Postby thatchio » August 3rd, 2013, 2:45 pm
As one of the folks who spent countless hours at PAC, CAC, and public meetings on this project back in the AA/DEIS process, I want to comment on a few random things that I've been reading.
Hennepin tunnel and why it never really was looked at:
- The first "urban" option Hennepin County looked at officially was Lyndale Avenue at-grade. It would have run in the Greenway to Lyndale, run at grade to the Basilica and then run back onto the 3A alignment taking it to 5th Street. No support for this and everyone asked why they were wasting their time. No answer.
- During the initial AA process, we (myself and other pro-urban alignment folks) asked why a Hennepin tunnel wasn't considered. We were told their back of the envelope calculations were too expensive so no reason to study it. We questioned how they could study Lyndale at-grade but not a Hennepin tunnel when Lyndale failed on nearly every measurement (time, cost, impacts, usefulness).
- I always assumed the only way it could be done is if it were bored through the Lowry Tunnel area. Assumed stations at Uptown Transit Station, 22nd/24th, and Loring Park.
3C and the Greenway
- Comments are that the Midtown Greenway trail got screwed by the LRT because of the tunnel portal. The way it was designed, yes, it did get screwed.
- In my conversations with transit and engineering experts, they agreed that with added cost you could drop into the tunnel prior to making the turn out of the greenway, especially given that the trail is already fairly elevated at that location.
- They also thought it would be possible to design it to allow for a future Greenway streetcar to continue east.
- There is no legitimate reason why a Midtown Greenway streetcar couldn't interline with 3C.
- Several of the bridges in the area already will need to be replaced, such as Fremont, Colfax, Aldrich, and several further east. They are all original. Fremont has been on the CLIC plan for a while.
- The Midtown Greenway Coalition brilliantly placed their vision into the public discussion, to the determent of 3C, as we had the false choice of 3C vs. their Network Alignment (a streetcar). They have long wanted a mostly single-track streetcar and are currently surprised that the Midtown AA is seeking to maximize double track.
Questions on the data
- David and I were doing a lot of advocacy back then, for different alignments, and I find it interesting how quick he is in dismissing the questions that still remain and the new ones that have come up. The "red flags" that came up during the AA and DEIS were never resolved. Claiming it's only 10% doesn't do much for me. We have no idea what it is because they didn't actually fix it.
- 1100 boardings at Uptown vs. 1000 at Kenwood is crazy.
- The number of people walking to the 3C stations were less than the Hopkins and West Lake stations.
- Metro Transit staff on the TAC stated to me that the ridership figures assumed that people would not walk 1/4 to a station when there was a frequent bus 1/8 of a mile from their home. I dispute that notion.
- Ridership was based on population projections, which were really low. Part of the reason they were low was that the City of Minneapolis had its projections greatly reduced by the Met Council and Minneapolis first updated its projections by doing an across the board modification. This was changed but it resulted in something like a 3% increase. We are currently at 5% increase in Uptown and it's only been a few years. It doesn't even include the 1000 new units under construction.
- Operationally, we didn't get much traction with the concept that if 3C were built they could reduce stops for N/S bus routes near the station. This could have increased speeds slightly and perhaps gained ridership into the system (which was said to be desirable at the time) from further south for those who take the bus all the way in. ie. perhaps the bus wouldn't need to stop at 31st and 28th in Uptown.
On Co-Location
- We were told very clearly that relocation of the freight rail would not be a project expense since it was supposed to be relocated out of Kenilworth shortly after it was moved from Midtown Greenway to Kenilwroth. That has now come into question.
- I don't buy that the solutions they've outlined are the ones that they'll go with.
- My belief is that they will do co-location and route the bike path at grade across LRT and Freight Rail to the N side of the Lake Street bridge and run it straight west. Then turn at the first street and take out parking on one side running a two-way path off-street all the way along St Louis Ave to Cedar Lake Parkway. I biked that route the other day and it wouldn't be outrageously expensive. There is already a wide cowpath running from the tracks there and the area is a forest.
- Based on the above, I'd peg it at $2MM tops including the crossing gates and such.