Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/tag/green-line-central-corridor/page/15/)
University Avenue in St. Paul is five miles of four-lane cracked pavement, uneven settlement, potholes, patches and puddles after a rain. No one at the city, which maintains it, or Ramsey County, which owns it, remembers when this busy artery between the Twin Cities was last rebuilt.
After concocting the plan that would pay for the reconstruction of Ramsey County Road 34, a.k.a. University Avenue, with a Federal Transit Administration grant intended to provide new public transit, the Highway Engineers had to figure out how to get the train from University Avenue to the Union Depot. They decided to loop the 265,000 lb. trains past the State Capitol to Robert Street and then back around to Cedar Street where they would pass a few feet from the entrances of a couple historic churches and Minnesota Public Radio. Then, in order to turn back toward the Union Depot, the trains would slice through the block bordered by 4th, 5th, Cedar and Minnesota streets.The Union Depot renovation project was pitched largely on the attractive notion of reopening the grande concourse that was mothballed when Amtrak moved out. The boosters of the renovation claimed that the Depot re-opening would coincide with the completion of a Central Corridor LRT line that would connect to the concourse. Continue Reading
I’m sure a lot of people are sick and tired of my ranting about the Central Corridor Project, but not half as sick and tired as I am of the propaganda claiming that construction of the LRT line has already begun.
The October 2007 Met Council newsletter Making Tracks announced that an “open house” at the Central Corridor Project Office would be a “chance for (the) public to meet Central Corridor LRT Project staff.” I spent a couple or more hours at the event trying to meet and talk to the folks working on the project. This video shows the results of my efforts. Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. Continue Reading
The city is rezoning for the Central Corridor Light Rail project. Are you interested in shaping the City of St. Paul’s development plans? Do you have a background – personally or professionally – with zoning changes or community development? If so, we need your input! We are also interested in hearing perspectives on how the City of St. Paul has done thus far with including community groups, local residents, and business leaders in the discussion about how the Central Corridor project should proceed.
If you have stories, contacts or information for this story, email Sarah Vig – sarah [at] gmail [dot] com
With the expansion of light-rail line into St. Paul’s Central Corridor nearing, community organization ISAIAH will be digging into the potential health effects the expansion could have on the people.ISAIAH was one of ten organizations – out of the more than 200 applicants – to receive grant money from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts to conduct a health impact assessment (HIA).ISAIAH’s HIA focus on the light-rail extension will be done with specific attention, Phil Steger said, to people of color and lower incomes, who are living to the north and south of University Ave. and in East St. Paul. Steger is the HIA project manager for ISAIAH, a St. Continue Reading
A couple weeks ago, the Met Council awarded a contract to a Chicago-based firm called Walsh Construction. For a little over $200 million, Walsh is supposed to build the entire 7-mile eastern section of the Central Corridor project, from KSTP to downtown St. Paul. The $205.1 million contract includes: ● 14 LRT stops ● 6.9 miles of track ● Street repaving and new sidewalks alongside the 6.9 miles of track ● New underground utilities ● Modifying the bridges over 280 on University Avenue and over 94 on Cedar Street Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases.● Installing concrete paving for signalized intersections ● Building an infiltration trench for collecting storm water ● Constructing at-grade pedestrian crossings ● Demolishing the vacant Bremer Bank building and reconnecting the Skyway If virtually the entire cost of building 7 miles of the 11-mile project is only a little over $200 million, and the project is supposed to be, as we’ve heard for years, a “billion dollar investment” in our “challenged communities,” then where is the other $800 million going? Is the construction of the 3 miles on the Minneapolis side, through the University and over the Washington Avenue Bridge to the Metrodome (from the Metrodome to Target Field is shared track and is already built), going to cost quadruple the price of the entire 7 miles in St. Paul? Or will the 3 miles in Minneapolis cost no more than the 7 miles in St. Continue Reading
The proposed Central Corridor LRT line and a sewer project in Iraq have a lot in common. Both projects have already cost us “little people” somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million. Both projects have awarded lucrative government contracts to multi-national conglomerates while leaving local businesses and residents with a mess. And both projects, $100 million down the drain and years in the works, are far from completion. After spending over $100 million, folks in Fallujah have open trenches lining major roads, and the planned sewer system, if and when it’s ever built, will serve only 43,000 of the more than 200,000 residents of the city. And after new sewers in downtown St. Paul, new roads around the University, and continuing work on a “final” design, folks waiting for better transit service in the Twin Cities will just have to wait. Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases.According the Arlene McCarthy, Director of Transportation Services for the Met Council, the proposed Central Corridor LRT line “would essentially replace the Rt. Continue Reading
You may have heard that the construction of the Central Corridor project has already begun. According to the Central Corridor Project Office (CCPO), the sewer work in downtown St. Paul and the road construction around the U are “advanced” project “improvements.” Just as BP drilled a test well in the Gulf of Mexico in advance of figuring out how to prevent or deal with the current, on-going spill disaster, the so-called “advanced” work on the Central Corridor project is in advance of completing necessary environmental studies. They still haven’t figured out how to deal with the rush hour mess when trains passing every 7 ½ minutes in each direction would back up north-south traffic at Snelling and other major intersections for blocks if not miles. They still haven’t said how they’re going to avoid disrupting MPR’s studio operations without risking the lives of people trying to cross the street – no one at MPR or the CCPO has been willing to say how they plan to restrict the use of the train horns on Cedar Street in downtown St. Paul. And if you believe that the $25M or $30M or $50M or whatever the current estimate is for reinforcement of the 1960’s vintage, fracture-critical, Washington Avenue Bridge will provide a sound structure for carrying trains, buses, and University and emergency vehicles for the next 100 years, your faith in the consultants is much greater than mine. Continue Reading
One of the latest gimmicks in the Central Corridor Project plan is to generate revenue by installing parking meters in the surrounding neighborhoods. The gimmick is called “Parking Benefit Districts (PBDs).”According to a story in the Twin Cities Daily Planet: https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2010/05/25/light-rail-construction-poses-parking-challengesA PBD is a system of (usually) more than 100 parking meters charging fees that vary throughout the day in accordance with parking demand. The funds generated by these meters are distributed by a governing body comprised of business and property owners. One possible solution is to place meters on residential streets. Each St. Continue Reading