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Rail transit will pass through Northeast Minneapolis but won’t deliver the kind of urban neighborhood redevelopment that’s already seen along the Hiawatha Light Rail line and that has been ballyhooed for other planned light rail lines that will connect downtown Minneapolis with St. Paul and with the southwest metro suburbs. That’s because the Northstar Commuter Rail, which is set to connect downtown Minneapolis to the northern exurbs one year from now, will have no stops in Northeast as it travels between downtown and the Fridley station that the Star Tribune profiles today.
Fridley saved its Northstar station from federal cuts, but Minneapolis’s plans for a station outside of downtown never got far enough to get cut by the feds. Even so, the Northstar commuter line, which travels on heavy rails otherwised used by freight trains, has largely supplanted in planners’ minds a proposed Northeast Corridor light rail line that would have served, instead of merely cutting through, Minneapolis’s Northeast neighborhoods.
There’s irony in rail transit passing Northeast by. It’s a part of the city that traditionally has held a disproportionate share of Minneapolis’s factories, bars and working class immigrants, and while that economic and demographic profile has evolved somewhat, Northeast’s abundant railroad trackage has stayed put. Yet as rail-rich as Northeast is, a busway seems the most it can hope for, and other areas are ahead in line for even that level of transit.
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4 Comments »
Comment posted December 11, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
That’s because its NORTH Minneapolis, duh.
Comment posted December 11, 2008 @ 5:42 pm
You’re not from here, are ya? North Minneapolis is west of I-94, so while the rail line goes due north it leaves town without ever entering into the north side.
Comment posted January 14, 2009 @ 1:43 pm
Northeast is not North Minneapolis “ctmadnes,” you are most definitely not from here. They are very distinct areas and the existing rail line runs exclusively on the east side of the Mississippi. The line that runs through North side heads due west to Medina. Another irony to this situation is that Fridley contains many of Nordeasts’ descendants.
Comment posted August 31, 2009 @ 12:35 pm
It’s a HUGE disappointment that the CITY residents through which this monster motors through will not get any benefit from the rail line. As a frequent air traveler who prefers rail over bus, I am disappointed that I will still be getting rides in a car to and from the airport or the Hiawatha Rail stations. The line is passing right through NE mpls, why not add a stop here? The bus isn’t convenient and is overpriced. It takes twice as long for me to bus downtown as it does to drive and the cost is only 50 cents less, hardly worth giving up the convenience of my own transportation compared to the bus. Alas, NE residents are bound to be driving to and from work for now.
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