Showing posts with label Hiawatha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hiawatha. Show all posts

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Sunday Night Photo Dump I

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to share photos and videos that I've taken with you all. In the last month I've been to Minneapolis and Los Angeles taking some mad photos of some great TOD and some airplane shots that should spark some conversation.

Every time I go somewhere I'll try to get out and visit people and places. In this instance, I took out in Downtown Minneapolis and along the Gold Line in LA. Here's some highlights. If you want to check out all the pictures, go to the flickr feed for Transit Nerds.

First here are some shots in Minneapolis:

Dental Offices on the Light Rail Line seem to appreciate that fact.

Minneapolis for APA

The Post Office was Art Deco, and very photogenic. Yes that's me in the reflection. Cool huh?

Minneapolis for APA

Minneapolis for APA

The New I-35 Bridge

Minneapolis for APA

Segway Tours...

Minneapolis for APA

Mill City Development with cool exterior elevator

Minneapolis for APA

Obligatory LRV photo

Minneapolis for APA

The next posts will be Los Angeles and Aerials.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Twin Cities Want In the TSR

The Twin Cities was well known for it's street railways but not always for the best reasons. So it comes as no surprise that the only other metro region to have a regional government besides Portland would want to put together a light rail system. The most recent light rail success story in the United States turns out to be Minneapolis' Hiawatha Line. So successful is the line, that is has already surpassed it's projections for the year 2020 by 6,000+ riders a day. That's astonishing and it gets better.

This one success spurred the legislature to create a dedicated funding source for operating revenue for Metro Transit. Previously they were allocating funding every year, moving with the whim of the political winds. Now that they have an operating funding source, they need a capital funding source to match with Federal New Starts money for expansion projects.

Today Hennepin County realized as did all the other counties that this was necessary to build a real transit network. While the governor opposes the sales tax, he's going to have to get onto the idea quickly. The region can't afford to be left behind in the TSR. It's doing well so far and has a bit of a head start over places like Phoenix, Seattle and Charlotte but it's going to take more than the Hiawatha line to attracts jobs and the creative class.

Even if the governor doesn't agree, the mayor has been looking at a streetcar network.