So the Met Council has done what it is good at, over doing it.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Metropolitan Council is facing tough choices as it looks at cutting $200 million from the price tag of the planned light-rail line linking Minneapolis and St. Paul in order to obtain needed federal money.
Yep, that’s right, they need to cut $200 million dollars in order to get the feds to buy in. Got that? Even the Feds think they are spending WAY too much money.
As currently planned, the project is too expensive to qualify for federal funding, which is critical. In order to qualify, the Metropolitan Council needs to get the cost down to $820 million by early next year.
$820 million dollars to redevelope one of the older cooridors in the Twin Cities. Yes, I said redevelope, that’s all this is.
The project is currently budgeted at $932 million, but the Federal Transit Administration is also recommending another $90 million for three-car train platforms, a storage building and to account for inflation. That puts the total budget at $200 million over the transit administration’s cost-benefit index for rating viable projects to fund.
Whoops, I forgot, it was nearly a billion dollars that the Met Council wants to cram into this latest boodoggle.
But cutting any of the three is likely to make the project run up against important partners. Already, Ramsey County is threatening to pull its funding if the rail line doesn’t extend all the way to Union Depot.
Doing without the tunnel under Washington Avenue through the heart of the campus could save $155 million. But that would force the trains to navigate through an area heavily traveled by students.
More than 3,000 pedestrians cross Washington Avenue at Harvard Street every weekday at lunchtime, said Bob Baker, executive director of university parking and transportation services.
See, it really has nothing to do with transportation, when you take into account it will potentially impede people who already have figured out how to get from A to B.
“If you were a rail operator, could you imagine trying to drive through the bikes, and the buses and the pedestrians at the university?” Baker said. “Pretty scary thought.”
The rolling guillotine known as Hiawatha is a bit scary and has already taken, what 3 lives?
Merchants and community boosters along University Avenue are hoping for a rebuilt street, with wide sidewalks, trees, grass, streetlights, bike racks and public art adding to what they see as a renaissance for the long-neglected boulevard.
Have you seen University Ave. now? there isn’t the room to do that NOW, let alone after they put in rail lines. Where will the real cars go?
Eliminating the facelift would save $55 million. But the Midway Chamber says that would be a mistake.
“The long-term goal is to get a beautiful, unified look out of this,” said Lori Fritts, the chamber president. “Nothing has been done for University Avenue for a very, very long time because everyone has been waiting for this.”
Why is it that no one is even talking about how many people this will actually transport East to West, or how it will affect the people who can’t use it because they’ll be going North and South.
In downtown St. Paul, planners could save $72 million by ending the rail line on 4th Street instead of at the historic Union Depot, which is now a post office. But with Congress promising an additional $50 million, Ramsey County commissioners want the depot to become an east-metro transit hub serving light rail, buses, commuter rail, Amtrak and high-speed trains to Chicago.
Kaching! there we go, we just need to spend a few more billion to make this billion worth it.
Wake up folks. This is where all the transportation dollars will go, to trains that a vast majority of Minnesotans will and can’t ever use. Why is this even being considered? Couldn’t we handle more people more efficiently and cost effectively if we ran more buses through this area?
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