Survey Finds Broad Support for Transit, Southwest LRT

Metro chambers commissioned the study to find out voters’ opinions about public transportation.

Survey Finds Broad Support for Transit, Southwest LRT

Metro chambers commissioned the study to find out voters’ opinions about public transportation.

Safety In The Park Has Responded To SWLRT Statement

The environmental impact statement comment period ended on Dec. 31, and the local group lists their concerns.

Report Says Southwest Light Rail Is One Of Best Transportation Projects

In a national report, 'the Sierra Club North Star Chapter highlighted the need to move beyond oil, and (explained) why the Southwest LRT is an example of the kind of projects Minnesotans need to move beyond dirty tar sands oil from Canada.'

What Is the Purpose of Light Rail?

Is it about moving people or developing communities? The answer can affect how residents feel about the proposed projects.

It’s not exactly hard to tell how someone feels about the Southwest Light Rail Transit project. “I would rather use those dollars for improving the highway system we already have in place,” Shakopee Rep. Michael Beard told the Minnesota Daily in January. “It’s not about getting from A to B. It’s about what happens at A and what happens at B and how do you transform the area,” Will Fleissig—the president and managing director of TransAct, a San Francisco-based urban development firm—told a group of Southwest corridor officials Wednesday. While those two statements are about the same project, they reflect very different expectations about what the project is supposed to be about. Light rail remains a contentious issue—with advocates and …

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Does Light Rail Need Its Own Tax?

Whether an increased sales tax or a new taxing jurisdiction, advocates say a reliable funding stream could insulate transit from political winds.

The Southwest Light Rail Transit project hasn’t had an easy time securing state funding over the past couple years. It faced stiff opposition from Republicans, with the former transportation committee head promising to stop the Southwest LRT "in its tracks." DFL wins in the 2012 Election bode well for the project, but there’s no way of knowing how long that will last. With the line years away from operation, and the Bottineau Transitway moving forward, some light rail advocates are questioning whether transit should rely so much on state funding. That was the question brought up multiple times Tuesday during a meeting with national and local development experts about making the most of Southwest LRT. Instituting a reliable revenue stream, …

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DFL Wins Mean Good News for Southwest Light Rail Transit

Election Day is bringing in a Legislature that should be more supportive of LRT.

For the past couple years, the road ahead for the Southwest Light Rail Transit was uncertain. It faced steeped opposition from leaders in the Republican-controlled Legislature who oversaw key transportation committees. Shakopee Rep. Michael Beard, the former Transportation Policy and Finance Committee chairman, once even said he wanted to stop the project "in its tracks." But all that changed Tuesday night when the DFL took control of both the House and Senate—sweeping in more light rail supporters and handing the reins to a party that’s historically been a bigger backer of public transit. “The bottom line is we didn’t get anywhere (before), so it’s pretty significant to us,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman, chairwoman of …

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Editor's Notebook

Is Southwest LRT a Campaign Asset or Obstacle?

While supporters are still working to promote the Southwest Transitway, one campaign ad uses a candidate’s backing for the project as its most-visible selling point. What role does light rail play in this election?

Southwest Light Rail Transit supporters haven’t been shy about trying to sell residents on the project. Local chambers have taken an active role in encouraging legislators to back the project, and they recently launched a “More Jobs Less Traffic” campaign to boost support among the general public. What hasn’t happened as frequently is candidates using Southwest LRT as the major selling point for their own campaigns. Yet that’s exactly what Senate District 49 candidate Melisa Franzen’s campaign did in an advertisement last week. Residents in her district received a mailer that featured a Metro Transit train, a map of the proposed Southwest LRT route and the campaign promise, “With Melisa Franzen in the Senate, 60,000 new jobs are just the …

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Safety in the Park Concerned About How DEIS Presents Reroute

A Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Southwest Light Rail line was recently released.

Today, the Southwest Light Rail (SWLRT) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was released. While we applaud the release of this document and look forward to the many benefits of SWLRT we continue to be concerned with the way in which the proposed freight rail re-route is being presented and how the issue may be treated by the Met Council and Hennepin County. During the years of planning for SWLRT, Hennepin County made a concerted effort to keep true study of the freight issue to a minimum, while promising Minneapolis residents that the freight trains would go away.  Most recently this effort came to light after the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) required an analysis of the freight rail issue be added to the SWLRT DEIS. …

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