Move MN Gains Momentum

By Cailin Rogers, Campaign Organizer

TLC's Executive Director Barb Thoman co-presented the Move MN funding proposal to House & Senate Transportation Committee members and a packed hearing room at the Capitol on Feb. 18. (Credit: TLC)

 

The Move MN campaign made huge strides the past few weeks as coalition members prepared for the start of the legislative session on February 25. The room was packed for a joint hearing with the House and Senate Transportation Committees earlier this month as elected officials, community representatives, and both local and national transportation experts testified on Minnesota’s need for comprehensive transportation funding this session. A second hearing, in the State Capitol, brought out even more supporters of the Move MN coalition as the group unveiled its funding package and more Minnesotans from across the state testified about urgent transportation needs in their area.

 

The push for comprehensive transportation funding is a major focus of TLC’s 2014 legislative agenda. And it was a focus at our member meeting earlier this month. At the event, members also heard about our new Transportation Options program and other exciting initiatives—including plans for the Green Line grand opening on June 14. Following updates from staff and questions from members, we shifted into break-out groups to write letters and sign postcards to legislators, and to practice talking with elected officials and others about the significant needs and benefits of investing in transit, bicycling, and walking in 2014. Members also shared topic ideas for this year’s Transportation on Tap series and other informative TLC events, and had a fun time making their own pedal-powered bike smoothies. Throughout the evening, TLC snapped some great pictures of folks with their favorite modes of transportation. Thanks to everyone who could join us—we enjoyed connecting with all of you! The conversations between members and staff showed that TLC’s work and Move MN continue to progress in the right direction to support safe, accessible transportation options around the state.

 

See more photos from our February member meeting on the TLC Facebook page. (Credit: Allison Osberg, TLC.)

 

Just yesterday, Transportation Committee Chairs Sen. Scott Dibble and Rep. Frank Hornstein introduced transportation funding bills SF2107 & HF2395, respectively. They include a seven-county-metro sales tax for transit, bicycling, and walking; a gross-receipts gas tax for roads and bridges statewide; trunk highway bonds to get these projects moving (and people to work) more quickly; closing the loophole for sales tax on leased vehicles to expand transit in Greater Minnesota; and new federal money for bike/ped improvements in Greater Minnesota. Watch for a bill summary with more details next week.

 

"One of the fastest and best ways to create good jobs is by investing in our infrastructure."
President Obama speaking at Saint Paul Union Depot this week

 

The news coverage of Move MN has gained steam as well. From more than 70 counties and over 300 townships signing onto the campaign to a discussion of Move MN’s objectives in the media, expect to see even more coverage on Move MN and our state’s need for transportation funding legislation in the coming weeks. As the conversation gets flowing, we can use your voice in the mix! You can get involved in several ways:

1. Participate in Move MN’s biggest upcoming event: Move MN Transportation Day and Rally at the Capitol on March 13. Come meet with your legislator to advocate for transportation funding and stay for a rally in the rotunda at the Capitol. Join us at nearby Christ Lutheran Church between 1:00 and 3:30 PM for an advocate workshop that includes legislator meeting training, sign making, and a question/answer session about Move MN. Before 4:00 PM, we will march over the Capitol for a rally in the rotunda to show support for comprehensive transportation funding this session. RSVP here to let us know if you can make it!
   
   
2. Meet with your legislator. Meet with your legislators to talk with them about why you support transportation funding for all modes and why passing the bill described above is essential this legislative session. We’re happy to help you schedule and prepare for the meeting. Just contact us to let us know you’re interested.
   
   
3. Join us for phone banking. We need to get the word about Move MN to our supporters and ways that they can help this session! Come phone bank every other Thursday from 6:00-8:30 PM at the Sierra Club office in Minneapolis. We’ll feed you! The next phone bank is Monday, March 10. RSVP here to join.
   
   
4. Sign a Letter to the Editor. Legislators listen to their constituents in a variety of ways! Telling them directly about your concerns is vital, but swaying other people who live in your area is important too! Please sign up here if you would be willing to sign a Letter to the Editor. We can help with facts and figures and draft letters you can make your own.
   
   
5. Attend a Tele-Town Hall. In early March, we will host a virtual town hall meeting with people from your area of Minnesota. You can listen, ask questions, and contact your legislator—all from your living room! If you want to participate, RSVP here and we’ll make sure you get a call.

 

 

The Saint Paul Bikeways Plan

By Joan Pasiuk, Bicycling & Walking Program Director

Update: The public comment period on the draft Bikeways Plan will be open through April 30, 2014. Submit your comments online via Open Saint Paul or by email to [email protected].

