The LRT finally runs
I've already gone on at length about public transit, but a milestone will be reached this weekend. The Light Rail will finally run public rides down the Hiawatha corridor. This is an event that is much anticipated by many people.
Twenty two years ago (that's 1982) I attended a rally with my parents at Minnehaha Park. This was a rally to support the idea of running a light rail train track down Hiawatha Avenue. I remember the T-Shirt that went with the event, as both my sister and I had one, and I think I remember one or both of my parents also wearing one for a couple of years after the fact (heck, they may still have it in a keep-forever box). It was a classic rally, with speeches, music on possibly more than one stage, and a general picnic atmosphere. It was also the place where I learned what a "LRT" was.
Getting the LRT onto Hiawatha has been a torturous series of events. The whole saga began in the 1960's and early 70's when Hiawatha was slated to become a four or six lane divided highway a lot like the new interstate (I-35W) that just went in a few miles west of there. The locals saw what happened to the neighborhoods that I-35W dissected, a block-wide swath was torn out of the middle of the City to get that interstate through, and trembled. A hue and cry went up, and the project was blocked before any real construction could begin. The land had been obtained, but any effort to improve it or do anything like put in that divided highway was resisted mightily by the residents.
Then the idea of putting a rail line down the middle of it surfaced. Just to the east of the existing Hiawatha Ave was a rail spur that fed a series of grain elevators that still are working today. The land was good for a track. And with the airport just on the other side of it, a logical connection between downtown Minneapolis and the Airport could be made. Advocates started lobbying to get something like that done.
The transit organization thought it was an interesting idea, just too expensive. Then the Federal Transit agency stepped in and offered a matching grant of umpteen million if we could create a plan and fund our half. After a bitter battle in the Minnesota legislature, the plan was approved and money appropriated.
The usual cost increases happened, and much acrimony followed. Residents in and around the LRT corridor came up in arms over the plan to redo Hiawatha, claiming that they were not involved. I have anecdotal accounts that the loudest people on this front were those who were not around for the first fight in the 60's and 70's. Yes, this battle has been waging for coming on forty years.
I still think that another LRT line will probably not get funded. This one will have to prove itself before that'll happen. The only saving grace is that it is a high capacity mover between downtown Minneapolis, and that temple to consumerism known as the Mall of America. It might come close to breaking even, but I doubt it. Far too many reports have said that mass-transit is, except in certain circumstances, unsupportable without government subsidy. The demand that the Hiawatha LRT line self-support is unreasonable, and will provide a means to sink further proposals.
Never the less, the thing DID get built. I am going to miss not getting to ride on it.
Twenty two years ago (that's 1982) I attended a rally with my parents at Minnehaha Park. This was a rally to support the idea of running a light rail train track down Hiawatha Avenue. I remember the T-Shirt that went with the event, as both my sister and I had one, and I think I remember one or both of my parents also wearing one for a couple of years after the fact (heck, they may still have it in a keep-forever box). It was a classic rally, with speeches, music on possibly more than one stage, and a general picnic atmosphere. It was also the place where I learned what a "LRT" was.
Getting the LRT onto Hiawatha has been a torturous series of events. The whole saga began in the 1960's and early 70's when Hiawatha was slated to become a four or six lane divided highway a lot like the new interstate (I-35W) that just went in a few miles west of there. The locals saw what happened to the neighborhoods that I-35W dissected, a block-wide swath was torn out of the middle of the City to get that interstate through, and trembled. A hue and cry went up, and the project was blocked before any real construction could begin. The land had been obtained, but any effort to improve it or do anything like put in that divided highway was resisted mightily by the residents.
Then the idea of putting a rail line down the middle of it surfaced. Just to the east of the existing Hiawatha Ave was a rail spur that fed a series of grain elevators that still are working today. The land was good for a track. And with the airport just on the other side of it, a logical connection between downtown Minneapolis and the Airport could be made. Advocates started lobbying to get something like that done.
The transit organization thought it was an interesting idea, just too expensive. Then the Federal Transit agency stepped in and offered a matching grant of umpteen million if we could create a plan and fund our half. After a bitter battle in the Minnesota legislature, the plan was approved and money appropriated.
The usual cost increases happened, and much acrimony followed. Residents in and around the LRT corridor came up in arms over the plan to redo Hiawatha, claiming that they were not involved. I have anecdotal accounts that the loudest people on this front were those who were not around for the first fight in the 60's and 70's. Yes, this battle has been waging for coming on forty years.
I still think that another LRT line will probably not get funded. This one will have to prove itself before that'll happen. The only saving grace is that it is a high capacity mover between downtown Minneapolis, and that temple to consumerism known as the Mall of America. It might come close to breaking even, but I doubt it. Far too many reports have said that mass-transit is, except in certain circumstances, unsupportable without government subsidy. The demand that the Hiawatha LRT line self-support is unreasonable, and will provide a means to sink further proposals.
Never the less, the thing DID get built. I am going to miss not getting to ride on it.
posted by Corwin at 12:17 PM
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