the metro is making tracks to subtract cars from the commute
On any given weekday around 5 p.m., Interstate 94 in
Across town, another crowd slowly inches its way forward. This crowd, however, is making its way down a platform, not a highway. It’s waiting to get on a light rail car on the Hiawatha Line.
Some people want to avoid the parking lot scene that is Interstates 94 and 35W at this time of day. Others refuse to pay the monthly fees for downtown parking. A few do not even own a car and must use public transit to traverse the city. Whatever their reasons, these people are all making an impact on the environment.
As the threat of climate change becomes more real with every melting glacier, each set of those flashing break lights represents CO2 output. Transportation, which accounts for one-third of the world’s CO2 emissions, is a sector in which great progress is possible.
“If you’re serious about global warming, you have to be serious about mass transit,” says Dave Van Hattum, a program manager for Transit for Livable Communities, a transit advocacy group in
As
While there are many positive signs for LRT in the metro area, it is expensive, and politicians have been hesitant to pay. The positive environmental impact of LRT is unknown, too, leading to slow-moving development.
Despite the uncertainty, officials are trying to figure out what role LRT will play in going green. Surveys by Metro Transit show that 89 percent of light rail customers own a car. That means that 89 percent of the people on each train represent fewer cars on the road and fewer CO2 emissions, which highlights the green potential of mass transit.
Experts like Julian Marshall, a University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies civil engineering professor, say that well-planned mass transit systems emit less CO2 per person than automobiles.
“The environmental impact of one person riding mass transit is lower than one person driving a car,” he says.
“If you’re eliminating a long-distance commuter trip, that’s one good goal,” says Jim Erkel, the director for land use and transportation at the
The scientific data on light rail’s energy use supports this view. Studies by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Transit for Livable Communities found that the Hiawatha Line saves between 3,013 and 5,284 pounds of gas every day. The MPCA found that during 2005, the light rail saved more than 21 million pounds of CO2 emissions by providing an alternative to driving.
Those numbers are calculated by how much gas riders would have used driving as opposed to CO2 emitted by LRT. The reduction in gas usage and CO2 emissions will continue to grow as the number of riders rises.
Metro Transit “is having a positive effect on the environment by getting people to ride,” says Bob Gibbons, Metro Transit’s director of customer service.
Emissions from transportation can be cut in three ways: Cars can use more efficient and renewable fuels; vehicles can become more fuel efficient; and government can provide better land use and transit planning.
Erkel says transit holds the greatest promise.
“In trying to reduce greenhouse gases from the transportation sector, you can’t just hope for technological advances,” he says.
While advocates are excited about potential LRT expansion, statistics show the metro has a long way to go to improve transit options. The congestion in the metro area is among the worst in the country, ranking alongside cities like
The Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey found that while more than 78 percent of workers in the metro drove alone to work, 4 percent used public transportation. That puts the metro area behind the national average of nearly 5 percent, and behind other metropolitan areas like
All these cities have more transit options.
The difference between those cities and the metro area is simple, Van Hattum says.
“We don’t invest like they do,” he says.
Investment has been the major hurdle in expanding LRT and other transit in the metro area for more than a decade now. Transit advocates got their hopes up only to see funding reduced or abandoned. The most recent case of this came last year when Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed a transportation bill that would provide new funding for LRT through a gas tax increase.
Van Hattum doesn’t believe the holdups reflect public sentiment.
“People are way ahead of the politicians,” he says. “They are willing to pay for transit investments.”
Recent surveys support Van Hattum’s claims. A poll conducted in May by Decision Resources Ltd. for the
As public support for transit investments increased, advocates tried to make the case to opponents and politicians who kept investment low.
Van Hattum says advocates think improved transit spurs economic development, reduce traffic congestion and improve the environment. He says while the environmental argument is important, it’s rarely the most appealing to transit skeptics.
