Trains in Minnesota

Finally the Northstar Line to St. Cloud is being built, so we can quit planning more and more lanes to I94 and budgeting more EMTs and ambulances to deal with the car accidents. However, let's remember the conservative principles that highway funding is not a public subsidy to drivers, nor is it central planning, and denial is just a river in Egypt. So theoretically by 2010, there should be around N 3rd ave and 5th st a commuter rail stop and a major league ballpark. Which makes me wonder, what will happen with light rail? Here's my pessimistic guess.

The Hiawatha line will still end at 1st ave, and everybody will have to traipse through the gigantic pile of pigeon shit under the skyway on 2nd. Connecting the 5th St garage that's a main hub for buses downtown, the commuter rail line, and the stadium to light rail will not occur to anyone as a cheap increase in the utility of the line. At best, the train would probably still cruise by the bus garage, since it's conveniently located halfway in between 1st ave and the new stadium site, so it's not really worth another stop on a train that already has to wait for red lights, because the traffic crossing 5th st was somehow unable to cross between trains that are several minutes apart.

The proposed University Ave line will continue to block any other development because we have to do University Ave before connecting Uptown, St. Louis Park or the western suburbs, any part of The Corridor, Eat Street, any part of Lake St besides a highway overpass surrounded by big box parking lots (seriously, it's all so set up for car traffic and parking that it's a hike to even get to a store from that station). Personally I was holding out for the Energy Park Drive line to Midway Stadium that would potentially revitalize Bandana Square. I don't have a huge problem with University, but apparently businesses are fighting it, which is odd since it isn't exactly high class businesses on that street (maybe around Fairview), but it's another route that connects endpoints but has nothing in between other than big boxes behind giant parking lots past Snelling.

Here's one thing that makes sense (even if it's probably not feasible), having it follow the #16 route down University, then down Washington across the bridge through the UofM campuses, and finally merging with the Hiawatha line at the Metrodome stop. That would mean more trains on the downtown segments, which would be nice if it's extended farther, and the U would get proper service, plus the lines hook up easily. I don't know that you could actually put trains on the Washington Ave bridge or block traffic on Washington through Stadium Village and the U.

So here's another suggestion, keep it going on University, have a stop at the Dinkydome, and then have it turn right on Hennepin, and go over the bridge down Hennepin to Loring Park, MCTC, and the Basilica. Even better, keep it going down Hennepin or Lyndale through Uptown. And then farther south where it could cut over to the Mall of America and Hiawatha line behind all the businesses on 494. That would probably be too much, but connecting lines farther out has some benefits in avoiding the hub and spoke system that adds miles to rail travel in older systems. Anyways, going as far as Lake in Uptown down a major street would go through dense business and residential neighborhoods. Going as far as Loring Park or the Sculpture Garden at least extends transit to the edge of downtown. What seems like an absolute minimum is getting as far as 5th and the Hiawatha line. Which is why I think that won't happen (too much disruption for the Jaguar dealership).

So here's another proposal, down University, past Hennepin, to the railroad tracks that run north of 3rd, and connecting with the Hiawatha line north of the Twins Stadium. Properly executed, the lines could be unified there and one single train would run from downtown St Paul to the airport. Not that anybody would take that the whole way, since it would take like 9 hours, but the continuous service between stations along the way would be nice if that sort of route happened. Actually that's the route the Northstar line is supposed to take into downtown. That wouldn't be nearly difficult enough for passengers, though. Nor would my other proposal, having the University line turn left at Central, go through town on 3rd Ave, meeting the Hiawatha line at City Hall, potentially even leaving downtown on the south side via Nicollet, to allow somebody to fly into the cities, eat at Little Tiajuana's, and fly out again traveling only by rail.

So what will actually happen of course is it will stop at Hennepin and University, and you'll have to catch a bus across the bridge to downtown, because it would save money to not redesign a bridge or build a new one. Yeah, I'm a pessimist, but I prefer pleasant surprises to the unpleasant ones the optimists get.