LRT on Cedar to stay put

Minnesota Public Radio may stay or go, but the Central Corridor light-rail line will not be moved off Cedar Street in St. Paul, Metropolitan Council President Peter Bell said Monday.

In a strongly worded statement, Bell criticized MPR for "using its airwaves and its website to rally its supporters" to push for moving the line off Cedar and away from its studios.

"Extensive testing following Federal Transit Administration guidelines shows vibration and noise impacts ... can be mitigated at MPR," Bell said, noting that Cedar has been the preferred route for many years.

"Cedar Street was properly chosen for the alignment," he concluded. "Cedar Street remains the route."

In a Dec. 10 letter from its attorneys to the Central Corridor office, MPR said that the noise and vibrations from light-rail trains "could well shut down the highly sensitive MPR Broadcast Center, leaving MPR with no practical alternative but to sue" to recover the value of its $100 million building and the costs of relocating.

MPR acknowledged that it and its neighbors "have been generally aware of the potential for LRT on Cedar Street for some time," but said that only in the last six months has MPR been given access to data disclosing the extent of the "significant negative impact" on its facilities.

The letter calls the noise and vibration testing "truly deficient" and accuses researchers of throwing out vibration data that did not conform to their assumptions. Central Corridor trains are expected to pass within 8 to 14 feet of MPR's complex, which includes recording and broadcasting studios and concert halls.

Bell said Monday that "our experienced project engineers, who have worked on other LRT projects around the country," have spelled out numerous ways that the line's impact could be mitigated, from soundproofing the studios to putting a rubber material underneath the tracks.

"Reopening the decision about the alignment would cost tens of millions of dollars and delay the project at a minimum of one year," he said, a sentiment he expressed repeatedly this spring when the University of Minnesota pushed for further study of an alternative route through its Minneapolis campus. After months of often contentious discussions, the "northern alignment" was dropped and the Washington Avenue route restored amid assurances that the university's concerns about traffic and vibrations would be addressed.

"In defense of the U, their cheese got moved," said St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, who sits on a Central Corridor planning committee. He was referring to a tunnel under Washington Avenue that was eliminated because of cost concerns.

Coleman has become more vocal in his frustrations with MPR's recent actions, pointing to compromises other stakeholders have made in the name of progress. "What MPR is proposing kills Central Corridor," he said.

MPR needs to understand that local dissent gives the FTA ample reason to refuse the funding request, Coleman said. He noted that the city lent MPR $3.3 million for the expansion.

"We could study this thing for another 10 years, and we'll still say Cedar is the best option," he said.

Jennifer Haugh, a spokeswoman for MPR and American Public Media, said Monday that "the initial environmental impact study of the current alignment did not factor in noise- and vibration-sensitive facilities that are concentrated along Cedar Street" and that federal guidelines require alternative routes to be studied. She also underscored MPR's support for the Central Corridor project.

Too close for comfort?

MPR says it hasn't found a light-rail line running so close to a recording and broadcast facility anywhere in the United States, but it's been in contact with the lead engineer of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, where light-rail trains serve Temple Square.

In an e-mail, the engineer, Trent Walker, says that an underground recording studio is located 120 feet from a rail station and that "since the rail has gone in, the studio is not usable for recording of most programs and has been only usable for rehearsals."

Walker also said trains do not use their bells or horns when passing the tabernacle. "This is the only reason we are able to record and do not have major problems with the train in the hall," he wrote.

The Central Corridor Project Office has said that the use of horns and bells could be limited near MPR and two historic churches just up Cedar Street.

The 11-mile line connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul is estimated at $915 million, with the federal government paying half. Trains are scheduled to begin running in 2014.

jim.foti@startribune.com • 612-673-4491 chris.havens@startribune.com • 651-298-1542