Later this month, the Metropolitan Council is slated to decide an increasingly contentious Twin Cities transit issue — what to do about freight train traffic that currently runs on a portion of the proposed 15-mile Southwest Corridor light-rail line.
The decision will have a major impact on the line itself, as well as on the cities of Minneapolis and St. Louis Park, which will be most affected by the Met Council's choice. But the reverberations will be felt statewide, particularly in the five metro counties that levy a transit sales tax and at the Legislature, where lawmakers will need to approve the state's 10 percent share of the project's cost.
The wrong decision could erode support for necessary infrastructure investments, making it less likely that the 2014 Legislature will act boldly on expanding transit throughout the region. And it could affect perceptions at the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which will decide whether the approved projects will receive 50 percent federal funding.
The Met Council needs to get it right. Given the high stakes, it should not limit its consideration set to the eight options that have been developed to address the dispute. Instead, the metro planning agency should consider rethinking the route altogether.
The 2010 decision on the "locally preferred alternative" was the product of a transparent, collaborative, data-driven process that not only chose the route but the mode (light-rail transit over buses). But much has changed in three years.
For one, projected costs have risen significantly, depending in part on which option is chosen. What was to be a $1.25 billion project now could cost up to $1.82 billion if the most expensive plan is picked.
Rising costs may make an alternative route more cost-efficient, especially considering the increasing population density in Uptown and other Minneapolis neighborhoods that could be an alternative to the Kenilworth corridor. This is especially true because under some of the scenarios, the planned 21st Street station in Minneapolis would be eliminated. And the FTA's cost-effectiveness index has changed under the Obama administration, so what was once considered a less-efficient option may now be looked at more favorably by federal funders.
Growing interest in reintroducing streetcars to Minneapolis also must be taken into account, as well as the engineering requirements to interline Southwest with the Central Corridor into a seamless "Green Line."
