Minneapolis — Planning Advances

February 2013

Planners in St. Paul and Minneapolis are getting a better idea of what a rebuilt street car system could look like.

In St. Paul, consultants working on a yearlong study of potential street car corridors have narrowed in on 16 possible streets which they believe offer the most promise:

http://stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=4872

A map of those corridors is below; criteria used to come up with the list is explained in greater detail in this presentation that to be made at the St. Paul Transportation Committee:

http://www.stpaul.gov/DocumentCenter/View/62859

City officials hope to prepare cost and ridership estimates in the coming months, and to select one or two priority corridors by September. How all of this gets funded remains to be determined.

In Minneapolis, plans to bring a street car line to Central and Nicollet avenues are also moving forward: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/nicollet-central/

Though the proposed map shows a nearly nine-mile route that goes from south Minneapolis to Columbia Heights, a shorter one to four-mile "starter line" would likely come first, city officials say.