This afternoon, my colleagues and I approved the Griggs Street Bikeway.  Griggs is an important north-south bike route that will also connect pedestrians and bicyclists to light rail. Construction will begin this spring or summer. For more information, check out this project web site.

I have partnered with Mayor Coleman's Office to raise a combination of public and private resources to study the potential of using modern streetcars to improve transit access and expand economic development opportunities.  The study will seek to identify priority routes in St. Paul, and to begin to lay out financing options.  Modern streetcars, like the old trolleys in St. Paul, are much smaller and more nimble than light rail vehicles and the streetcar tracks can share a lane with autos.  Due to the smaller, lighter vehicles, and less required infrastructure, new streetcar lines cost about 1/3 as much per mile as light rail to construct (they also have a much lower maximum ridership capacity).  Portland, Tampa, and other cities have built modern streetcar lines in the past 20 years, and every city that has done so is planning for additional lines as they have been very popular and successful.   In St. Paul, streetcars could extend the transit and economic development benefits of our light rail line into other St. Paul neighborhoods.

After many years of waiting, the City is taking the lead on a planning process to determine what the long-term transportation infrastructure needs are in the northwestern quadrant of  St. Paul, bounded by I-94 to the south, the City limits to the north and west, and Hamline Avenue to the east. More information on the NW Quad study here.

Concurrently, MNDOT will be taking the lead on a study of Snelling Avenue between Como and Selby Avenues.  The study will consider safety and traffic flow for all users, options for improving Snelling/University congestion issues, and the lack of safe access for pedestrians and bicycles on the Snelling bridges over the railroad tracks, etc., on the northern end.  Both studies will include community advisory boards, and they are being done concurrently so that the two studies can inform the outcomes of one another.

In the lead-up to passing a final budget for 2012, I heard from a number of constituents about their property taxes and the budget. I sent a lengthy follow-up letter to them explaining my thoughts on the City's situation.  If you're interested, you can read it in its entirety here.