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Central Corridor Light Rail Wins Key OK: Hopes for 11-Mile Line Rise As Feds Accept Project's Cost Projections

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Bill Salisbury, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Mar. 22--The proposed light-rail transit line between St. Paul and Minneapolis cleared a significant hurdle Tuesday when a federal agency agreed the project would be cost-effective.

"This means we've clearly gotten the green light to go ahead," said Ramsey County Commissioner Rafael Ortega, chairman of the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority. "It says this is a viable project."

Clearing this hurdle improves the project's chances of winning final federal and state approval, Ortega said.

Progress on the 11-mile, $840 million rail line down the middle of University Avenue had been delayed for nearly two years while its local proponents and Federal Transit Administration officials discussed a formula for measuring cost-effectiveness. The agency compared the projected costs of construction and operation of the line with the estimated hours of commuting time saved each year by its users.

On Tuesday, the federal agency accepted calculations by local officials that showed the Central Corridor's projected costs were low enough to allow the project to proceed.

"We clearly came out with very high ridership … better than expected," Ortega said.

Now the Metropolitan Council and the Ramsey and Hennepin county regional rail authorities may take the next steps in the approval process. Local officials will seek public comment about a draft environmental impact statement for the line and decide whether they prefer to operate a light-rail or a bus-rapid-transit system, according to the Metropolitan Council. Officials could decide on a "preferred alternative" early this summer.

Although local officials have not formally said they prefer trains to buses, the cost-effectiveness study was done for light rail. The environmental impact statement projected light rail would provide about 20 percent more rides per day than the busway.

Regional rail officials plan to hold three public hearings on the environmental impact statement at sites in the Central Corridor. Hearing dates have not been set.

Ortega said Met Council and regional rail authorities could start preliminary engineering work as early as July.

If the project wins final approval, it could be completed in 2010 or 2011, regional staff members said last month.

Few cities obtain federal approval to start preliminary engineering, Ortega said. Federal officials have given their blessings to just four new mass transit projects in two years. More than 200 projects across the nation are competing for a pool of money that can support about 100.

The Central Corridor project would serve four major population centers in the two cities: downtown St. Paul, the Midway, the University of Minnesota and downtown Minneapolis.

The Met Council estimates the corridor holds about 280,000 jobs, a figure expected to increase to 345,000 by 2030. The council projected a line would serve 43,000 riders a day by 2030.

The Central Corridor is an "essential element of the council's plan to grow transit ridership, slow the growth in traffic congestion and improve mobility," said Met Council Chairman Peter Bell in a news release. "It would allow us to build on the success of the Hiawatha (light-rail) line and the public excitement it has generated."

Some 7.8 million riders took the Hiawatha trains during its first year of operation, exceeding pre-construction estimates by 58 percent, the council reported.

Bill Salisbury can be reached at bsalisbury@pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5538.

The Central Corridor holds about 280,000 jobs, a figure expected to increase to 345,000 by 2030, the Metropolitan Council reports.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

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Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

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