The Aging of Light Rail

Newness fades. The future of light rail is easy to predict.

It's a list of "nobody told me it would be like this."

The accidents: "How could I know deaf people can't here the bell?!?"
The lack of maintenance: "Sweeeeeak," says the train as it rounds the bend.
The crime rate near certain stations effecting the real estate appeal of all stations: "'Close to train,' that's real estate code for troubled neighborhood."

Look at Chicago or New York L trains. Look at the apartment buildings near the trains. A great many still date to the time when the trains were first built, when they were new. When the tracks were new and the trains were new, over one hundred years ago, the L trains were relatively quiet. The tracks got rusty. The trains got rusty. The axles and wheels got rusty. Parts became obsolete. This year, Chicago will be starting a seven month rehab of half of the loop. Now... 115 years later.

Over time, apartment buildings parked right next to L stations lost their charm, their newness. People found better places to live.

The first Minnesota light rail transit (LRT) line was put in between the Mall of America, the airport, and downtown Minneapolis. That's the Hiawatha Line, soon to be known as the Blue line, and the foundation of the Twin Cities Metro system of buses (and light rail). The Hiawatha Line travels from prime destinations to prime destinations, and has exceeded ridership expectations.

Light rail planners use that route as the standard for other light rail lines in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, instead of the exception.

Construction of a light rail route between downtown Minneapolis and downtown Saint Paul is currently in full swing. That route, the Central Corridor is compared to the Hiawatha Line, even though it goes to Saint Paul.

No offense to Saint Paul, but nobody goes to Saint Paul. There is hardly any crime, because the sidewalks are rolled up at dusk. The last one out shuts off the lights. It is not a destination like the airport or the Mall of America. The Central Corridor route is not like the Hiawatha Line, except by trying to repeat what was done before.

The Central Corridor is a repeat. It wants to repeat the Hiawatha Line. And it wants to repeat the slicing of the Rondo Neighborhood by Interstate 94 in the mid-1960s. Rondo had just been reemerging, forty years later.

And it will come back, in another forty years.

News Coverage of Gateway Corridor

Kaitlyn Eagan of the East Side Review News covered the March 27th Gateway Corridor meeting in St. Paul:

Heated words were exchanged between residents and community representatives at the Gateway Corridor Commission's first public open house Tuesday night.

The only East Side open house, held at the East Side Community Center March 27, attracted about 150 concerned and curious residents, as well as many community representatives, including community council and board members.

Chuck Repke, executive director of the District 2 Community Council and the North East Neighborhoods Development Corporation, was less than thrilled with Tuesday's open house.

Repke charged that Ramsey County Board commissioner Jim McDonough "hijacked" the open house and used it as a town hall meeting to "tout" his preferred option for the proposed transit corridor. He also accused McDonough of skirting the possible condemnation of substantial amounts of private properties to make way for the construction of the transit line. {more}

Technically, Chuck Repke and many others were "less than thrilled" with the proposals.

Micheal Foley and Patty Busse of the Hudson Patch covered the April 4th Gateway Corridor meeting in Hudson:

Members of the Gateway Corridor Commission held an open house and presented information, including concept images of Hudson transit stations, to the Hudson community Wednesday afternoon at the St. Croix County Government Center.

Lyssa Leitner, planner with Washington County Public Works, and Stephanie Eiler of CH2M Hill presented the information, which includes eight transit alternatives that are currently being studied and considered by the commission.

Among those options, bus rapid transit (BRT) is emerging as a top option for mass transportation in the Interstate 94 corridor from St. Paul into Wisconsin. The process has been underway for some time and this was the commission's third open house in Hudson since the process began.

One option, Alternative 7 (Commuter Rail), was eliminated last month. Two options, Alternative 3 (BRT) and Alternative 8 (BRT Managed Lane), were ranked "high," and two options, Alternative 2 (Transportation System Management) and Alternative 5 (Light Rail Transit), were ranked "medium."

All four of the high-to-medium options call for a park-and-ride bus station in Hudson near I-94 and Carmichael Road. Late last year, the commission eliminated the possibility of commuter rail or light rail crossing the St. Croix River on I-94. {more}


It doesn't sound like the Gateway Corridor Commission mentioned Alternatives 4 and 6, which would meander passengers through residential St. Paul and are still on the drawing board.

Isn't the Gateway Corridor dead yet?

The Gateway Corridor is a splashy name for a race for cash.

Long time Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough continues to push for the light rail transit line (LRT) to zig-zag through the East Side, as a means to attract a buyer to the mostly leveled 3M plant (dubbed Beacon Bluff) at Minnehaha and Arcade.

The area that had been used to create Scotch tape is now the excuse to tape together plans for a transit line that cuts through a residential neighborhood.

Earlier plans had called for the route to use Third Street, pushing its existing traffic to Minnehaha or Seventh. Then the plan was to use Minnehaha, adjacent to the former 3M property, but Minnehaha residents didn't want the Gateway Corridor either. Now the plan pushes the route farther north to Seventh Street.

Last night the Gateway Corridor planners met with Seventh Street residents to sell the revised plan, comparing the plan to the Hiawatha Line or Central Corridor. One resident pointed out that Hiawatha and University Avenues are both highways and that Seventh is a residential street.

Another resident expressed a concern for the children of the neighborhood, having a train on the front doorstep. A Gateway Corridor planner reassured her that the trains would slow down when approaching children.

Other residents called the plans a waste of money.

Others said property values, already hurt by the recession, would drop, even though some properties near stations might increase. "Who would buy a house on train tracks?" one resident asked.

Other residents expressed concerns that long time, core neighborhood businesses would have to be removed because the road is too narrow for the added traffic.

Another resident said that her driveway couldn't be accessed if the roadway is full of trains and train tracks. Residential light rail doesn't make sense.

Minnesota State Representative Tim Mahoney talked about what great things the Hiawatha Line did for the Lake and Hiawatha intersection and was quickly corrected by the crowd.

Despite the abandonment of the Wisconsin connection, the Gateway Corridor is being sold as a way to relieve congestion on I-94, by moving the traffic to residential roads and slowing it down to a top speed of 35 mph.

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