It has a name: "Red Rock Corridor." It would connect downtown St. Paul with the downriver town of Hastings, Minnesota, 30 miles away. The project has its own website.
But what would it cost? We are not told. The only dollar figure given is a $69,350 number for a planning grant from the regional government Metropolitan Council. The state's first commuter rail project, the Northstar line, cost $320 million to construct. [See below for more cost information.]
What problem would it solve? We are told that the project "is envisioned as the heart of Newport's redevelopment, with a blend of housing, retail and commercial building." Newport is a commuter city of 3,850 people.
We are told that U.S. Highway 61 is "an increasingly congested north-south route." How about fixing bottlenecks on Hwy 61? No information is provided.
We are told that Hastings "has no transit links to downtown St. Paul or Minneapolis." How about adding bus service to Hastings?
We are told that park-and-ride bus lots along the proposed route "are already filled to capacity." How about expanding the parking capacity or add new bus lots?
Rest easy, this is a "both/and" solution. "To build ridership, rapid bus service to the southeast metro will be expanded next year, park-and-ride lots will be built, and by 2020, commuter rail should be running."
We are also told that these "plans come as Minnesota communities look for ways to recover from dwindling state aid and an ailing economy."
Who gets the final word? In the newspaper article, the improbably-named Sam Zimbabwe is quoted, saying,
"It is something that we've seen around the country taking hold as the real estate market demands a new type of development."
Ignoring the question of "what development?", the more interesting question is "Who is Sam Zimbabwe?" The paper lists him as the "director of the nonprofit Center for Transit-Oriented Development at Reconnecting America." Reconnecting America is a Washington, DC,-based group partnering with Smart Growth America to improve your life through expanding public transportation.
Where does Reconnecting America get its funding to apply its tender mercies in Minnesota? Ah, the Minneapolis-based McKnight Foundation, which has provided the group with $1.4 million since 2004 "to expand local knowledge, build capacity, and support leadership for equitable transit-oriented development in the Twin Cities region."
Update I: The story is accompanied by a timeline for the project, which I reproduce below,
2011: Station area and site study completed on building transit stations in St. Paul (Lower Afton Road), Newport, Cottage Grove and Hastings.
2012: Expanded express bus service to build ridership.
2012-13: Analysis of cost allocations and ridership projections.
2014-16: Final design and engineering for the commuter rail line.
2016-18: Commuter rail construction begins.
2019: Commuter service begins to St. Paul.
2022: Commuter service extends to Minneapolis.
Notice what's missing? No determination of how much it will cost or who will pay for it. In 2012-13, we'll figure out how to divvy up the cost, whatever that may turn out to be.
Update II: I found this article from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, from early last year, which cites a 2007 study estimating the commuter rail portion of the Red Rock project at $550 million. The article also contains some estimates on the bus service portions of the project.
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