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Let's look at the facts: The biggest transportation frustration facing the Twin Cities region is growing traffic congestion. On this point there is virtually no disagreement and politicians are scrambling to raise taxes, supposedly to alleviate congestion.
And what will the Central Corridor do to relieve congestion? Well, according to the Environmental Impact Study used to justify the project, not much. In fact, it's likely that building the project will make congestion worse as the trains constantly stop traffic trying to cross University Ave (just as the Hiawatha LRT has increased congestion along Highway 55, only much worse).
What about reducing the number of automobile trips? According to the same study, the Central Corridor LRT will increase transit ridership by only about 2 percent, and reduce automobile use by much less than 1 percent. That's because the Central Corridor already has a heavily used bus line. Light rail will attract only 1,200 more riders a day in 20 years than a much cheaper expansion of bus service called Bus Rapid Transit but cost hundreds of millions more, according to the Environmental Impact Study.
So what exactly are you buying for somewhere between $840 million and $1.25 billion? Congestion will be the same or worse, and transit ridership and automobile use will change hardly at all.
Yet Hennepin and Ramsey counties, the Metropolitan Council, the governor and the Legislature have all expressed support and even enthusiasm for this project. Sure, most people think that trains are cooler than buses, but is the difference worth a billion or so dollars? The Central Corridor LRT doesn't make any sense, and the $840 million to $1.25 billion could be better spent elsewhere.
Consider these facts: The I-694/35E "Unweave the Weave" project will double the number of lanes in one of the worst bottlenecks in the Twin Cities and is costing taxpayers $188 million. Doubling the number of lanes to fix the Crosstown Interchange, one of the worst bottlenecks in the country, affecting 200,000 vehicles a day, is projected to cost $288 million.
It just doesn't make sense to waste our scarce transportation resources to reduce the number of cars on University Avenue when for the same kind of money we could buy four to six projects of the magnitude of "Unweave the Weave," or three to four on the huge scale of fixing the Crosstown Interchange.
If Minnesota infrastructure is as bad as lawmakers make it out to be, the majority of the bonding bill should be dedicated to roads and bridges. Sure, there are other things the state must fund, but every project should be evaluated in the context of all infrastructure needs, including transportation. Using the bonding bill to focus on the necessary over the nice makes good fiscal sense.
I wish I could applaud the governor for holding the line by insisting the Central Corridor LRT came in on budget, but unfortunately, this project is a boondoggle at any price.
David Strom is president of the Minnesota Free Market Institute (www.minnesotafreemarkets.org). His e-mail address is
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This commentary orginally appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Friday, February 1, 2008. |
