Comments on: New LRT Line Approved

By: Buckwheat

Buckwheat — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 13:29:33 +0000

Incidentally, is any of this CCLRT development the sort of "development" St. Paul gave to the Rondo neighborhood when it came time to choose a route for I-94?

No. That was a 300-foot swath, this will be more like 30.

By: mike s

mike s — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 05:53:33 +0000

That’s it, champs. Someone at the Met Council heard that University Avenue was paved with “blacktop” and decided that it should be dug up, ASAP.

Have you noticed that the sleepers (i.e., railroad ties) for the Hiawatha LRT are all white? It’s because the MN government hates the Black people, and will stop at nothing to spite them at every turn.

By: champs

champs — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 04:12:28 +0000

Incidentally, is any of this CCLRT development the sort of “development” St. Paul gave to the Rondo neighborhood when it came time to choose a route for I-94?

By: kwatt

kwatt — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:50:14 +0000

LRT along route 5 would be worthless. It won’t take drivers off the highways and transit users along that route have already shown a willingness to ride the bus.

By: Emily M.

Emily M. — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:34:54 +0000

I think the new line is a great idea. If you’ve ever ridden on the 16 or 50 during rush hour during the school year, there are many times you can’t even get on it in the campus area because it is packed to the brim. And who knows, maybe this could liven up the St. Paul night life when people can more easily get there. I’ve gone to plenty of cool places in downtown St. Paul, but there aren’t enough people around to make it a crazy good time.

And if you want cheap and relatively fast (for a bus) trip to Chicago, look at MEGABUS! http://megabus.com/us/. They claim you can get a one-way ticket for $1 and I’ve seen some prices in the $10 range. And it doesn’t stop along the way.

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:11:36 +0000

Er, “Edina” -> “Eden Prairie” in my comment above.

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:08:52 +0000

Minneapolis to Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago in 5 hours. Make it so!

By: martaru

martaru — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 22:43:11 +0000

Yay LRT! I just hope I’m patient enough to stick around here to see it…and good idea on the express train to Chicago. That’d be super sweet.

By: Saloth Sar

Saloth Sar — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 22:13:00 +0000

As someone living in downtown St. Paul I'd really love to see a really fast LRT to Minneapolis. I'm talking no stops, just vroom, 10 minutes and you're there. I take the 94 now, but it still takes too long and doesn't run often enough during non rush hours. Plus, I have to walk six blocks to get to the stop. The Hiawatha is fine, but man is that thing slow. They (whoever "they" might be), should really investigate doing a "local" and an "express". Don't know if anyone has done that with LRT, but it's pretty common with the big trains, you just need passing track.

I also want the express train to Chicago. Super fast, twice a day.

Now make it so.

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 21:27:05 +0000

To all the people who want LRT to Edina I say “amen”, but I think they did this one first because of political reasons…all the rail development so fare (Hiawatha and Northstar) has been west metro. If they did *another* line in the west metro, it’d basically be a big “F U” to St. Paul and the east metro.

I expect the next line will be the southwest Downtown/Eden Prairie route.