4.2. SR 05-17-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Our perspective Il/ Rail choices Minnesota has a knack for mak- ing easy things hard. Finally after · two delays -- one to add an extra · station, another to accommodate a · bitter strike -- comes the good news that the Hiawatha light-rail line's first 8-mile segment will open on June 26. Sadly, there will be no similar de- 'but for Hiawatha's companion, the 'Northstar commuter line, without 'i a heroic rescue by the governor and -~ a legislative conference committee. ~. Both political parties used childish .. legislative maneuvers to lay North- star on its death bed. Now adults .' must step in. Polls show wide sup- .pon for the line. Soon Minnesotans will know ff Gov. Tim Pawlenty is just a show horse on Northstar or a real work horse, and whether House Speaker Steve Sviggum and Senate .Majority Leader Dean Johnson can rise above petty politics. · Northstar has been sidetracke'd 7this session by a relentless smear ~. campaign that depicts rail transit as '~an extraordinary option for the Twin i: Cities. Actually it would be extraordi- :znary for the Twin Cities not to offer --a regional rail choice. Let's scan the latest evidence. >-Denver's Regional Council of Governments last month approved a "$4.7 billion transit expansion to add ~ 119 miles of light and commuter rail to the current 38-mile LRT system. A recent poll shows 70 percent of vot- ers favoring the expansion, which would raise the regional sales tax by four-tenths of 1 percent. ~Portland opened its fourth light-rail line last week with crowds so heavy that extra trains had to be added. The city has 48 miles of LRT track, a new streetcar loop and ,,nearly 80,000 daily riders. ~ Seattle added commuter trains ~_'north to Everett last December to 'augment those already nmning south to Tacoma. Thbse 82 miles · will soon link up with Seattle's first LRT line, a 14-mile segment from ~.downtown to the airport, with an extension planned to the University of Washington. ~Dallas' LRT ridership rose by 26 percent last year, while patron- . age on Dallas-Fort Worth commuter trains rose 11 percent. The system is among the nation's most successful, Keep Northstar on track having now expanded to 88 miles in just eight years, with suburban poli- ticians pushing for more. Indeed, three more lines are planned, aided by a pledge of $700 million from the federal government. ~Even before Houston opened its first LRT line in January, voters approved a $7.5 billion rail/bus expansion for the next 2O years. A first priority is extending four new LRT lines outward from the 7.5-mile starter trade When finished, the sys- tem will cover 8O miles. >-Salt Lake City will open a 44- mile commuter line to Ogden in 2007 and link it to the city's 17-mile LRT system. The current two LRT lines can~ 38,000 riders per day, twice the expected load. The transit agency has purchased 175 miles of track from the Union Pacific for fu- ture expansion. That's just a snapshot. Other Twin Cities competitors are also moving ahead. New construction will soon expand St. Louis' system to 46 miles. A Los Angeles-Pasadena line opened last year. A 6-mile expansion will soon stretch San Diego's system of 55 miles. Phoenix breaks ground in Au- gust for a 20-mile starter line to open in 2008, two years after Charlotte's first line is expected to open. New "baby-bullet" commuter trains will slice a half-hour off the San Jose- San Francisco trip starting in June. Projects in Orange County, Calif., Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Sacramento are moving forward. It takes a supreme arrogance for rail-bashing opponents to insist that all of these other cities are wrong. Yes, a few systems have stumbled. LRT trains in San Jose and central New Jersey have failed to attract riders. Seattle has suffered major construction cost setbacks. But for critics to claim, as they have, that rail has "reduced the livability of eveq~ urban area that has it" is simply and utterly wrong and way oUt of step with the trend. Minnesotans deserve the same commuting choices that others en- joy. Following the no-transit crowd will lead only to the smoggy, bum- per-to-bumper landscape that no one wants. Certain investments are critical to the state's future. North- star is one of them.