4.6. SR 05-21-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Attachment A Commuter Rail Service on the existing Burlin~on Northern Santa Fe rail line from downtown Minneapolis to a northern terminus at Rice, Minnesota. The length of the rail line would be approximately 82 miles. The preferred alternative would include I 1 commuter rail stations at the following locations (from north to south): Rice St. Cloud East Becker Big Lake Elk River Anoka Coon Rapids-Riverdale Coon Rapids- Foley Fridley Minneapolis Northeast (7th Street Station) Minneapolis Downtown Multi-Modal The preferred alternative would include a vehicle maintenance facility at the "Elk River South" location. The preferred alternative would include a layover facility at Rice. The preferred alternative would include an Light Rail Transit connection from 3rd Avenue North. The LRT alignment would continue on the north side of 5th Street, with an LRT station immediately west of 3rd Avenue North. For purposes of the environmental evaluation (in the Final EIS), the preferred alternative will include all of the proposed track capacity improvements evaluated in the Draft EIS; except for the potential triple track from Coon Creek to 1-694 (mileposts 20.7 to 15.6) and the potential siding from milepost 20.7 to 18.8. As the negotiations with the BNSF regarding required traCk capacity improvements have not yet been finalized, there is the potential that track improvements required for the Northstar Corridor system may change from those evaluated in the Draft and Final EIS. Based on the final outcome of the BNSF negotiations, the NCDA and MnDOT will review the improvements to ensure that appropriate environmental analysis has been completed. Additional environmental documentation will be completed, if determined necessary, to meet federal environmental review requirements. The preferred alternative will include a bus operation plan that will reduce bus service frequencies on existing express service routes that duplicate commuter rail service. Existing bus route alignments will be modified to connect to commuter rail stations, and service frequencies will be modified on selected routes to provide strong bus connections to the commuter rail service.