Green Line readies for June 14 opening

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Feat2_14GreenLine Light rail trains will start running between downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis on June 14, ending more than three decades’ debate, planning and construction.[/caption]

By JANE MCCLURE

Area residents and business owners who have watched light rail vehicles travel up and down University Avenue over the past several months now can mark their calendars. Light rail trains will start running between downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis on June 14, ending more than three decades’ debate, planning and construction. Despite brutally cold weather, many people turned out to celebrate the January 22 opening announcement near Union Depot in downtown St. Paul.

The 11-mile line, long known as the Central Corridor, will be known as the Green Line. It will be the Twin Cities’ second light rail line, opening about a decade after Minneapolis’ Hiawatha, or Blue Line, began service.

“Starting service 60 years to the month after the last streetcar left the Twin Cities is fitting,” said Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh. “For me, seeing two vibrant downtowns, numerous job, education and medical centers, and, tens of thousands of people connected by this project is the most exciting part.”

Area business groups and district councils will work with Central Corridor Funders Collaborative, Metro Transit and Metropolitan Council to plan day-long celebrations all along the line for opening weekend. Celebrations are planned June 14 at Union Depot Station, Central Station, Western Ave. Station, Victoria St. Station, Hamline Ave. Station, Raymond Ave. Station, Stadium Village Station and West Bank Station. Free light rail rides offered June 14-15 to celebrate the grand opening are likely to add to the anticipated crowds.

Haigh and Polly Talen, program director for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and co‐chair of the Funders Collaborative, were the main speakers Jan. 22. The funders collaborative works with major foundations to support efforts along the light rail line. Talen said celebrations would be unique to each station area. The official ribbon-cutting event will be at Union Depot.

Elected officials and business leaders also praised the project Jan. 22, with Hennepin County Commissioner and chair of the Counties Transit Improvement Board Peter McLaughlin saying the line would “re-twin” the Twin Cities. Haigh in turn thanked Ramsey, Hennepin, St. Paul and Minneapolis officials for their efforts toward the project and in promoting economic development along the line.

The train will serve 18 stations in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and will connect both downtown as well as the University of Minnesota, Midway, State Capitol and Union Depot. By 2030 Metropolitan Council projections are that more than 40,000 people will ride the train each weekday. The most recent figures for Routes 16 and 50 buses, which cover the line now, were 24,000 weekday riders in 2010. The Route 50 bus will be eliminated when light rail starts running. Route 16 will have changes at its east end.

The $957 million line is 98 percent complete and is on budget. Its opening date is six months sooner than required by the Federal Transit Administration. Federal dollars paid for about half of the project, with state, local and regional funds making up the rest. The opening date is about one month before the July 15 Major Leaguer All-Star Game at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis.

In terms of construction, the largest projects remaining are completion of a stairway-elevator tower in downtown St. Paul and a power-traction station in Lowertown. Some public art at stations also has to be installed. Testing of the 46 train cars to be used for the Green Line is continuing, along with testing and checks of traffic signal, communications and catenary wires. Those along the line will see stepped-up train testing starting this month.

According to Metropolitan Council, the light rail project created 5,445 construction jobs and $252 million in construction payroll. Workers came from more than 60 Minnesota counties. The project also created 177 permanent operations and maintenance jobs for downtown St. Paul.

One Met Council claim is that the line has already spurred more than $1.7 billion in development along the line. But the line also created hardship for businesses along University Ave. and in downtown St. Paul. Some businesses closed while others cut hours or laid off employees.

Much outreach is being done to discuss bus route changes that will take place when the line opens and in the future. A few routes will be cut back, such as elimination of I-94 bus service on weekends and the end of Route 144. But other routes will be extended or added, In January, Summit Hill residents met to discuss the new Lexington Pkwy. bus line, which will run the length of Lexington. The line has received a generally favorable response from neighborhood residents and business owners.

Metro Transit hosted an A Line bus rapid transit open house in January at the Ramsey County Library in Roseville, drawing dozens of people to view plans for the region’s first planned bus rapid transit line. Although it won’t open until late 2015, transit officials see bus rapid transit as a key connection for north-south destinations along Snelling Ave., from Rosedale Mall to the Blue Line’s 46th St. station in Minneapolis.

More information about the Green Line is available at www.metrotransit.org/greenline.

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