By Sean Wherley and Jeanne Massey The Minneapolis city council will vote Jan. 30 whether to support a $152 million construction project on Interstate 35W that does little to address the surge of cars filling the Twin Cities' busiest and most congested corridor. The vote comes months before completion of the environmental review and the requisite public hearing process.
The planning for the 35W Access Project began in 1997 at the request of the Phillips Partnership, an alliance between the city, county, and Lake Street area corporations, primarily Wells Fargo (then Honeywell), Allina, and Children's Hospital. The project grew to include neighborhood representatives. Together, they formed a Project Advisory Committee, led by Smith Parker, and its final recommendations are now moving forward for county and city approval. The project would construct two new freeway ramps at Lake Street, move existing ramps at 35th and 36th Streets south to 38th Street, build several other new bridges, and reconfigure the 5th Avenue ramps. All of this is being done in the name of providing better access to surrounding neighborhoods and businesses. Project supporters claim that the new ramps would spur development on Lake Street. It is a dubious claim since the revitalization of Lake Street in the last ten years has occurred in spite of limited freeway access at Lake Street, mostly because of the vision and commitment of immigrant business owners. And if freeway ramps are needed for economic development along Lake Street, how does one explain the vibrancy found on Grand Avenue in St. Paul and Uptown in Minneapolis where both areas lack immediate freeway access? To be sure, many Lake Street area neighborhood residents support the project believing that it will spur economic development and reduce traffic on their local streets. However, it has become clear that corporate interests, not economic development and neighborhood traffic concerns, are driving this project. Allina is forcing a vote this week by the city council before the company considers relocating some of its operations and related jobs to the former Sears building on Lake Street. Allina, Wells Fargo, and Children's Hospital are large regional facilities which claim that their employees and patients get lost in the maze of streets leading from existing freeway ramps to their institutions. These establishments prefer that their employees and patients minimize the time spent traversing the adjoining neighborhoods of Phillips, Whittier, and Powderhorn on their way to work. In effect, the Access Project becomes a glorified driveway to the parking ramps of the companies near the freeway. As a result, $5 million of taxpayers' money has been spent to date on a phalanx of elaborate drawings and schemes that will level approximately seven businesses and 14 housing units. Meanwhile, funding for the $152 million project is unclear, a major impediment for the project. Fortunately, a better and cheaper vision exists for creating access at Lake Street and reducing traffic on 35W. Such an alternative could include a lane in both directions on 35W exclusively devoted to buses, allowing them to drive faster than cars stranded in traffic. Upon reaching Lake Street, shuttle buses could ferry passengers the few blocks to Wells Fargo, Allina, the Children's Hospital and other destinations in the area. Park and Ride lots could be built that allow suburban employees of those institutions to park their cars in lots on the outskirts of Minneapolis, and then are transported to their jobs by buses driving in the "bus only" lane on 35W directly to Lake Street. Additionally, if new lanes are added to Lake Street as currently proposed, one of these lanes could be designated as a bus lane to improve transit quality for area residents and customers. Lastly, economic redevelopment, traffic mitigation, and streetscape enhancements-not infrastructure improvements-would do more to revitalize businesses, draw new customers, and increase biking and pedestrian safety for area residents near the Lake Street interchange of 35W. It is crucial that the city council vet the Access Project more thoroughly before lending its support and money to a project that is in financial limbo. An improved transit-oriented vision would help people get around in ways that do not depend on paving more land, leveling more houses, or harboring more cars in traffic. Sean Wherley is a representative to the 35W Access Project Advisory Committee. Jeanne Massey is a former representative to the 35W Access Project Advisory Committee. Jeanne Massey Kingfield > > REMINDERS: > 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > 2. Don't feed the troll! 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