From 1890 until 1953, there was an Interurban line that connected the downtowns of the twins cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota. I’m sure this story is becoming familiar by now. Successful Interurban line closed due to the auto, now being rebuilt. On February 28th, the region's Metropolitan Council approved reinstating and funding this line as light rail to be completed by 2014. The line would run 17.7km between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. Asked about why they chose light rail over bus rapid transit:
While BRT would be less expensive, the corridor cannot accommodate enough buses to meet the projected transit demand in 2020 and beyond. LRT will serve a projected weekday ridership of 38,100 in 2020 and 43,270 in 2030.This reinstated line would tie into the successful 19km Hiawatha Line which opened in 2004.
Besides this project, the state will also be opening a 64km commuter rail line by 2009, and is in the planning stages of a 19km southwest light rail line by 2020.
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