The following commentary by Hennepin County Commissioner Jan Callison appeared in the April 27, 2017 issue of the Eden Prairie News and other publications in Hennepin County:
As them how they intend to alter our road system to accommodate the 700,000 new residents who are expected in the region by 2040.
Ask them about their commitment to economic competitiveness, and their proposal to attract young workers who strongly desire transit options or to accommodate older residents who no longer wish to drive.
As them how they expect to link people with jobs, particularly in the job-rich southwest corridor of the metropolitan region.
And then ask them how they intend to pay for it and when construction will start.
The truth is, they don’t have a plan.
It certainly can’t be to build new roads. MnDOT is concentrating its limited dollars on maintaining what we have, leaving about $240 million to be spent ver the next 20 years on “mobility fixes” in the Twin Cities metro.
Those dollars will permit them to add MnPass lanes on portions of Interstate 34W North and Interstate 94 and make some smaller spot improvements. After those projects are completed, they have no plans to expand road capacity in the metro area for the next two decades.
Enhanced bus service isn’t the answer. If it were, the Legislature wouldn’t be proposing budget reductions that are so severe that Metro Transit is anticipating service cuts of up to 40 percent.
(Service cuts, by the way, that will force more people to drive on our already crowded roads.)
In fact, bus service was studied as part of the Southwest LRT alternatives analysis and did not meet the criteria to be a viable option for the southwest corridor.
The only plan is the one being advanced by Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council. For more than 10 years, we have worked to develop Southwest LRT. Along with our partners at the Counties Transit Improvement Board, we have committed local resources to creating regional transportation alternatives.
Because of our work, Southwest has:
- Received a favorable project ranting from the Federal Transportation Administration.
- Secured local funding commitments for construction costs.
- Been approved by every city council along the route — Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie.
- Received overwhelming support from the business community, both local and regional.
- Positioned itself to receive almost $1 billion in federal funds, money that can’t be spent anywhere else in Minnesota or be diverted to road and bridge projects.
To proceed in the highly competitive federal process, Southwest has demonstrated that it:
- Will provide about 34,000 average weekday trips by 2040, giving a substantial number of people the option to stay off Twin Cities roads.
- Is likely to require a per-person subsidy that is among the lowest in the Twin Cities for transit services.
- Will improve access to the 64,300 jobs that are expected to be added within the southwest corridor in the future.
Improvements to Twin Cities mobility allow the free flow of goods, services and residents within and through the vital metro region. They benefit not just Hennepin County and the region but also the state. They are a crucial investment in our future economic vitality
It’s time to move forward and secure the federal funding commitment so that Southwest LRT can start revenu service in 2021. It’s time to prioritize the economic future of the Twin Cities and Minnesota. It’s time to acknowledge the reality of limited state funding and the work that has been done at the local level to develop, fund and achieve a regional transit vision.
And, as a state representative suggested in an earlier guest commentary, it is surely time t end the debate.
Jan Callison is a Hennepin County commissioner for District 6, which covers Edina, Minnetonka, Hopkins, northern Eden Prairie and most of the Lake Minnetonka communities. She resides in Minnetonka.