Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
Bakken2016
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by Bakken2016 »

Wezle wrote: October 2nd, 2024, 1:40 pm Minneapolis vote today was unanimous from city council. Even Vetaw voted in favor!

Municipal consent is over now, next step: finalizing designs for the route through 2025. I wonder if they'll be able to stick to the schedule and begin construction in 2026?
Technically the Met Council still needs to vote for Municipal consent, but that shouldn't be an issue. *knocks on wood*
gopherfan
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by gopherfan »

The Robbinsdale "No vote" council members tried hard to convince the "Yes vote" members to reject the municipal consent under the premise that it wasn't a big deal to vote no and that the Met Council wasn't really keeping score. They were very wrong, lol. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/V8Lto7SD4LuAQ7YV/
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angrysuburbanite
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by angrysuburbanite »

I don't know about anyone else but I'm a little nervous this thing isn't going to be getting federal funding next year.
Silophant
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by Silophant »

SWLRT got its federal funding approved during the first Trump administration. No guarantees that this would apply this time, obviously. I'm not too sanguine about it myself.
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DanPatchToget
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by DanPatchToget »

I'll say wait and see, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. However, I won't be surprised if it doesn't get federal funding.
angrysuburbanite
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by angrysuburbanite »

Idea: our lord and savior Elon Musk might give us some futuristic taxi tunnels!
EOst
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by EOst »

Project 2025 called for eliminating most of FTA's transit programs, including capital grants. Hard to imagine a Republican congress fighting back on that.
uptownbro
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by uptownbro »

Hopefully they are as inefficient as last time at passing legislation until 2026 at which point this will have been approved.
Bakken2016
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by Bakken2016 »

EOst wrote:Project 2025 called for eliminating most of FTA's transit programs, including capital grants. Hard to imagine a Republican congress fighting back on that.
This was a fear during his first presidency as well, and it didn’t go anywhere. FTA funding is overall pretty bipartisan.


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MNdible
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by MNdible »

I was going to say the same thing, but then it occurred to me that a lot of the suburbs that are pro-transit are no longer represented by Republicans, because Trump scared those voters blue.
daveybabymsp
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by daveybabymsp »

Also, there has probably been a shift in sentiment post-COVID
EOst
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by EOst »

Also also, this second administration will likely be very different than the first. But time will tell!

Anyway, is anyone here familiar with Hennepin County's financial modeling on their rail levy and various sales tax funds? It's not inconceivable that they would have the money to defederalize this project, though presumably at the cost of any of the other rumored future corridors.
COLSLAW5
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by COLSLAW5 »

what other rumored future corridors are there?
Wezle
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by Wezle »

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/10/09/ ... -landscape

In his last term, Trump pushed more USDOT funding towards roadway expansions than Biden or Obama. There will be differences in how the federal government incentivizes land use and transportation funding even if public transit projects still receive funding. Expect more government incentives for car ownership and low density sprawl.

The main corridor that I know Hennepin county has talked about for a long time is the midtown greenway rail. Most recently, with the Soo Line Garden ADA access debacle, Hennepin county decided to not put the ramp on the south end of the greenway as they were still planning on reserving that space for rail transit.
Bakken2016
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by Bakken2016 »

https://metrocouncil.org/getattachment/ ... lang=en-US
{moderator: link was broken, now fixed}

9 designs for the Lowry Avenue Station being considered.

Feedback can be provided here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WHZN7C2
Silophant
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by Silophant »

I don't know that I buy that a grade-separated station is inherently bad for the user experience. Lots of talk about eyes on the platform, no mention of where those eyes are. Flying by at 45mph on Broadway/Bottineau?

I like Option F, that actually removes one of the bridges looming over the parkway that the MPRB claims is such a problem, but the current board obviously wouldn't support something that makes it harder for cars to drive around.
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twincitizen
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by twincitizen »

IMO the "Impacts to new bridges" factor should be weighted lower than it is. We're building a 100-year infrastructure project and the cost of those recent bridge rebuilds was pocket change relative to the LRT project costs. It was the County's own shortsighted decision to proceed with reconstructing those bridges after they were fully aware that the new LRT route would come through this area. They could have pushed back construction just a year or two to see how the LRT design played out and they chose not to.

The goal should be to build the best possible LRT Station user experience here, while minimizing impacts to the parkway and hospital traffic circulation. Being overly concerned with having to rebuild or remove the flyover bridges would be another shortsighted mistake. Sunk cost fallacy, etc.
angrysuburbanite
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by angrysuburbanite »

https://www.startribune.com/more-than-1 ... /601199067
I was right to be worried, I guess. Are there any other non-federal pools they can pull money out of? Or maybe construct as much as they can with the local match and wait for a pro-transit administration to finish it off?

We are so close to having a substantial 4 spoke rail network and it will probably be ripped away at the last second, and with the general opposition to rail in the Twin Cities it will probably not come back. Transit advocacy really feels hopeless sometimes.
Bakken2016
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by Bakken2016 »

angrysuburbanite wrote:https://www.startribune.com/more-than-1 ... /601199067
I was right to be worried, I guess. Are there any other non-federal pools they can pull money out of? Or maybe construct as much as they can with the local match and wait for a pro-transit administration to finish it off?

We are so close to having a substantial 4 spoke rail network and it will probably be ripped away at the last second, and with the general opposition to rail in the Twin Cities it will probably not come back. Transit advocacy really feels hopeless sometimes.
I’m truly not worried, SWLRT was in the same position when Trump became president the first time. Congress is pretty bipartisan when it comes to transit grant funding!


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BikesOnFilm
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Re: Blue Line Extension - Bottineau LRT

Post by BikesOnFilm »

Some reasons not to worry:

- IIRC, the funds the Blue Line Extension is applying for are authorized through 2026.
- Just like the last four years, there isn't a 60 vote majority in the Senate and so there'll only be one hyper partisan bill that can be forced through by reconciliation. It'll be tax cuts, and then it's midterms time.
- As of right now, the executive branch is not able to just refuse to spend authorized money, and these funds are specifically authorized for this purpose. The judiciary may reinterpret this, but even the partisan hacks on the SCOTUS occasionally recognize that the pendulum will swing back again and their own pet projects could suddenly be refused funding by the whims of the executive.

As said above, the Green Line Extension funding came through, largely because cutting local transit projects wouldn't play as well with the base as "We're putting all our political capital into fighting with Californian liberals over their boondoggle bullet train." And last time the head of the FTA was at least somewhat experienced in how to work the levers of a cabinet position, this time it'll be a Fox News host.

Reason to maybe worry:

- The plan to force all federal employees back to office five days a week, intentionally to get people to quit so their roles won't be filled, will undoubtedly slow down a lot of things. It would be possible to say to Congress "We're trying to spend your money as you authorized, we just can't get all the work done with the staffing issues we have" and not be lying to Congress. The staffing issues would be ones they created on purpose, of course, but is there a constitutional remedy for Congress to force the Executive Branch to adequately staff itself to carry out the will of the Congress? Doubtful.

Whether the FTA funding grant would be completed on the FTA side before transit grants would need to be reauthorized by Congress would then be in doubt.
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