4.3. SR 06-18-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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DRAFT 1 (May 30, 2001) Agenda Item #4 SURVEY FINDINGS OF RESIDENTS ALONG NORTHSTAR COMMUTER RAIL CORRIDOR KEY FINDINGS: Residents in Area Concerned about Transportation Problems In an open-end question, residents surveyed cited traffic as the third most important issue facing their area behind education funding and taxes. Perhaps due to the growth in the Northwest metro area to St. Cloud, 76% said that highway congestion in the area had become worse in the last five years while only 4% said better. Looking ahead, only 9% felt the current highway and transit system in the region will be sufficient to support growth over the next ten years. Solution Requires More than Just Highway Improvements 67% said that both highways and transit will need to be improved over the next ten years and 5% said to focus only on the transit system. Only 17% said that highways, alone, should be the focus of transportation system improvements. Strong Local Support for Northstar Commuter Rail 80% said the Northstar Commuter Rail project was a good idea while only 15% said it was a bad idea. 92% of those surveyed said they had some level of awareness of the Northstar Commuter Rail project. Strong Support Among All Political Party Affiliations Support for the Northstar Commuter Rail service was very strong regardless of a respondent's political affiliation. 82% of DFL, 72% of Republican and 83% of Independent respondents thought the Northstar Commuter Rail lines thought it was a "good" or "very good" idea. Residents Perceive Multiple Uses for Northstar 70% of those surveyed said they were very likely (31%) or somewhat likely (39%) to use the Northstar Commuter Rail service if it becomes operational. Only 15% said they were not at all likely to use the service. 23% indicated they might use Northstar to commute to and from work (which is significantly greater than what is required for project to be successful). 72% said they might use the rail system to go to the MSP airport; 18% may use it to commute to school or college; 32% to visits friends or relatives. 66% said their most frequent destination on Northstar would be Minneapolis, while 11% cited St. Cloud, followed by Fridley (4%), Anoka (4%), Elk River (3%) and Coon Rapids (2%). Survey Methodology: 600 randomly selected households within a five-mile radius of the proposed Northstar Commuter Rail Line were interviewed by telephone between May 18th and 24th, 2001. The survey was conducted by Decision Resources Ltd. of Minneapolis. The average interview time was nine minutes. The results of this survey are projectable to the universe of all adult residents living in the designated area within +/- 4.1% in 95 out of 100 cases.