Central Corridor plans refined to meet tight federal deadline

Last update: August 28, 2008 - 12:09 AM

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THE LATEST: With construction costs escalating and a federal deadline looming next week, planners of the Central Corridor light-rail line have pared back items such as the amount of track at a maintenance yard and the number of ticket machines at each station.

NEW ESTIMATE: The construction estimate, presented at a meeting of the line's planners Wednesday, is just shy of $915 million, up from $892 million earlier this year. Mark Fuhrmann, the project director, said prices for such necessities as asphalt and fuel are driving the increase, with the cost of steel for the tracks doubling since last year.

APPLICATION DUE: The Federal Transit Administration is expected to fund half the cost of the 11-mile line, which will link the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Metropolitan Council has until Sept. 5 to submit its application to move into the final design phase. It meets Wednesday to vote on the plan.

The line's costs, ridership estimates and travel times are plugged into a complex federal formula called the cost-effectiveness index. The feds look favorably on a CEI of $24.49 or less; the figure for the Central Corridor configuration presented Wednesday is $24.45.

SOME GOOD NEWS: A trip from one end of the line to the other has been trimmed by 62 seconds, to 39 minutes, 13 seconds. Engineers softened some curves to allow higher speeds and reduced the number of traffic signals trains will encounter. The line is set to open in 2014.

JIM FOTI

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