As a member of the I-35W Access Project Advisory Committee (PAC), I attended the January 11th meeting with MnDOT reported on in this Star Tribune article. The article, titled "MnDOT says it can meet neighborhood's wishes on I-35W plan", while accurate, gives an optimistic picture that I wouldn't give it. There's more under the cover here and I'd like to add a couple of points:
First, the public should know that MnDOT is moving forward with its long-sought expansion plans on I-35W (adding new HOV lanes from 46th to Downtown) and is doing so by piggy backing on the Access Project. While MnDOT agrees in concept that the HOV plans are separate from the Access Project (i.e., it will require its own environmental review and public input process), it sees the PAC's recent action to accommodate future HOV lanes in the design of new ramps in the Lake Street area as an important community endorsement of its expansion plans. It continues to seek advantage. At Friday's meeting with PAC representatives, MnDOT stated that it wanted to move forward the timeline for building new HOV lanes (originally 2015) and that the only way for MnDOT to commit an additional $75 million to the Access Project (the projected cost of accommodating new lanes now and mitigating the impacts of the these changes) is to package the first phase of the HOV plan as part of the Access Project (2004 to 2008). The PAC representatives at the meeting baulked at such a suggestion as they do not want to portray the PAC's vote to accommodate HOV lanes as a direct endorsement of MnDOT's plans. I was one of three PAC members voting against the recommendation to accommodate HOV lanes as I was fearful about giving MnDOT a green light for expansion. Second, it was the PAC's hope that MnDOT would reciprocate the PAC's vote to accommodate HOV lanes with full funding of its share of the Access Project (the additional $75 million). But, MnDOT has no money, as the Star Tribune article makes clear. It doesn't have funds for the additional cost of a redesigned Crosstown ($80 million), the additional cost to accommodate HOV lanes as part of the Access Project ($75 million), or the future HOV lanes themselves ($200 million). MnDOT wants the Access Project partners to help come up with the additional needed funds. Moreover, MnDOT suggested that it would want to secure funding for all three efforts along the I-35W corridor (Crosstown, HOV lanes and Access Project) before it allocates any funds to the Access Project. PAC representatives flinched again at this suggestion as it was another attempt by MnDOT to tie the Access Project and HOV plans together. It seems that the PAC has little leverage to get what it wants from MnDOT, despite its support to accommodate HOV lanes. For a more detailed account of the issue, go to www.swjournal.com for its recent article "Ramping Up Tension" and the attached still unpublished opinion piece that Robert Lilligren (8th Ward City Council member) and I wrote for the Star Tribune. Both provide a good history and framing of the issues at hand. Jeanne Massey Ward 10
Mn/DOT is Back with I-35W Expansion Plans in South Minneapolis The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) is back with another I-35W expansion plan, trying its luck again at getting a bigger freeway, one that Minneapolitans have already said "no" to. The Star Tribune (on December 17) backed the plan, urging a group of neighborhood and business representatives who had been working for three years on improving freeway access to support Mn/DOT's last-minute expansion proposal. The group, the I-35W Access Project Advisory Committee (PAC), did just that on December 18. The vote directed Access Project consultants to retrofit existing designs to handle new high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes (one in each direction) in the middle of I-35W between 46th Street and Downtown. Although this vote was not meant as a direct endorsement for the additional lanes, this may be just the message the PAC sent, giving unearned legitimacy to Mn/DOT's expansion plans. Even though Mn/DOT will eventually have to bring its expansion proposal to the community and undertake an environmental review process, its use of the Access Project to advance its expansion goals is unfair and stacks the odds against empowered community decisions regarding new lanes. Reducing gridlock on I-35W is a pressing metropolitan problem, but we don't presuppose that expanding the freeway is the answer. Countless studies show the futility and extraordinary cost of trying to build ourselves out of congestion. The PAC should reconsider its decision to accommodate new lanes on I-35W, and Minneapolis neighborhoods should work with their suburban neighbors to create viable transit solutions that keep Minneapolis and the region a vital place to work and live. The I-35W Access Project was not designed to evaluate expansion. Its goal was to improve access in the Lake Street area. Begun in 1998 by a consortium of Minneapolis businesses, the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, it is guided by an advisory group of impacted businesses and neighborhoods. The PAC has approved several recommendations that add new north ramps and a flyover ramp at Lake Street, redesign the 5th Avenue ramp and relocate the 35th/36th Street ramps to 38th Street. At the 11th hour, piggybacking on the legislature's 2001 mandate to alter Crosstown's reconstruction, Mn/DOT proposed new HOV lanes to be built in 2015 and asked the Access Project to design any new bridges and ramps to the specifications of such an expanded freeway. The PAC voted to accept these changes because they believed that Mn/DOT would not approve the Access Project without them. As PAC members, we have had several concerns about negative impacts of the I-35W Access Project even before the expansion proposal emerged. Although we have been and remain committed to working with the PAC and project consultants to reduce these impacts, we, and Antonio Rosell representing Ventura Village, voted against accommodating new lanes within the Access Project because: 1. Adding lanes for I-35W breaches a compromise reached between Minneapolis and Mn/DOT in the mid-1990s after years of battling freeway expansion in South Minneapolis. That compromise committed Mn/DOT to no new lanes from 46th Street to Downtown in exchange for no Light Rail Transit (LRT) on I-35W. Additionally, any HOV lanes would be provided by converting an existing lane in each direction, not by building new lanes. Mn/DOT is reneging on this agreement and is moving forward with plans to expand the freeway. 2. Mn/DOT argues that the addition of HOV lanes will require only minimal right-of-way taking, so what's the big deal? The big deal is that there is no guarantee that HOV lanes will remain HOV lanes and, that any new lanes (HOV or all-purpose) will bring more cars to the freeway and Minneapolis neighborhoods, and continue to support costly and environmentally and socially damaging urban sprawl. The PAC was asked to make its decision without seeing any preliminary studies showing the need for, implications of and alternatives to additional lanes. 3. The PAC acted hastily and didn't follow its own process for obtaining community input, which was set up to ensure the integrity and inclusivity of the project's decision-making process. Recommendations are normally voted on at the meeting following the initial discussion, providing time for representatives to take information back to their communities and get input prior to their vote. This time the process was not followed. 4. The additional $45 million (beyond the original $80 million estimated for new ramps and $25 million for mitigation) needed to handle the expansion has no funding source. Whether state or federal, these funds will be hard to find in a time of shrinking government revenues, and may be diverted from other metro or outstate transportation projects. Although Mn/DOT's goal is speeding up commutes, we think they need to slow down on this one. And the public should know there is no public buy-in for these changes. By Members of the I-35W Access Project Advisory Committee: Robert Lilligren, Minneapolis City Council, 8th Ward Jeanne Massey, Community Representative for Kingfield Neighborhood 1 2 I-35Wpiece-draft7.doc 01/16/02