Transit advocates went to Eden Prairie's SouthWest Transit Station on Wednesday morning hoping to impress commuters with what's at stake when a $7.7 billion transportation package goes before the Minnesota House and Senate today.
As riders hurried to catch buses, volunteers from five pro-transit groups handed out cups of hot coffee and a map of what a regional transit system could look like -- if the big bill passes.
The proposal would increase state spending on roads and bridges by raising the 20-cent gas tax by a nickel this year and another 3.5 cents in coming years. More funding also could come under a provision allowing metro counties to levy a half-cent sales tax for road and transit needs.
Advocates estimated the bill would provide an extra $117 million to $173 million a year for rail and bus service. If federal matching funds could be secured, that would be enough to deliver eight new transitways, for trains or buses, by 2020 -- including the southwest light-rail line eagerly awaited by the western suburbs, the advocates said Wednesday.
Lea Schuster, director of Transit For Livable Communities, said Minnesota's transit commuters deserve a regionwide transit system and "they deserve the environmental and economic benefits such a system would bring to our state."
Such a system would also shift commuters' spending from gasoline, supplied by overseas oil companies, to bus or rail fares, keeping $20 million more per year in Minnesota's economy, Schuster said.
Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, one of the chief proponents of the transportation bill, said greater use of transit also would cut tailpipe pollution that is contributing to global warming.
"The single most important thing a commuter can do to reduce global warming is to take transit," Hornstein said.
Another supporter of increased transportation spending, Rep. Ron Erhardt, R-Edina, said, "With 1 million people moving to our state over the next 20 years, we desperately need alternatives to sitting in traffic."
Past attempts by legislators to raise taxes to increase transportation spending have been vetoed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. The governor, who has proposed funding local road and bridge projects through bonding, has said he would veto this bill, too. Whether legislators would have the votes to override a veto is uncertain.
This year proponents say worries about the condition of bridges, concerns about global warming and the recent spike in gas prices lends greater urgency to the bill's passage.
Laurie Blake • 612-673-1711