 

 

Kudos to the City of Saint Paul for vision in advancing sustainable transportation. The draft citywide Bikeways Plan is ambitious—a proclamation of values and a pledge of investments that will create a more livable city. Adoption of the final plan this year will add an important dimension to the Saint Paul Comprehensive Plan.

 

Anne Hunt, Environmental Policy Director, affirmed that the plan represents best thinking of the departments of Public Works, Parks and Recreation, and Planning and Economic Development. This kind of cross-fertilization is exciting. And she said passage of a final plan this year is a very high priority of Mayor Coleman.

 

This is a strong start. Now community input is essential to ensure successful adoption and implementation of the plan. With that in mind, I offer a few thoughts in advance of the four open houses this month:

 

• The plan includes a proposed goal and performance measure! Increasing Saint Paul’s bicycle commute mode share from .6 percent to 2.5 percent by 2025 is a step in the right direction. For comparison, note the current (2010) bicycle commute mode share of a few other cities: Hartford, CN: 2.6 percent; Salt Lake City: 2.7 percent; Oshkosh, WI: 2.1 percent; Portland, ME: 2.5 percent. By 2025, places like Iowa City, currently at 5.6 percent bicycle mode share, will leave us in the dust. We can aim higher.
  
  
• Creating stronger connections to and through downtown is vital. A highlight of the proposed plan is an off-street bikeways loop through downtown. This seems well conceived not only as an improvement for bicyclists who are now braving travel on narrow downtown streets but also as a way to attract new and less experienced riders. It could serve as a source of civic pride as well as an economic boost to downtown. There is growing evidence of the retail benefits of walking and bicycling traffic. Off-street design is not an inexpensive approach, but the innovation factor could trigger new or additional sources of funds, perhaps including private dollars.
  
  
• The commitment to build connections to neighborhoods in conjunction with construction of the downtown loop is absolutely important. The most essential connection, based on current barriers, is between downtown and the East Side, where bicyclists have long been isolated from the rest of the city by freeways and treacherous arterial streets. This link is missing in the draft plan. My best route suggestion: Jackson to 9^th/10th to Pine to Grove to Olive to the Phalen Boulevard bikeway. This is an easy, safe connection that could largely be accomplished with paint/tape and signage.
  
  

Proposed Downtown Loop. (Draft Bikeways Plan, p. 39.)

• The plan addresses bicycling specifically and is best viewed as a component of a transportation network. Bicycling and walking provide access to transit stops. Transit can extend bicycling trips otherwise hindered by season or geography (Saint Paul, think hills!). Shared bikes and community bike centers expand the reach of bicycling as transportation into new demographics. Dedicated facilities for bicyclists reduce bicycle riding on sidewalks and make the walking environment safer. Road diets and traffic circles create safer routes not just for bicyclists but also for motorists. These systems are complementary and this plan should be featured not as a resource for bicyclists but as a vision of a city that works better for all of us.
  
  
• Bicycling is affordable transportation that makes access to jobs, school, appointments, and community events possible for many residents. Transit for Livable Communities, through our Bike Walk Twin Cities program, has seen enormous evidence of the hunger for bicycling across all our city’s demographics. This plan should make a clear commitment to bicycling as a poverty-fighting strategy. The Metropolitan Council recognizes Racially Concentrated Areas of Poverty (RCAP), where more than 50 percent of the residents are people of color and more than 40 percent have incomes that do not exceed 185 percent of the federal poverty line. The existence of such an area is appalling, and right now Saint Paul has the region’s largest contiguous RCAP (East Side, Dayton’s Bluff, Payne-Phalen, etc.). Every document the city produces should aim at reducing and eliminating the RCAP. This plan should identify these areas and prioritize bicycling investments that link residents to job centers, schools, and transit connections.

Racially Concentrated Areas of Poverty. (Credit: Metropolitan Council)

• This draft addresses engineering, the best place to start to improve bicycling conditions, but a few other capital investments should be included— bicycle parking, lighting, wayfinding signage, and cameras and emergency call buttons where personal safety might be a concern on some of the trails. Beyond this, Saint Paul will want to address education, enforcement, and encouragement as part of the formula that creates a bicycling city. And, though not a capital product, it would be great to see a printed map that combines existing and planned bikeways with transit routes as an early commitment.
  
  
• Plan implementation is a blank page at this point. This is where public input is most needed. Prioritizing the Jackson Street leg of the downtown loop and neighborhood connections is a good place to begin the increase of 214 miles of bikeways. The price tag may deter progress and downtown cannot wait for attention. How can the city make near-term bicycle accommodations on downtown streets?
  
