In a classic battle between NIMBY's, rail to trail nuts, transit advocates and urban planners, a planned light rail line for the western part of Minneapolis and beyond nearly died, until someone suggested it goes somewhere constructive....underground.
Trains News Wire reports:
Twin Cities light rail project may go underground
(http://trn.trains.com/~/media/Images/Railroad%20News/News%20Wire/2013/10/TCW.jpg?bc=000000&mw=225)
MINNEAPOLIS ¬– A proposed light rail line between Minneapolis and its western suburbs may include tunnels as part of an effort to resolve a controversy over the line's route that threatens the entire project. The tunnel would take the line under a popular trail and upscale neighborhood, and eliminate a controversial rerouting of Twin Cities & Western Railroad freight trains.
Several years ago, Minneapolis built a new trail along the former Milwaukee Road right-of-way then used by the Twin Cities & Western through Minneapolis. As part of the agreement to vacate the route, TC&W trains were re-routed via an ex-Minneapolis & St. Louis line that connects to BNSF Railway through the Kenilworth neighborhood of the city. The area where the trains operate is the M&StL's former Cedar Lake Yard, which was vacated by M&StL successor Chicago & North Western in the early 1980s. When the yard was abandoned, a single track was retained, with the track and right-of-way purchased by the Hennepin County Regional Rail Authority for a future light rail line. In subsequent years a trail was built through the area next to the single-track line used by the TC&W, which became increasingly popular as a route for bike commuters to reach downtown.
Plans for a light rail line along the route have moved forward with the Metropolitan Council, which manages transit in the Twin Cities, serving as the lead agency for the project. Initially, planners wanted to construct the Southwest Corridor light rail line along the M&StL right-of-way, and would move TC&W trains to a former Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern line through suburban St. Louis Park. When these plans were announced, the agency faced vociferous opposition from all sides: trail advocates didn't want light rail trains operating next to the trail, Kenilworth residents did not want more than 100 light rail trains running through their quiet neighborhood each day, and St. Louis Park didn't want the freight trains.
Initially, even TC&W was opposed, since curves on the MN&S route are tight and can't handle main line freight trains. The agency redesigned the route to meet the railroad's opposition, but that enraged the city of St. Louis Park since the new connections to the MN&S would require large fills, cut through a high school football field, and require the acquisition of 30 homes in the path of the line.
Now the Metropolitan Council is attempting to tamp down the controversy, which threatens the entire project. Their solution is to build shallow tunnels for light rail through the Kenilworth neighborhood in Minneapolis and keep the TC&W trains where they are. The project's new cost estimate is $1.56 billion, up from an earlier $1.25 billion estimate that did not include any cost to address the location of TC&W in the corridor.
"This really became two projects in one: build a light rail line and include the cost of any freight rail adjustments," says Mark Fuhrmann, who leads light rail project development for the Metropolitan Council. "With the recommendation to put light rail in shallow tunnels, no homes or businesses will be acquired, and the Kenilworth Trail will stay within the corridor and be preserved for the long term. The shallow tunnel option is the best option because it ensures conditions in the Kenilworth neighborhood will be the most similar to existing conditions today." Fuhrmann says light rail trains would run above ground between the two tunnels for only 20 seconds per train, minimizing the impact on the neighborhood.
After final approval by the Council, project staffers plan to submit light rail plans in mid-October to five cities and Hennepin County for municipal consent by late 2013. The timetable is needed to keep the project on schedule to finish engineering designs in 2014 so initial construction can begin in 2015, and the line can begin service by the end of 2018.
The Southwest Light Rail Line will operate from downtown Minneapolis through the southwestern suburban cities of St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie. The proposed alignment is primarily at-grade and includes 17 stations and about 15.8 miles of double track. Ridership in 2030 is projected at nearly 30,000 weekday passengers.
$1.56 billion? Almost $100 million a mile. Is it really worth spending that much cash?
Love the 2030 projection, always make sure your projection date is far enough out that when that date roles around no one will remeber it!
Meanwhile, Indy considers dumpnig light rail for BRT. Dont do it Indy!
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013309280015
LOL, at this story.
People in Indy are fools. So they are considering converting an operational(?) freight rail corridor into BRT because it's cheaper than LRT? I knew someone would manipulate that recent BRT TOD study using Cleveland's Health Line to support the fallacy that BRT stimulates TOD like fixed rail. Doesn't seem like Indy has a local version of Metro Jacksonville like citizens to publicly call something like this out. Unless this rail corridor's context is similar to the Health Line's (it can't be because the Health Line is half the distance and serves a lot more existing density), it will fall short in stimulating TOD and TAD.
Anyway 22-miles is pretty long for a starter LRT line in a sprawly city like Indy. Initial lines in cities like Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Norfolk, and San Diego were all significantly shorter. However, ripping out rail that's in place is kind of crazy too. Have other options such as "no-frills" LRT, commuter rail, DMUs, streetcar or developing an integrated system based on urban context and demographics been considered? On the surface, it would seem they would have a variety of ways to chop off the fat.
Overall, I'm really not understanding why so many second tier communities are trying to force +billion dollar state-of-the-art LRT projects into their regions. It seems that many transit advocates have forgotten the art of incrementally expanding. Going into this stuff intent on swinging for the home run (without steroids "money" in your corner) typically results in you striking out altogether.
Quote from: thelakelander on October 08, 2013, 11:39:55 AM
Overall, I'm really not understanding why so many second tier communities are trying to force +billion dollar state-of-the-art LRT projects into their regions. It seems that many transit advocates have forgotten the art of incrementally expanding. Going into this stuff intent on swinging for the home run (without steroids "money" in your corner) typically results in you striking out altogether.
+1000
The bigger the ribbon you get to cut, the more votes it buys you. When was the last time someone got re-elected for saving the taxpayers a big pile of money?