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An Anniversary and A Look Forward Two years ago this month, on April 28, 2010, at a community meeting in St. Louis Park, County Commissioner Gail Dorfman stated that Hennepin County’s freight rail reroute plan to change the little known, little used north/south Minneapolis Northfield and Southern (MN&S) tracks into a main line rail corridor was “a done deal.” It’s still not done. The next few weeks and months will be pivotal and there are things you can do to help. First we wait. As of this writing, we don’t know if the Minnesota State Legislature has provided any of the bonding necessary to move the SWLRT forward. If you would like to weigh in on the debate you can write the members of the House and Senate Transportation Committees. (links below)
While we wait the Safety in the Park steering committee is moving ahead as if full funding has been provided. We are collecting information and planning the best way to respond to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) currently being prepared by the Met Council. The EIS will probably be published this summer. At that time residents in St. Louis Park and other communities will have the opportunity to respond. Please plan to respond. When the time comes we will supply you with the information from the report pertinent to the re-route to make your response as easy as possible.
On top of planning for the EIS, Safety in the Park continues to work with our elected officials to push for the freight to stay in Kenwood. This is now being referred to as Co-Location. If the push for co-location fails, we have been promised “robust” mitigation.
What you can do: 1. Plan to respond to the EIS. 2. Write to the State Legislative Transportation Committees (links below) 3. Remind the St. Louis Park School Board to be vocal about the mitigation necessary to keep our students safe and in a learning environment. This can be done by letter or during Open Forum time at school board meetings. (information below) 4. Ask the St. Louis Park City Council to push for co-location or complete mitigation. (links below)
Jami LaPray and Thom Miller – co-chairs, Safety in the Park!
Senate Transportation Committee: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/committee_bio.php?cmte_id=1021&ls=
House Transportation Committee: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committeemembers.asp?comm=87023
St. Louis Park School Board: http://www.rschooltoday.com/se3bin/clientgenie.cgi
Open Forum during St. Louis Park School Board Meetings: April 23, May 19 or June 25 – 7:00 pm in room C350 of the High School
Background:
The Hennepin County Railroad Authority and MNDOT are planning to expand the MN&S (sometimes called the Dan Patch) rail line in St. Louis Park and connect this line with the greater rail network effectively converting the MN&S from a little used, little known spur line into a railroad mainline. The MN&S spur tracks run near the St. Louis Park high school and through many St. Louis Park neighborhoods. In addition, the expansion will also mean significant increases in rail traffic on other parts of the MN&S that run through communities such as Edina, Bloomington, Burnsville, Golden Valley and more.
Hennepin County has been purporting that this change is necessary because doing so will free up the Kenilworth Corridor, where freight trains currently run, to be used exclusively for Southwest Light Rail and the regional bike trail. However, many SLP residents believe that the county is connecting these two projects so that it can apply for federal money to make the MN&S changes under the guise of it being necessary for light rail. Two separate consultant studies, one by the county and one by SLP, have shown that indeed light rail and freight rail can co-exist in the Kenilworth corridor. In addition, the state's documents initiating the MN&S expansion say nothing of light rail being the cause.
Unlike the Kenilworth corridor or the 29th St. corridor (where these trains are running or previously ran), the MN&S spur line is not a rail corridor at all but rather a line of tracks that runs through hundreds of backyards and within a few feet of a 1500 student population high school. The obvious conclusion is that this re-routing is absolutely unacceptable from the standpoint of safety.
The elaborate build-out that the county proposes is estimated, by engineering consultants working with Safety in the Park (and now confirmed by the county), to cost approximately $75 million. That figure does not include any mitigation-only the extensive building of ramps, bridges over Hwy 7, the laying of new track, a pedestrian bridge, building of berms, etc. Conversely, Safety in the Park's engineering consultants (also now confirmed by the county and city of SLP) have estimated that keeping the freight rail in the Kenilworth corridor will cost a tiny fraction of the MN&S build-out, with no bridges, no ramps, no EPA SuperFund sites disturbed, etc.
Completely separate from that $75 million figure are the costs for mitigation that either route may need. While no exact figures have been generated, it appears that the MN&S line will also cost far more to mitigate properly than the Kenilworth corridor. Estimates for the MN&S Line mitigation ran at about $30-$50 million.
Consider these facts:
· Safety in the Park wholly supports and welcomes Southwest Light Rail into our community. The official purpose of the re-route from the State of Minnesota is NOT Light Rail, but rather completion of the state's rail plan which calls for a great expansion of the MN&S for increased frieght and someday, passenger rail.
· Unlike the Kenilworth corridor, the MN&S line runs within 35 feet of the SLP high school parking lot and within 75 feet of the building.
· Unlike the Kenilworth corridor, the MN&S line runs within 35 - 66 feet of hundreds of resident’s properties.
· Unlike the Kenilworth corridor, there are 14 at-grade crossings along the MN&S potentially blocking traffic for long durations as trains travel and idle.
· The increase in traffic for the MN&S may be 20 fold, from 40 train-cars a day now to over 800 train- cars a day within 4 years of it's completion. ( as forecasted by the only complete analysis of St. Louis Park freight rail: the 1999 Railroad study commissioned by the City of St. Louis Park.
· The SLP School Board has passed a resolution supporting the goals of the City’s resolution and noting the proximity of the tracks to the high school.
Mission Our mission is simple: We respectfully demand that the Hennepin County Railroad Authority compare all re-routing options on a fair and equal basis for feasibility. This means that the mitigation for freight rail that has been enjoyed on the 29th St. corridor and the Kenilworth corridor needs to also be planned for the MN&S spur for comparison's sake. Specifically this means only one at-grade crossing per one mile of track, wide (75 ft or greater) right of way on each side of the tracks, and all necessary mitigation including but not limited to walls, berms, VOC abatement, new track, and safety features.
The October 2nd, 2010 derailment on the very track that the county is planning to pull up and re-route the trains through St. Louis Park. Luckily no one was injured because this track is in a well designed rail corridor with wide buffer zones and straight track. Imagine what will happen when the train is on curves, with no buffer zone.
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The MN&S Spur lies within 35 feet of the high school parking lot and within 75 feet of the building itself. The tracks divide the building from the football stadium and cross the entire approach to the school on the south.
One of the most critical points on the MN&S Spur. This at-grade crossing and another identical crossing are frequently used by students walking to and from school and to the McDonald's restaurant. Mixing 1500 high school students with a 20 fold increase in freight rail traffic creates a highly unsafe situation by anyone's reasonable estimate.
Hundreds of homes like these lie within 35-70 feet of the MN&S tracks. Unlike the Kenilworth rail corridor, there is no corridor on the MN&S spur line-only tracks that lie in residents backyards and divide the high school campus. Imagine a train derailing along these tracks. 