our state.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Winning
A bus driver commented on the previous post to say that I've won.
I have great respect for bus drivers. Bus drivers are the public transit backbone of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. They are the host, cashier, security guard, information desk, and driver with full steering and braking capabilities. Next to teachers and farmers, bus drivers have the most thankless job.
About winning, I respectfully disagree.
The current concept of the Gateway Corridor is a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along Hudson Road with light rail as either a secondary choice or a future replacement of the BRT.
The concept is flawed and likely to change.
Hudson Road in Saint Paul is mostly residential, although less residential than previous alternatives (3rd Street East, 7th Street East, & Minnehaha Avenue). Hudson Road has families, kids, and the elderly.
Rapid transit does not belong on residential streets.
Here's a Google satellite view of houses on Hudson Road.
Interstate 94 used to be US Highway 12, a highway that climbed the eastside hills instead of cutting through them. Before it was US Highway 12, it was Hudson Road. Remnants of old Hudson Road are a dashed line. They are incomplete. How would a transit line connect the pieces? How would Hudson Road and Old Hudson Road connect? How would a transit line bridge the Johnson Parkway valley at I-94?
Buses can be steered and are expected to stop on a dime. Buses make sense for residential neighborhoods. But the concept of Bus Rapid Transit is to have the bus lanes separated from other traffic. Picture two lanes with bordering curbs on either side. It has been said that BRT hasn't been done before in Minnesota, but I disagree. The University of Minnesota campus bus runs between the Minneapolis and Saint Paul campuses. It runs on a road with no other traffic south of the State Fairgrounds.
If I were a bus driver, I would like the bus separated from other traffic, yeah, providing the snow plows can differentiate between short curbs and snow piles, and not chop the curbs up into the road. I would want to be able to steer around obstacles, a ball or a kid, and not be forced to hit them like a train would. How fast is Rapid on a residential road?
The Gateway Corridor Commission says the bus will travel 9.8 miles (from Oaks Business Park to Union Depot) in 17 minutes. That's an average of 35 mph. That's too fast for a residential road and too slow for rapid transit. Light rail would take 15 minutes at an average speed of 39 mph. Public transit buses (MTC) currently crisscross the eastside of Saint Paul. Buses drive 55 mph on I-94 (that's bus rapid transit). What is the purpose of the Gateway Corridor?
▼ What is the justification of spending millions of dollars on transit consultants?
▼ What is the justification of a construction project that would disrupt lives and businesses?
▼ What is the justification of half a billion dollars for a bus or a billion dollars for a train?
▼ How could they possibly imagine that rapid transit could be safe on residential streets?!?
Maybe the Gateway Corridor Commission works on commission. It's tough to understand why Lisa Weik, Kathy Lantry, and the others are doing this. Their materials mention Oaks Business Park in Oakdale, at 7755 Third Street North, Oakdale, MN 55128, which is owned by the Carlson Real Estate Company of Minnetonka. What is their connection to the Gateway Corridor? Is this the development that the Gateway Corridor will help?
The latest Gateway Corridor plans estimate 9,000 daily riders whether the vehicle is a bus or a train. The Gateway Corridor Commission says 90,000 vehicles cross the I-94 St. Croix River Bridge every day, but the Gateway Corridor will not cross the I-94 St. Croix River Bridge. The ridership is fictional. Conrad deFiebre says the bus ridership would be closer to 6,000 which sounds closer to actual ridership.
None of this makes sense. The Gateway Corridor Commission has not inspired confidence that they know what they're doing, like when their leader Lisa Weik confused light rail with 1950s streetcars.
It's like arguing on the Internet. How could anyone win?
I have great respect for bus drivers. Bus drivers are the public transit backbone of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. They are the host, cashier, security guard, information desk, and driver with full steering and braking capabilities. Next to teachers and farmers, bus drivers have the most thankless job.
About winning, I respectfully disagree.
The current concept of the Gateway Corridor is a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along Hudson Road with light rail as either a secondary choice or a future replacement of the BRT.
The concept is flawed and likely to change.
Hudson Road in Saint Paul is mostly residential, although less residential than previous alternatives (3rd Street East, 7th Street East, & Minnehaha Avenue). Hudson Road has families, kids, and the elderly.
Rapid transit does not belong on residential streets.
Here's a Google satellite view of houses on Hudson Road.
Interstate 94 used to be US Highway 12, a highway that climbed the eastside hills instead of cutting through them. Before it was US Highway 12, it was Hudson Road. Remnants of old Hudson Road are a dashed line. They are incomplete. How would a transit line connect the pieces? How would Hudson Road and Old Hudson Road connect? How would a transit line bridge the Johnson Parkway valley at I-94?
Buses can be steered and are expected to stop on a dime. Buses make sense for residential neighborhoods. But the concept of Bus Rapid Transit is to have the bus lanes separated from other traffic. Picture two lanes with bordering curbs on either side. It has been said that BRT hasn't been done before in Minnesota, but I disagree. The University of Minnesota campus bus runs between the Minneapolis and Saint Paul campuses. It runs on a road with no other traffic south of the State Fairgrounds.
