MinnPost Story on First Riverview Corridor Open House

Please click on this to view the MinnPost story by journalist Peter Callaghan.

"A decade and a half after falling victim to neighborhood objections and recession-era budget cuts — and just months from being targeted by the Metropolitan Council as an East Metro bus rapid transit corridor — it has been resurrected for a broader study of how to expand transit.

It could still end up being served by bus rapid transit, often referred to as BRT. It could also be designated for light rail, however. That’s what changed when Ramsey County decided to take a more-comprehensive look at the questions of which mode would best serve the area, and which route would work best," writes Callaghan.

"The 12-mile corridor connects the eastern termini of both the Blue Line and the Green Lines, completing the triangle formed by downtown Minneapolis, downtown St. Paul and the Mall of America. Ortega was in office when this corridor was first studied in the late 1990s.

“Twenty years ago I said this is the most-important corridor for St. Paul,” he said of the area that includes Lowertown, downtown, Upper Landing, the West 7th Neighborhood, the Highland Park Neighborhood, the airport, Bloomington’s South Loop and the Mall of America. Ortega said he thinks it could have a bigger economic impact on St. Paul than the Green Line," continues Callaghan." Callaghan interviewed Ramsey County Commissioner Rafael Ortega and Ward 3 City Councilmember Chris Tolbert for his story. He writes, "St. Paul City Council Member Chris Tolbert, whose Ward 3 includes parts of the corridor, thinks enough has changed in attitudes about mass transit since 2000 that residents will be willing to support transit improvements.

“I was in high school when the last planning went on,” Tolbert said. “There wasn’t a light rail line then. Now people have seen it and they think, ‘Hey, this is pretty good.’” Tolbert said he also thinks with more people living in downtown St. Paul, and with the potential of the 130-acre Ford site, that there is more economic development potential from a single-ride connection between existing employment centers downtown and the Mall of America area.

“It’s really a perfect time to be taking another look at this,” Tolbert said.

Erik Hare's blog post on Riverview Transit

Erick Hare is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee on the Riverview Corridor study. He recently posted in his blog about his observations and knowledge of West 7th Street transit study history. It is definitely worth a read.

Check out his blog in Barataria by clicking here.

He is asking the Fort Road community to enhance, modify, and add to these with input from everyone who is affected by this in our community.

Erik says, "Note that while this study has precluded the study of a streetcar or bus improvements on West Seventh, it doesn’t end them. Creating a high speed through line along existing trackage and/or Shepard Road cries out for a local service along Seventh that connects to the high speed line. The connections become critical in such a system, which is why I’m already focusing on how connections generally can be improved by this project." Administrator's note: The Riverview Corridor Study can look at a small start project such as a streetcar, as well as a new start project such as light rail, but it cannot end up recommending both.

Erik continues, "But it’s important to not get too far ahead of the project at this time. This is when we need public input more than anything else. While there are a lot of good ideas and obvious biases related to this project, they have to be evaluated based on what will serve people the best. That’s what matters most when spending a very large amount of public money."

"What do you think? All comments are most welcome. We’re just getting going on this thing and every bit of input helps," adds Erik Hare.

Will Streetcars Revive the Glory Days of Urban Transit?

This article about transit in Tucson, Arizona ran in a January 2014 Governing magazine. Click on the teal-colored letters to link to the article.

Or are the reports of the death of driving great exaggerated? The Daily Planet explores car sales statistics. Hint: they are going up again. The author says, "The auto industry is booming again, with August's sales expected to top any month in the past 11 years."

TAB Update to 2014 Regional Solicitation

Excerpt from Metro Cities News, from the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities, August 27, 2014:

The Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) is close to finalizing an update to the 2014 Regional Solicitation for projects applying for funding in 2018-19. The regional solicitation is the process by which the TAB expends federal transportation funds.

The update includes new methodology for incorporating affordable housing into the solicitation process, by using a city's Housing Performance Score, rather than the number of affordable housing units built. In previous solicitations, the affordable housing measure accounted for 4% of a score; in the new solicitation that measure now goes to 7%, across all modes. The solicitation also includes a new equity measure that will account for an additional 3 to 13% of an applicant's score, depending on the type of project, or mode. Under the new method, a combined equity and affordable housing score will account for 10% of the total score for roadway projects, 12% for bicycle and pedestrian projects, 20% for transit expansion projects, and 15% for transit modernization projects.

To receive the full points under the equity measure, a project must be located in a racially concentrated area of poverty (RCAP), which have been mapped by the Met Council HERE. Projects Located outside of RCAPS can receive up to 40% of the total equity points for serving populations of color, poverty, children, or the elderly.



The TAB took action at its September 17th meeting. The Met Council can accept or reject the Regional Solicitation recommendations of the TAB, but it is prohibited from making changes to the recommendations. If the Council rejects the solicitation, and if an agreement is not reached by year end, the regional could be at risk of losing approximately $150 million of federal transportation funds. The goal is to open the Regional Solicitation in early October so project applications have time to meet a November 24th application deadline.

