“Diverting Traffic” More Proof Choo Choos Aren’t For Commuters
Posted by Andy on April 30th, 2008
Here’s an MPR story about how the U of M is trying to bully their way to changing the Central Corridor Plan to benefit them. In the story we get to see 2 social engineers battle it out, and slip up and expose the dirty secret of light rail transit.
The Washington Ave. proposal calls for a transit mall, which means much of the car traffic would have to be diverted from the busy street.
Won’t the trains be replacing the cars since everyone just can’t wait to get on board?
The cost estimate for diverting the traffic and finding parking for the cars won’t be known for a few weeks, but it’s clear where some of the traffic could be diverted, Bell says.
Isn’t the point of mass transit to get people out of cars/make it so they don’t have to drive themselves and or sit in congestion?
“We might use East River Rd. to run some of the traffic,” said Bell. “There might need to be some work on Grainery Rd., which is a road that runs far north on the northern parameters of the university campus, and we might connect some of the traffic and work it around there.”
But have no fear, the train will be installed, no matter how much it screws up traffic or neighborhoods in the area.
The cost of diverting traffic from Washington Ave. and redesigning dozens of nearby intersections to handle it would be born by the Met Council, the university, Hennepin County and the city of Minneapolis.
Money in the proposed $909 million Central Corridor project budget would help pay some, but by no means all, of the traffic diversion costs.
Just a thought here: How about we save the Billion dollars on the boondoggle rolling guillotine and just increase capacity for the roads in the area and increase bus service?
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