Rochester, MN — Downtown Streetcar Proposed

Rail Transit Online, October 2010

The city's Public Works Department has proposed a four-mile (6.4 km) streetcar starter line along Second Street Southwest linking Mayo Clinic's downtown facilities with Saint Mary's Hospital.

Half the estimated $90-million capital cost would have to come from the federal government. Public Works Director Richard Freese included a request for the other $45 million in a planned 12- to 15-year extension of a half-cent local sales tax. "It's an exciting idea, and it's new," Freese told the city's Sales Tax Advisory Committee. "There's enough ridership already there to surpass some cities that already have streetcar systems."

Freese said the streetcar could eventually be expanded at both ends, west
to West Circle Drive and east to Rochester Community and Technical College.
The tax extension would raise an estimated $120 million, but the committee has already received requests for city projects costing several times that amount. Freese estimated it would take at least seven years of studies and data collection before construction could begin.