Laura Baenen, the Central Corridor Project communication manager, says she has to appeal to individual concerns. The LRT Central Corridor would connect
“If (the environmental argument) doesn’t grab them, you have to appeal to them with things like money and time,” she says.
In the Metropolitan Council’s survey of light rail riders, 6 percent of riders cited environmental concerns as their reason for riding the light rail, compared to 26 percent who stated saving money on parking and 26 percent who said convenience. That comes as no surprise to
“How people behave is based on cost and convenience,” he says.
While he is happy to use these arguments for more transit investment, Erkel says as public awareness of issues like climate change increases, environmental arguments will be more effective.
“I would certainly hope that the environmental benefits of mass transit will become better understood,” he says.
These battles over metro area transit have been taking place for decades, but LRT has proven to be a successful commodity in the metro area.
Proper placement has been the key to the success of the Hiawatha Line. By connecting downtown to a major suburban community of daily commuters, an international airport and one of the biggest shopping malls in the world, the Hiawatha Line lies in a busy transportation corridor. The line demonstrates that when it comes to LRT, good planning will lead to good use.
Last year, 9.4 million people rode the light rail. That number is three times higher than the total from 2004, the light rail’s first year of operation. This surpasses the 9.4 million riders the Metropolitan Council estimated for 2020 ridership.
These numbers have been accompanied by overwhelming approval of the Hiawatha Line. In a survey by the Metropolitan Council, which plans and oversees public transit in the metro, 96 percent of Hiawatha riders said they were satisfied with the service.
As public support for rail service grows, planners have begun to respond with new projects. The Northstar Commuter Rail from
The aims are the same though. Northstar, like Hiawatha, will bring commuters from the suburbs into the city without cars. The
The Central Corridor line is not scheduled to open until 2014, but many advocates believe it will reshape the two cities by allowing city dwellers to conveniently traverse the two cities. Unlike the Hiawatha Line, the Central Corridor is not as focused on reducing worker commutes because it will operate in an area where few people drive to work.
Land-use planning and zoning are important factors in making LRT good for the environment,
Zoning allows for high-density residential and commercial development around stations with the goal of having people live and work within a convenient distance to a transit station.
“We can have the same amount of growth without using as much land,” Erkel says. “You can have people live with a smaller environmental footprint.” It was that realization that prompted Erkel and his colleagues to make transit the centerpiece of their fight against urban sprawl.
“We couldn’t figure out how to make a frontal assault on sprawl,” Erkel says. “Then we decided to come at it from the land use and transportation side.”
For transit-oriented development, the Bloomington Central Station is ideal because it’s located between the
Just yards from the Bloomington Central Station platform stand three large towers. The first two towers, connected by a lobby, are Reflections, a condominium complex with 263 “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” (LEED)-certified units. The third tower is the corporate headquarters for HealthPartners.
“Our gold mine sat right in the middle or our site, and that was the (Hiawatha Line) station,” says Mark Fabel, the McGough Project manager.
Fabel, who oversaw the Reflections development, says McGough wanted to make the development green because they thought it presented an economically viable opportunity. With financial assistance of at least $55 million from the City of
“There will always be better viability for development around transit than in areas without it,” Fabel says.
Such a development requires a great deal of planning and assistance from city, state and county governments. The development has to be zoned in order to use the land for condos or commercial office buildings. Cities and counties have to accommodate such developments by making new streets and sidewalks, rerouting electrical grids and extending sewage and water systems. Without this kind of government aide, development is almost impossible, Fabel says.
True believers in transit are excited by light rail’s potential to reduce CO2 emissions. They think by getting people out of their cars and on to light rail, it is possible to slow the progress of climate change.
Ultimately, though, the success of the Hiawatha Line has shown that when light rail is put in the right place and the planning is done well, Minnesotans will put it to good use. When that happens, the sea of flashing break lights on I-94—and CO2 emissions—will finally begin to shrink. a
Sam Kramer
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