Q1 So Lowry has a real chance at this still?Just wanted to follow up on these town halls. Dan Soler, the project manager, stated unequivocally that there will be no underground stations. I want that to be abundantly clear to any of you holding out hope for some kind of Broadway tunnel. There could certainly be short elevated portions of the line as needed, but please have realistic expectations that this project is not going to include a tunnel segment with underground stations. They really want all stations to be at-grade. Even Southwest, with all of its expensive grade separation out in Minnetonka & Eden Prairie, all of the stations are still at-grade. The only ones that are not are the Minneapolis stations that are up on existing bridges over the RR corridor. Not at all the same thing as a true underground station in terms of cost.Town halls today at Noon and 6pm: https://metrocouncil.org/Transportation ... rials.aspxPresentation for the 3/25 and 3/30 Townhall Meetings: https://metrocouncil.org/Transportation ... nHall.aspx
For that reason, I think it's important not to preselect Broadway as the 'one true choice'. There is going to be a lot of small business and resident opposition to any surface alignment on Broadway (and certainly Lowry too, but I think the negative impacts of an LRT guideway are probably more acutely felt on Broadway). In yesterday's corridor management committee meeting, they shared that early feedback was split 55% Broadway, 22% Lowry, and 23% need more information before making a choice or have another preference. They also stressed that these numbers were early and they are expecting to receive many more responses through community partner organizations. Here's the meeting link: https://metrocouncil.org/getdoc/a619f7d ... genda.aspx (jump to 53:00 for the part covering feedback from the surveys and town halls so far).
Q2 Could we see an elevated station and track on Broadway? SWLRT and the Hiawatha Line have decent amounts of elevated rail and these tricky parts of Broadway are super long.