Relief ahead for frustrated Scott County commuters

A coalition of elected officials all along the southern stretch of Hwy. 169 from the inner ring suburbs to Mankato has agreed to push for the erasure of stoplights in the vicinity of I-494 as its top priority, the civic leadership of Scott County was informed late last week.

But that $150 million project is just one element of a $540 million wish list up and down that highway, as ambitious as a complete bypass of the city of St. Peter. And not all of the items on that list may be as pleasing to Scott County residents.

Representatives of a group made up of all the major government entities in the county were treated Friday to a wide-ranging backgrounder on transit and highways that included these highlights:

• Congestion on the 169 bridge over the Minnesota River is being eased slightly by big jumps in the use of the new BlueXpress bus service from Shakopee. About 3,000 more riders per month are using that service to downtown Minneapolis than in 2007, when it was just getting going.

•Local leaders are not accepting as the final word on the subject the recent warning of Met Council Chairman Peter Bell not to expect any high-speed transitways into Scott County in the near future. They are interested in Bus Rapid Transit along 169 and exploring other possibilities.

•Rural enclaves such as Jordan and Elko-New Market are beginning to get involved in transit planning, and their residents should brace for a political push to be taxed for transit as well, as legislators hunt for ways to continue to find new money for improvements such as park-and-ride lots.

But the marquee project remains the attempt to eliminate 169's stoplights along the Eden Prairie/Bloomington border that are backing up traffic and driving it onto local side streets morning and evening.

The county's public works director told the large group attending Friday's backgrounder that there is a Plan B that would bring the $150 million cost for a full fix down to $90 million. That might make the project more feasible, Lezlie Vermillion said, though it wouldn't be ideal for all motorists.

But the price to pay for strong support from a good portion of the state on that key project would be dealing with issues on the highway within Scott County that could excite opposition among local residents.

People from towns such as Mankato and St. Peter, the group was told, are hoping to reduce their trip to the Twin Cities by 20 to 30 minutes, partly by streamlining the movement through Scott County itself. That could mean redoing intersections in ways that create less instant access to the highway for folks in places like Belle Plaine, already unhappy about moves along those lines taking place right now.

A key next step will be a meeting between the same group of Scott County leaders and Tom Sorel, the new commissioner of the state Department of Transportation. That encounter is set for October, and Shakopee Mayor John Schmitt said he expects "a pretty lively session."

In the meantime, Vermillion and others said, a number of steps are being taken, among them:

•The county hopes to talk the state into restriping the lanes on that same bridge to give buses an even speedier trip, and perhaps luring still more cars off the road.

•A new 545-stall park-and-ride at Hwys. 21 and 16, with expansion room for another 200 spaces, should open by mid to late 2011. Providing transit options like these is critical to getting federal road dollars these days, she stressed, as the feds look for ways to stretch road dollars further.

•Officials are already talking about how to connect Scott County residents with the terminus of the proposed Southwest Corridor light rail line, from downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie.

Overshadowing all else, however, Shakopee's transit chief, Michael Leek, warned, is the dropoff in money for transportation as people drive less, buy less gas and pay fewer taxes.

"The federal gas tax is trending downward and is a major source of funding," he said. "That's a problem. How do we put these services in place, expand them, and continue to operate them?"