Update: October 1, 2014 Metro Cities reports that the Met Council voted to concur with the TAB in releasing the Regional Solicitation.

The recommendation includes a new method for incorporating affordable housing into the solicitation, by using a city’s Housing Performance Score, rather than the number of affordable units built. In previous solicitations, the affordable housing measure accounted for 4% of a score; that measure now goes to 7%, across all modes. The solicitation also includes a new equity measure that will account for an additional 3-13% of an applicant’s score, depending on the type of project or mode. Under the new method, a combined equity and affordable housing score will account for 10% of a total score for roadway projects, 12% for bicycle and pedestrian projects, 20% for transit expansion projects and 15% for transit modernization projects.

Streetcar Study Hearing at City Council on July 9, 2014

The City Council held a public hearing on authorizing a further study of the East 7th/West 7th corridor for potential streetcar construction on July 9, 2014. The agenda item was identified as: "Approving the Saint Paul streetcar network, and authorizing a detailed study of East to West Seventh from Arcade to Randolph, for the potential of a starter streetcar line." Click here for video of the full hearing of that agenda item. The resolution was adopted by the City Council on a vote of 6-0. Councilmember Thune voted for the resolution, saying that this is a vote for the future.

Is Development Along LRT Corridor a Given?

Mark Reilly writes, "The Star Tribune reports on the Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue intersection, where 10 years after the Hiawatha LRT light rail opened, the neighborhood is still dominated by enormous surface parking lots."

See the full article in the Mpls/StPaul Business Journal at: www.bizjournals.com/twincities/morning_roundup/2014/02/hiawatha-lrt-doesnt-deliver-lake.html

"The area is one of Minneapolis' busiest thoroughfares, with both bus and rail connections, and logic says it'd make for natural residential development. But consultants said not enough has been done to tie into the transit systems. (There are exceptions: Developer Steve Wellington is building apartments near a strip mall, and some housing sits atop an Aldi store.)"

BRT on Snelling Avenue set to open in 2015

Story copied and pasted from Star Tribune (May 13):
Last chance to weigh in before A-Line BRT moves forward
Posted by: Tim Harlow Updated: May 12, 2014 - 1:10 PM

Bus service along Snelling Avenue is going to change, and this week the public has one last opportunity to check out plans and provide feedback for the area's second Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line. Four sessions are set for this week and next in St. Paul and Roseville.

Metro Transit is finalizing plans on how each of the stations will fit into the sidewalk and street along what is being branded as the A-Line. Starting in 2015, the BRT line will shuttle passengers between 46th Street Station on Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis and Rosedale Center, following closely what is now Route 84.

The A-Line will operate much like the Red Line in the southern metro. On that line, buses operate in a similar fashion as light-rail trains in that they stop only at designated stations about every half-mile along the route. By having fewer stops, Metro Transit says the new A-Line will offer trips 12 minutes faster than on the current Route 84 bus. Trip time will drop from 48 minutes to 36 minutes, Metro Transit said. The A-line will allow riders to connect with both the Blue and Green light rail lines, and serve destinations such as Hamline University, Macalester College, Minnehaha Park, and the Midway and Rosedale shopping centers.

Bus riders will be able to give feedback on station designs, comment on how they should function, and what features they should have. Metro Transit conducted a survey on Facebook and Twitter, and many of those who responded wanted the following amenities: Weather protection, enhanced maps, real-time information, destination signs, security cameras and bike racks.

The agency says A-line "will be the first in a system of additional urban BRT lines to be build over the next several years."

The area's first BRT line opened last June. Operated by the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, the line provided 130,733 rides from June through December 2013.

Riverview Study Consultants Hired

On Thursday, April 10th, the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) of the Riverview Corridor Study met at Union Depot to approve the Technical Advisory Committee's (TAC) recommendation to hire two firms for the study.

AECOM of Los Angeles was chosen as the engineering firm to conduct the Pre-Project Development portion of the study. They will be partnering with ZAN Communications of Minneapolis who will work on community outreach and goal setting. Zan Associates will use a new technology called MindMixer to hold electronic town hall meetings.

The local Saint Paul team of Ted Davis and Mike Zipko were approved for the communications piece of the Riverview Corridor Study. They will do social media outreach, branding, strategy, media relations, and community relations as the expected 17 month project moves along.

The recommendation from the PAC on hiring these two teams next goes to the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority, which must also approve the two hires. Tim Mayasich, Director of the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority, expects approval by the end of April or beginning of May, and completion of contract documents by sometime in June.

Riverview Corridor Study hires consultants

Interviews of three consultant teams to do community outreach/branding were held today. The three teams were:

• Ted Davis/Mike Zipko
• Jeff Dehler/Jill Brown
• ZAN/Tempo

And interviews of two consultant teams to conduct the transit alternatives analysis were held today. The lead agency is the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority. The two teams were:

• AECOM
• SRF/Nelson-Nygaard

Ramsey County Regional Rail anticipates working out the contracting details and getting a contract signed by some time in early June 2014. Anticipated completion date for the study is tentatively November 2015.