If I were a bus driver, I would like the bus separated from other traffic, yeah, providing the snow plows can differentiate between short curbs and snow piles, and not chop the curbs up into the road. I would want to be able to steer around obstacles, a ball or a kid, and not be forced to hit them like a train would. How fast is Rapid on a residential road?
The Gateway Corridor Commission says the bus will travel 9.8 miles (from Oaks Business Park to Union Depot) in 17 minutes. That's an average of 35 mph. That's too fast for a residential road and too slow for rapid transit. Light rail would take 15 minutes at an average speed of 39 mph. Public transit buses (MTC) currently crisscross the eastside of Saint Paul. Buses drive 55 mph on I-94 (that's bus rapid transit). What is the purpose of the Gateway Corridor?
▼ What is the justification of spending millions of dollars on transit consultants?
▼ What is the justification of a construction project that would disrupt lives and businesses?
▼ What is the justification of half a billion dollars for a bus or a billion dollars for a train?
▼ How could they possibly imagine that rapid transit could be safe on residential streets?!?
Maybe the Gateway Corridor Commission works on commission. It's tough to understand why Lisa Weik, Kathy Lantry, and the others are doing this. Their materials mention Oaks Business Park in Oakdale, at 7755 Third Street North, Oakdale, MN 55128, which is owned by the Carlson Real Estate Company of Minnetonka. What is their connection to the Gateway Corridor? Is this the development that the Gateway Corridor will help?
The latest Gateway Corridor plans estimate 9,000 daily riders whether the vehicle is a bus or a train. The Gateway Corridor Commission says 90,000 vehicles cross the I-94 St. Croix River Bridge every day, but the Gateway Corridor will not cross the I-94 St. Croix River Bridge. The ridership is fictional. Conrad deFiebre says the bus ridership would be closer to 6,000 which sounds closer to actual ridership.
Friday morning traffic on I-94
None of this makes sense. The Gateway Corridor Commission has not inspired confidence that they know what they're doing, like when their leader Lisa Weik confused light rail with 1950s streetcars.
It's like arguing on the Internet. How could anyone win?
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
China Provides the Rail Model
China's system of high-speed rail has become the model railroad for United States passenger rail. Over the past ten years, a rail gap opened between China and the United States, with the United States (supposedly) left at the station. Next week's New Yorker magazine fills in the details.
The New Yorker
October 22, 2012
Beijing South Station is shaped like a
flying saucer, its silvery vaulted ceiling illuminated by skylights. It
contains as much steel as the Empire State Building and can handle two
hundred and forty million people a year, thirty per cent more than New
York’s Penn Station, the busiest stop in America. When Beijing South
opened, in 2008, it was the largest station in Asia; then Shanghai stole
the crown. In all, some three hundred new stations have been built or
revitalized by China’s Railway Ministry, which has nearly as many
employees as the civilian workforce of the United States government.
When the passengers for D301 reached the platform, they encountered a vehicle that looked less like a train than a wingless jet: a tube of aluminum alloy, a quarter of a mile from end to end, containing sixteen carriages, painted in high-gloss white with blue racing stripes. The guests were ushered aboard by female attendants in Pan Am-style pillbox hats and pencil skirts; each attendant, according to regulations, had to be at least five feet five inches tall, and was trained to smile with exactly eight teeth visible. A twenty-year-old college student named Zhu Ping took her seat, then texted her roommate that she was about to “fly” home on the rails. “Even my laptop is running faster than usual,” she wrote. [continue]
Update: On January 4, 2014, China Railway president Bai Zhongren jumped to his death from a fourth-story window. Zhongren suffered from depression due to his company’s huge debt and corruption scandals. China Railway Group is the state-owned engineering giant behind China's largest railway projects and was the rail model for recent U.S. passenger rail expansion.
Boss Rail
by Evan OsnosThe New Yorker
October 22, 2012
On the morning of July 23, 2011, passengers hurried
across Beijing South Station at the final call to board bullet train
D301, heading south on the world’s largest, fastest, and newest
high-speed railway, the Harmony Express. It was bound for Fuzhou,
fourteen hundred miles away.
When the passengers for D301 reached the platform, they encountered a vehicle that looked less like a train than a wingless jet: a tube of aluminum alloy, a quarter of a mile from end to end, containing sixteen carriages, painted in high-gloss white with blue racing stripes. The guests were ushered aboard by female attendants in Pan Am-style pillbox hats and pencil skirts; each attendant, according to regulations, had to be at least five feet five inches tall, and was trained to smile with exactly eight teeth visible. A twenty-year-old college student named Zhu Ping took her seat, then texted her roommate that she was about to “fly” home on the rails. “Even my laptop is running faster than usual,” she wrote. [continue]
Update: On January 4, 2014, China Railway president Bai Zhongren jumped to his death from a fourth-story window. Zhongren suffered from depression due to his company’s huge debt and corruption scandals. China Railway Group is the state-owned engineering giant behind China's largest railway projects and was the rail model for recent U.S. passenger rail expansion.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Federal Oversight for Light Rail
It's about time.