  
• It is not possible to build to a city’s sustainable transportation aspirations by relying on competitive federal funds. TLC and our Move MN allies are pushing state legislators for a new source of metro funding for walking and bicycling investments, but that isn’t yet secure. Passage of the Bikeways Plan in 2014 is good timing for the next round of the Capital Improvement Budget process in 2016. Clamor from cities to use state funds in new ways may help to balance our resources to all users. This is where political leadership and financial assertiveness is critical. What is the best financial foundation we can lay? Sustainable transportation investments must be incorporated as a line item in the city’s annual budget.
  
  
• In building the network, the rubber hits the road when individual projects are vetted to neighborhoods. A well-vetted bicycle plan and strong policy framework (e.g. complete streets standards incorporated into street design, safety ordinances that are enforced, coordination across jurisdictions, etc.) can create continuity of implementation. The question to take to the community is not whether the street will be designed for bicycle safety, but how we can improve on a basic design to create a welcoming street for bicyclists and walkers.

 
We need to get more voices in this process. If you live, work, or bike in Saint Paul, we strongly encourage you to attend one of the open houses listed below. Try to bring at least one other newcomer along. This is how we will build a broader base of support for this draft plan and how we will build a final plan that best serves the broader community.

Saint Paul Bikeways Plan Open Houses (6-8 PM):

• Tuesday, Feb. 11, El Rio Vista Recreation Center/Wellstone Community Center, 179 E. Robie St.
• Thursday, Feb. 13, Macalester College, Weyerhaueser Hall, Ballroom (SE corner of Grand Ave. and Macalester St.)
• Tuesday, Feb. 18, Duluth & Case Recreation Center, 1020 Duluth St.
• Thursday, Feb. 20, CapitolRiver Council Office (Adjacent Conference Room), US Bank Center Building, 101 E. 5th St., Suite 240

 

The public comment period on the draft Bikeways Plan will be open through April 30, 2014. If you are unable to attend an open house, submit your comments online via Open Saint Paul or by email to [email protected].

 

 

Move MN Campaign Launches

By Hilary Reeves, Communications Director

 

The Move MN campaign is taking off. The web site (www.movemn.org) launched in early January. The following week several organizations (including TLC) co-hosted a forum focused on transportation, jobs, and equity (read about the forum here and here—and watch a short video here). Around the state, people and organizations interested in transportation got together at Move MN meetings in Rochester, St. Cloud, Willmar, Duluth, and Mankato. And this week, the campaign officially kicked off with a press conference at the Capitol.

 

TLC’s Barb Thoman at January 23 launch of Move MN. (Photo courtesy of Move MN.)

 

Multimodal in scope—transit, roads, bridges, bicycling and walking—and statewide in its reach, Move MN brings together more than 130 organizations, including members of the Transit for a Stronger Economy coalition that pushed for increased transportation funding in 2013. 

Why do we need to fix transportation this session?

1. the high cost of transportation—getting around—for working families
2. jobs
3. aging infrastructure
4. competition
5. our environment
6. public health and active transportation

In 2008, after the I-35W bridge collapse, the legislature over-rode Governor Pawlenty’s veto to pass new funding to repair bridges and roads and put some money toward transit. Those funds have made a difference. They allowed MnDOT to address the worst bridges. They funded the Red Line BRT in the south metro and the soon to open Green Line LRT between Saint Paul and Minneapolis and continue to fund operating costs for transitways. Statewide, there is some level of transit service in all but one county. But, the funds only go that far. 

The calendar has been full lately with opportunities for feedback about transportation projects:  Southwest LRT alignment, Gateway corridor plans, Midtown corridor alternatives, Metro Transit’s Service Improvement Plan for local and express bus service, Saint Paul bike plan, MnDOT statewide bike plan, federal bike/ped funds under Transportation Alternatives, and more. 

The bottom line is that if we don’t go forward, we will go backward on transportation. 

If you like the progress the Twin Cities is making on transit but want more bus service and the kinds of LRT, BRT, or streetcar routes you’ve seen in other cities, please let your elected officials know.

If you like communities where it’s possible to ride your bicycle or walk to get places—and for kids to get to school on foot or bicycle—it’s time to call for funding for more bike routes and safer sidewalks in communities across the state.

If you wonder why the same piece of road gets potholes every few years or wonder about the safety of the state’s bridges, make sure funds exist to do routine maintenance and complete rebuilds when necessary. 

In New Jersey political payback comes through deliberate closure of lanes on a bridge, stopping everything from school buses to ambulances to trucks. In Minnesota let’s demonstrate a different kind of transportation politics—the kind that moves us where we need to go.

