The 411 on How LRT Impacts Streetcars in NoMi

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, image from the city's Streetcar Final Report.

At last month's meeting to discuss possible LRT routes along Penn or Oliver as alternatives to the "D1" route that would go through Theo Wirth to Highway 55, I asked a very specific question of our moderators.  How would the various D2 options affect the proposed streetcar alignment along West Broadway?

After all, numerous streetcar corridors were proposed and only a few were approved.  The approval process was based on some rather objective criteria, such as cost and total ridership.  The streetcar route along West Broadway would go from downtown up Washington to Broadway, and then up to the Robbinsdale Transit Center.  If light rail comes down Broadway to Penn, then the proposed streetcar line would presumably stop at that intersection.  And if that were to happen, then the ridership on the streetcars could drop to a point where the Broadway alignment no longer qualifies.

Aside from the appropriate preservation of housing, my other main desire for LRT in or around NoMi is that we don't eliminate other viable transit network options.  So when I asked Bobby Joe Champion and Ray Dehn whether the D2 routes would affect streetcar proposals at all, and if so then how, their answer was...

Do We Want the Central Corridor on Penn or Oliver?

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman

Yesterday I was in St. Paul and snapped these pictures near University and Snelling.  While it can be unfair to judge a project before it's complete, these pictures do give us an idea of what LRT could look like coming down Penn or Oliver.  Is this really a good fit in NoMi?

LRT does cut off plenty of cross streets.  Even on a commercial corridor like University Avenue, I'm not so sure this is a good idea.  Along a residential corridor, the effects would be even more dramatic.  I've been reading up on walkable communities, and believe the LRT would either decrease walking along the corridor or it would increase pedestrian accidents.  Yes, people can walk an extra block or few to the handful of designated crossings, but will they really?  I can think of any number of scenarios, from a tired grandmother to an anxious kid to a scrapper with a baby carriage full of stolen copper where people will cross wherever they think is convenient.  And we certainly don't want grandma or the grandkids to get hit by a train.

So I encourage neighbors to take a hard look at the University Avenue corridor.  That's what we'll have in NoMi if any of the D2 options come to pass.  LRT can do many excellent things to revitalize a community, but I don't think those fit along the D2 route here.

Light Rail D1 or D2 is Discussed. What About Streetcars?

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.


Part 1 of 2 light rail posts.

Last week, the Northside Transit Network hosted a community vote on various aspects of the light rail proposal for north Minneapolis.  I've stayed away from these meetings in the past because they haven't impacted me, and there's only so many such things one can go to.  But now that I live closer to the proposed lines and am looking at buying a house even closer still, I decided I'd better go and see what's been developing.

I started the meeting by finding Rep. Champion and saying the three words politicians almost never speak or hear:  I was wrong.  When the first meetings about light rail came about, I had strongly advocated for a rail system along Penn and Broadway.  I went further by criticizing Champion for not taking a stronger stance.  But the more I look at the proposals, the more I come to believe that the "D2" options do not really serve north Minneapolis well.  I haven't seen a proposal wherein every single aspect appeals to me, but D1 is looking better and better.

Why, you ask?  One word:  streetcars.

To be sure, NoMi doesn't benefit if light rail goes through Theo Wirth and along Highway 55, UNLESS we have a strong feeder system of other kinds of transit.  And a primary component of such a system would be streetcars along West Broadway.  The city of Minneapolis realized this several years ago, when they released a report that...