4.2. SR 05-17-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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OPINION +12. A MONOAY. MAY 3. 2004 EDITORIALS COMMUTER RAIL Put Northstar line back in bonding bill Minnesota's transportation needs should not be a partisan issue. In its 2001 comprehensive trans- portation plan, the Metropolitan Council noted that citizens identified traffic congestion was the .No. 1 quality of life issue, that the rate of congestion was increasing, at an ever more rapid rate and that between 2000 and 2025, the metro area is expected to gain aboht 635,000 people and 312,000 jobs. The Minnesota Legislature must quit partisan game-playing with the funding need for the North- star Corridor heavy rail project between the Cities and Big Lake. It was disappointing last week to see the House's $678 million construction budget exclude the Northstar project's needed $37.§ million in state money. It is predictable that the DFL:controlled Sen- ate will step forward with Northstar money and tout its contrasting priorities in the safer political envi- ronment of a non-election year for senators. We understand and support the concept of fiscal prUdence with state money, especially when it is borrowed. But we also understand that deferral is different from prudence when con- sidering the economic and environmental future of Minnesota. In the House, the tightwad faction among Republicans is in serious denial about multimodal transportation as both life-qual- ity and economic imperatives. The bus solution up U.S. 10, they saY, would be cheaper. But it makes little sense to add to the jams on an already congested highway when existing train tracks and major federal money are available to add an efficient option with commuter rail. The true believers in only roads and bridges should also realize that it would cost twice as much to widen U.S. 10 as to develop and maintain train service. Northstar Commuter Rail would be funded by federal, state and local sources at an annual cost of about $10.4 million, using existing tracks to provide about 5,600 rides a day between down- town Mirmeapolis and Big Lake (just south of St. Cloud). It's time to get rolling on the $265 million Northstar Corridor capital proj- ect. The difficulties of pollution and congestion in the northerh exurban corridor and the needs for workers who commute to the Cities aren't diminishing. They are growing. More enlightened Republicans, including Rep. Kathy Tin- glestad of Andoverj who has advocated doggedly for Northstar, should be appointed by Speaker Steve Sviggum when the confer- ence committee is formed to reconcile the House and Senate ver- sions of this year's construction funding bills. Sviggum and Gov. Tim Pawlenty, both Republican converts to the Northstar, should have the clout to ensure the Northstar Cor- ridor ends up with the state money that will make the first part of the project possible. We encourage them to use it on behalf of Northstar.