Alumni Association Home > Past Issues > 2008 > May-June 2008	Print View

It doesn’t make sense to spend $1 billion on light-rail transit and come up with a plan that doesn’t work for the U, when our students, faculty, and visitors will make up one-third of the ridership,” University of Minnesota President Bob Bruininks told the Alumni Association national board in March. He was referring to the Metropolitan Council’s recent vote to run the Central Corridor LRT line between Minneapolis and St. Paul at-grade on Washington Avenue rather than tunnel under this major campus artery.

As I noted in this space in the January–February issue, running LRT on Washington Avenue would be devastating. Adding trains to this street would split campus, gridlock traffic, be a safety hazard for pedestrians, and reduce access to the U’s health care facilities. In fact, even a 10 percent decrease in patient visits would result in a $100 million annual loss. What’s more, the mitigation costs of turning Washington into a transit/pedestrian mall—including diverting 25,000 cars to surrounding roads and moving sensitive University labs— threaten to far surpass the allotted mitigation costs for the entire corridor.

If you’ve been following the LRT issue, then you know that Governor Tim Pawlenty (B.S. ’83, J.D. ’86) vetoed $70 million in state funding for the Central Corridor in April. So why am I continuing to speak out about LRT? Because there is strong support for transit and LRT and the project has a good chance of receiving funding before the legislative session ends May 19. Whether the LRT funds are designated now or later, a decision on the LRT route should be made only after careful consideration of all of the studies and data available.

The U strongly supports mass transit, and Kathleen O’Brien, the vice president of University Services, says that her team is vigorously encouraging the Met Council to consider another alternative: the Northern Alignment. The Met Council agreed that such a route could be studied, if the U paid for it, which it has done.

The Northern Alignment route would run light rail from east of the new TCF Bank Stadium, through Dinkytown on an existing train route, and across the Mississippi River over a railroad bridge currently used for bikes and pedestrians. Findings released in April indicate the Northern Alignment would cost $20 million to $23 million less than the Washington Avenue at-grade option, which would have additional mitigation costs as well, and save 90 seconds of travel time between the East Bank and West Bank. The University has asked the Met Council to carefully consider the Northern Alignment and will present its case at the Met Council meeting in May.