Central Corridor Light Rail: Good or Bad For University Avenue?

Midway Used and Rare Bookstore on the corner of University and Snelling Avenues in St. Paul is almost as eyecatching for the anti-light rail signs in the window as for any book related window display.

The owner of the store belives that the impending Central Corridor light rail construction will kill his business. He predicts, like many other University Avenue business owners, that disruption and increased traffic during construction, and permanent loss of street parking will drive customers away.

Midway bookstore has a parking lot for its own customers, but a sizable number of University Avenue businesses don't, and rely on the current supply of free parking for customers and employees.

85% of street parking on University Avenue will be removed to build the light rail lines. And compounding the problem of parking, commuters to downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul are likely to use nearby streets as free park and ride spaces.

The Central Corridor's plan for compensating for reduced parking seems to involve using existing business parking lots and alley access more efficiently, and encouraging businesses to share parking spaces. Parking meters would be installed on all remaining University Avenue parking spaces and on major cross streets. To stop park and ride freeloaders, one block north and south of University Avenue would likely become time-limited parking, and many areas would be resident permit parking only.

Construction, right down the middle of one of St. Paul's busiest roads, is going to be a long-term headache, with construction begining in 2011 until the completion date in 2014. The road will never be closed, and the planners say there will be at least one lane in each direction at all times. On a busy two-lane road, delays due to construction are certain. Will the eventual public transit line be worth it to the community?

A lawsuit filed by the St. Paul NAACP, community organizations, residents and businesses thinks not. According to a MPR report, the plaintiffs allege that the light rail "project will increase taxes, raise rental prices, divide the community, reduce parking, interrupt business, and gentrify the neighborhood."

"Divide the community" is a reference to the construction of Interstate 94, which bulldozed a swathe several blocks wide through the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, displacing residents and destroying the neighborhood's commercial district. The light rail line won't require any houses or businesses to be demolished, but the concept of the project naturally raises comparisons to the devastating effect of I-94. The spectre of economic devastation from the light rail is just as affecting as physical buildings being torn down.

Metropolitan Council Chair Peter Bell responded "I am firmly convinced that the project will help spur the revitalization already occurring in the corridor and provide improved access to employment, educational and economic opportunities for its residents."

One upside of the project is that St. Paul taxpayers will get University Avenue rebuilt for a fraction of the price that it would cost otherwise - light rail's state and Federal money will fund the majority of the reconstruction. The street has "gone to heck" as one Ramsey County engineer put it. Quite. It's cracked, potholed, falling to pieces in parts and desperately needs millions of dollars in repair work. Combining rebuilding University Avenue's roadway, sidewalks and lights with the light rail means that Ramsey County will only pay $350,000 for the work - a fraction of the cost needed to rebuilt four miles of street.