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ity of <br /> <br />vel' <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />ITEM ~5.3. <br /> <br />TO: <br /> <br />FROM: <br /> <br />DATE: <br /> <br />SUBJECT: <br /> <br />Mayor and City Council <br /> <br />Scott Harlicker, Planning Assistan~ <br /> <br />November 16, 1998 <br /> <br />Update on Northstar Corridor <br />Project <br /> <br />At the November 5th meeting of the Northstar Corridor Development <br />Authority the main point of discussion were updates on the Major Investment <br />Study, MNDOT's phase 2 commuter rail study and Burlington Northern's <br />capacity study. <br /> <br />The Major Investment Study (MIS) is at a mid point in the process. BRW is <br />in conducting a fatal flaw analysis. This analysis involves eliminating <br />various transportation alternatives and improvements. Alternatives <br />eliminated include light rail transit, heavy rail transit, monorail and <br />personal rapid transit. Improvements eliminated include construct bypasses, <br />fully controlled access freeway, construct interchanges at key locations <br />(except at County Road 11 and Highway 10 intersection) and add high <br />occupancy vehicle lanes (except in Anoka/Ramsey area). Additional <br />information on this topic is included in your packet. <br /> <br />MNDOT is currently conducting phase 2 of their commuter rail feasibility <br />study which includes the Northstar Corridor from Minneapolis to Elk River <br />along with 6 other corridors in the Twin Cities Metro area. Their draft <br />recommended a tiered implementation of the proposed routes. In the <br />recommendation, Elk River was eliminated from the first tier program. Their <br />cost estimates showed that by eliminating the Elk River station $ 26 million <br />could be saved and the ridership would decrease by only 97 riders. The <br />NCDA disagrees with their analysis and will be contacting MNDOT <br />regarding this study and their ridership estimates. Additional information <br />regarding their findings is included with this packet. It should be noted that <br />MNDOT's study is independent of the North Star Corridor study and was <br />initially to include only the metro area. Elk River is still included as a station <br />in the NCDA study. <br /> <br />Burlington Northern has completed the base capacity analysis for the <br />corridor. Now that the base capacity analysis has been completed, the trips <br />generated by the commuter trains can be plugged into the analysis to see how <br /> <br />13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330 · TDD & Phone: (612) 441-7420 · Fax: (612) 441-7425 <br /> <br /> <br />