New Riverview Corridor Website

From the new website: Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority is leading a Pre-Project Development Study to research, analyze and identify opportunities to improve transit within the Riverview Corridor. This study is scheduled for completion in late 2015. Learn more about the Riverview Corridor Pre-Project Development Study by visiting the Transit Study page, reviewing Study Documents, or attending an event/

NEW – Riverview Corridor Overview Video

The first video in a short series of Riverview Corridor videos shares information about a new transit study taking place along a 12-mile route between the Union Depot in downtown Saint Paul and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the Mall of America. This video highlights the corridor areas, transit needs and ways to get involved. The final report, expected in early 2016, will recommend a preferred route and transit mode for further study with service anticipated to begin in 10-12 years after design, engineering and construction.

EastSide Gold Line Station Area Plan

The Saint Paul Planning Commission reviewed station area plans for the Gold Line proposed bus rapid transit project on the East Side on June 19, 2015. The Gold Line is proposed to run from the eastern suburbs to MSP Airport. The area considered in the station area plan is that segment from Sun Ray shopping center to Mounds Boulevard. Click here for a slide show of the station area plans.

The section on Transit Oriented Development will give a good overview of what is meant by "development potential in the transit corridor." There is a full report on the Gold Line Station Area Plan. I will dig that out and include a link to that as well.

Green Line Stats

This is a really interesting article for all you policy data geeks about average daily boardings by station along the Green Line from an article in the Star Tribune.

Are Streetcars Losing Their Appeal

An article in MinnPost in April questioned whether the stunning economic development results that followed Portland's construction of streetcar lines was related to the streetcar or would have happened anyway due to a number of other favorable factors. The MinnPost articlequotes a report to the Met Council that states, "....actual impact of streetcar investments on the local economy versus other City policies and development incentives is elusive and debatable." And also "lamenting the lack of solid research into the economics that would allow planners to isolate the effects of streetcars from other economic factors." MinnPost continued, "Streetcars are also coming under attack from what might otherwise be a natural constituency — new urbanists who endorse more density and better transit." And, "St. Paul’s hopes for a streetcar are on hold until a study of light rail along the Riverview Corridor is completed. Nancy Homans, policy director for Mayor Chris Coleman, said the studies have asserted that there are no “fatal flaws” in the plans and the council has approved a starter alignment on E. 7th and W. 7th between Arcade Street and Randolph Street, part of the same route being considered for a potential Riverview light rail line between Union Depot and the airport." The Mineta Institute stressed the need for more study of the impacts of streetcars, and suggested that they should be built as a transportation alternative and not as an economic development tool. "While that seems intuitive, the researchers found that many streetcar projects were primarily development tools, driven first by developers and downtown interests. Poor ridership, therefore, was downplayed in other cities “because the streetcar was not seen as primarily a transportation investment but instead as something else.”