MINNEAPOLIS — The most recently proposed route for Metro Transit's Blue Line Extension light rail line will bypass the main core of the West Broadway Avenue business district on the north side of Minneapolis. But the change won't make everyone happy because the design still envisions the trains running along Broadway west of the main retail hub.
Until this week, the design visualizations showed parallel tracks running down the middle of West Broadway between I-94 to James Street, with vehicle traffic limited to one lane in each direction. But at a community engagement meeting Thursday afternoon, the staff recommended a plan that puts the line a block to the north among North 21st Avenue.
The plan calls for a new bridge across I-94, connecting 21st Avenue to Washington Avenue.
"I think it's a step in the right direction. It shows the project team is being responsive to community feedback," Minneapolis City Council Member Jeremiah Ellison told KARE.
"But it's not the end of the discussion. They will need to engage fully with the residents along 21st Avenue to consider their concerns."
Construction of the line, which will run from Target Field in downtown Minneapolis to Brooklyn Park, is still years away. But planners are trying to pick a route so they can begin work on a draft environmental impact statement. All of the cities along the proposed light rail line, including Minneapolis, Robbinsdale, Crystal, and Brooklyn Park, will need to sign off on the route.
"You want to see good infrastructure come to north Minneapolis, but you want to make sure that it's a benefit. You want to make sure the community's comfortable with it."
The proposed route has the train tracks joining the West Broadway corridor at James Avenue and then continuing on that street through the busy intersection at Penn Avenue and Broadway. The Met Council notified the owners of the Five Points Building that it may have to be taken down to make room for the tracks.
That building is the current home of KMOJ-FM, which has been serving the community since 1976. The station has been at that location for ten years.
"We stand to lose that home as do a number of people in the pathway whichever route it takes," Freddie Bell, KMOJ's general manager, told KARE 11.
"At the meeting I felt a lot of compassion for KMOJ," Bell remarked. "But that compassion doesn't necessarily tell us where a displaced homemaker will go, where a small business like the ones here on Broadway will go. And it certainly doesn't tell us where KMOJ will go."
The Met Council staff has pledged to keep takings of private property to a minimum and to help displaced families and businesses relocate to comparable spaces. Early letters to affected property owners often err on the side of caution.
But Bell said people along the route, including the staff of KMOJ, would like some certainty so they can make definite plans.
Across the street from KMOJ you'll find the Wilson Image Barbers and Stylists. Owner Teto Wilson said he's had multiple meetings with Met Council and Hennepin Rail staff about the line and still opposes the project.
"Every business up and down this street is against it because it will be divisive and destructive. People in this area use cars and buses. We don't need a train."
Wilson also said he's worried customers will be driven off by construction disruption.
"We can't afford to have a project go on for five, six, seven, eight years."