The U.S. Transportation Department is drafting safety requirements for the nation's light rail trains.
If you've read any information about light rail crashes or the 2009 Federal Transit Administration Study (FTA-CA-26-7007.2010.1) or the Bureau of Transportation Statistics on crashes, you know that there is much work to do to introduce safety to street-level light rail trains.
More information from the Washington Post and Government Technology.
The U.S. Transportation Department is drafting safety requirements for the nation's light rail trains.
If you've read any information about light rail crashes or the 2009 Federal Transit Administration Study (FTA-CA-26-7007.2010.1) or the Bureau of Transportation Statistics on crashes, you know that there is much work to do to introduce safety to street-level light rail trains.
More information from the Washington Post and Government Technology.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Mai Village Needs Your Help
Saint Paul's Mai Village at 394 University Avenue West needs your help.
The Vietnamese restaurant is facing foreclosure is they don't come up with $150,000 in the next few weeks.
According to Save Mai Village Facebook: A trust fund to save Mai Village is at Western Bank, 663 University Avenue W, Saint Paul, MN 55104. Donations can be sent there directly, payable to "Save Mai Village." Please send only checks and include your name and all contact information. In the event that Mai Village can't be saved, your donation will be returned to you. Donation checks can also be dropped off at Mai Village, payable to "Save Mai Village."
The owners have a notice from the sheriff about an October 24th sale.
Losing this business would be a loss for the entire Saint Paul community.
The Vietnamese restaurant is facing foreclosure is they don't come up with $150,000 in the next few weeks.
According to Save Mai Village Facebook: A trust fund to save Mai Village is at Western Bank, 663 University Avenue W, Saint Paul, MN 55104. Donations can be sent there directly, payable to "Save Mai Village." Please send only checks and include your name and all contact information. In the event that Mai Village can't be saved, your donation will be returned to you. Donation checks can also be dropped off at Mai Village, payable to "Save Mai Village."
The owners have a notice from the sheriff about an October 24th sale.
Losing this business would be a loss for the entire Saint Paul community.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Minnesota Light Rail Meetings
Here are some upcoming light rail meetings for Saint Paul & Woodbury, Minnesota:
Central Corridor - Capitol Area Public Construction Information Meeting
Wednesday, September 5, 2012, 3 pm
Stassen Building, Room 2000, 600 N Robert Street, St. Paul 55101
Information
Turning Saint Paul's West Charles Avenue into a Bikeway
proposed bicycle boulevard for 31/2 miles along Charles Avenue from North Aldine Street to Park Street
•• a bikeway is currently several blocks to the north on West Minnehaha Avenue (redundant)
•• snow plows won't plow small residential roundabouts (7 roundabouts planned)
•• traffic will increase on Sherburne & West Edmund Avenues (parallel residential roads)
Wednesday, September 5, 2012, 5:30 pm
Saint Paul City Council Public Hearing, Council Chambers, City Hall, 15 W Kellogg, Saint Paul, MN 55102
News, Information, Plans part 1, Plans part 2, & Reactions
Saint Paul Budget: Mayor Coleman's 2013 budget raises property taxes & water fees (Documents)
Gateway Corridor Commission Update
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Woodbury City Hall, 8301 Valley Creek Road, Woodbury, MN 55125
Meeting topics and dates frequently change. Participants are strongly encouraged to contact Kim Blaeser, city clerk, at 651-714-3500 or kblaeser@ci.woodbury.mn.us to verify meeting schedules and times.
Woodbury Workshop
Central Corridor - Capitol Area Public Construction Information Meeting
Wednesday, September 5, 2012, 3 pm
Stassen Building, Room 2000, 600 N Robert Street, St. Paul 55101
Information
Turning Saint Paul's West Charles Avenue into a Bikeway
proposed bicycle boulevard for 31/2 miles along Charles Avenue from North Aldine Street to Park Street
•• a bikeway is currently several blocks to the north on West Minnehaha Avenue (redundant)
•• snow plows won't plow small residential roundabouts (7 roundabouts planned)
•• traffic will increase on Sherburne & West Edmund Avenues (parallel residential roads)
Wednesday, September 5, 2012, 5:30 pm
Saint Paul City Council Public Hearing, Council Chambers, City Hall, 15 W Kellogg, Saint Paul, MN 55102
News, Information, Plans part 1, Plans part 2, & Reactions
Saint Paul Budget: Mayor Coleman's 2013 budget raises property taxes & water fees (Documents)
Gateway Corridor Commission Update
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Woodbury City Hall, 8301 Valley Creek Road, Woodbury, MN 55125
Meeting topics and dates frequently change. Participants are strongly encouraged to contact Kim Blaeser, city clerk, at 651-714-3500 or kblaeser@ci.woodbury.mn.us to verify meeting schedules and times.
Woodbury Workshop
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