Legislative Session Wrap-up 2023
Minnesota just finished a historic legislative session! Let’s hear from leading transportation advocates about what we accomplished.
Tag Archives: trains
How to Go to Milwaukee
Reflections on a short trip to the oldest and most iconic 10-pin alley yield lessons on transit, history, equity and infrastructure.
The Northstar Is Broken. How can we fix it?
Contributor Ian Gaida offers musings on how to make the Northstar a more useful – and utilized – system.
To keep housing cost affordable, Minnesota needs to consider an intercity rail system
The Twin Cities has the worst housing shortage in the nation, as reported by the Star Tribune. This comes as no surprise to many who were in search of a home this past year. Home buyers were met with competing offers tens of thousands over the asking prices. This has escalated the average home sales […]
Rail vs Bus on the Red Rock Corridor
Back in the late 1990s, MnDOT analyzed several existing freight rail corridors in the Twin Cities region for the possibility of implementing commuter rail service. Three routes were chosen for their cost effectiveness and best potential ridership: the Northstar Line to St. Cloud, the Red Rock Corridor to Hastings, and the Dan Patch Corridor to […]
Once in a Lifetime: A Fantasy Transit Adventure
It’s extremely unfortunate when parties break previous agreements and derail transit projects, as is the case for the Blue Line Extension, aka the Bottineau Line. Since we’re going back to the drawing board, I am hopeful that the collective “we” can begin to right previous wrongs and finally create good transit that will serve communities […]
Amtrak’s Empire Builder: The Train that Deserves Better
Amtrak’s Empire Builder, the only intercity rail service in Minnesota, will be reduced from daily to tri-weekly service beginning in October due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. I decided to take it one more time before the cuts went into effect, as there’s no way of knowing how long it’ll be before daily […]
The New(er) Mall of America Station: A Temporary Solution
Most of my trips to the Mall of America aren’t to the actual mall but rather to the transit station for getting on a bus or train. For over half a year, however, I’ve made an effort to avoid using Mall of America Station, going so far as to walk from 28th Avenue Station to […]
A Lukewarm Defense of Lakeville
Your author has spent a good deal of time in Lakeville. My wife grew up there, and it’s where my in-laws still live. In fact, our family of four lived there for a summer in between selling and buying a house. My father-in-law runs a small business there, and I’ve even spent a number of […]
A Vision for the Dan Patch Corridor
Last year I posted about the potential for regional rail in the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and for this post I’ll be focusing on a route that has been of interest to me for over a decade; the Dan Patch Corridor between Minneapolis and Northfield. Some background on myself: I’ve lived in West Bloomington my […]