At the urging of the city of Bloomington, Metro Transit will build a 34th Avenue station at American Boulevard. The station was dropped from initial construction for lack of money, but Bloomington thinks it will complement its development plans. Estimated cost: $2 million.
It's a good idea, of course, because it improves the impact of the LRT as a development tool down on the South end of the line.
What's more, the fact that they're able to so easily add a station at this point is part of the LRT funding strategy. It's something like "point of entry" fundraising, where you ask for something limited and then add more once your population is more comfortable with the relationship.
Let's hope that happens, too, for the NorthStar line. They couldn't add a Northeast Minneapolis stop in their current proposal (there are no stops between Fridley and downtown), but perhaps they'll be able to add one in a few years after the line opens up.
actually, i agree with you. stations are already a bit too frequent. (One of the downtown stations could go too...) maybe they're trying to maximize the impact of the 55 line a bit too much.
ReplyDeleteanyway, the plans for the Univ. ave. LRT have the stations pretty spread out, so that's good.