How can you be involved? Take a transportation resolution to your precinct caucus on February 4! Talk to your neighbors. Call your elected officials. Get in touch with Cailin at TLC ([email protected]) to find out what is coming up with Move MN.

  

# # #

 

 

$6 million available for nonmotorized transportation and other metro-area projects

By Barb Thoman, Executive Director

January 31 is the Metropolitan Council’s application deadline for $6 million in funding for bike infrastructure, sidewalks, traffic calming, safe routes for people with disabilities, and other projects under the federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) that it administers. The money is for capital projects in the seven-county metro area for construction in 2017. The maximum grant award for any one project is $1 million. Grants are available to local and tribal governments, regional transportation authorities, transit and natural resource/public land agencies, schools and school districts, local education agencies, and other units of government overseeing transportation or recreational trails.

The Met. Council has been funding these types of projects for over 20 years, but this is the first process under the renamed and consolidated federal program as part of the law, MAP-21, passed by Congress in 2012. Despite increasing demand for bicycle and pedestrian facilities, Congress reduced the amount available for this vital program by 30 percent.

To give you an idea of what was funded in the last round, here are four of the eight projects for 2016:

• A bike/ped trail within Crystal and New Hope being developed by Three Rivers Park District
• A bicycle and pedestrian trail being developed by the City of Hastings
• A complete streets reconstruction of 6^th Avenue North in Minneapolis
• A roadside parking area connecting to a trail in Ramsey
  
  

Once the Metropolitan Council adopts Thrive MSP 2014, the region’s new development plan, the Council will revisit the focus of the Transportation Alternative Program as well as its other federal transportation funding programs.

Coming off the lessons learned from Bike Walk Twin Cities, the federal program that TLC has been administering since 2006, TLC would like to see greater focus of these investments on filling key gaps in off-and on-road systems, more complete streets projects connecting to transit and key community destinations, and investment in bike/walk centers in underserved communities.

We would also like to see revisions to state and county cost-participation policies so that these bicycle and pedestrian projects vital to safety, equity, and access for everyone don’t require special funding but become a part of every transportation project.

In the meantime, we encourage you to continue to push locally for planning and community engagement so your city and county have shovel-ready projects to propose in upcoming funding rounds. We also encourage significant local funding for these vital nonmotorized projects, which improve health and provide access for everyone..

More information on the solicitation for Transportation Alternatives projects.

 

 

 

A Walkable, Bikeable Raymond Avenue

By Barb Thoman, Executive Director

 

Among the improvements that make Raymond Ave. more walkable: six feet of sidewalk and a new pedestrian median in front of the Hampden Park Co-op.

 

Saint Paul’s newest complete street was celebrated at a community gathering on a cold evening in early December. Residents and neighborhood staff, bundled in winter gear, walked the refurbished segment of Raymond Avenue from University Avenue north to Hampden and then reminisced, clapped, and cried over cookies and hot chocolate.

 

It was a celebratory moment a long time in the making: The street project, led by the St. Anthony Park neighborhood, took nearly a decade of planning, advocacy, and public engagement. Community leaders in the effort—Nancy Dilts, Stephen Mastey, and John Siqveland, and many others—were thanked for the hundreds of volunteer hours they contributed.

 

Raymond is a busy, curving, north-south artery—one of a limited number of links over the main line railroad tracks in Saint Paul. It is also a bus and bike route. And the corridor connects a new light rail transit station on University Avenue with new east-west bike lanes on Como Avenue (a Bike Walk Twin Cities-funded project).

 

Residents, long frustrated by speeding traffic, dangerous pedestrian crossings, and wide expanses of unused pavement, led the planning for a new design of Raymond. The project had strong support from Saint Paul City Council members Jay Benanav and Russ Stark and Department of Public Works staff.

 

After nearly a decade of planning, advocacy, and public engagement, Raymond Ave. reconstruction in progress. Photo courtesy of St. Anthony Park Community Council.

The new street is really eye-popping for people who remember what it looked like before reconstruction. The old Raymond, built at a time when the priority was simply to move more cars faster, encouraged speeding. The street had large areas of unused pavement at overly wide intersections, it was dangerous to cross on foot, and it lacked street lighting to make walking and waiting for transit at night feel comfortable.

 

For years neighbors worked with the City on speed enforcement, speed display, and promotion of the crosswalk law with minimal effect on driving behavior.

 

Today, the transformed Raymond Avenue is dramatic for its green and safe-speed design. Shrinking down those wide intersections allowed for more sidewalk space, storm water infiltration basins (which will look like rain gardens to most of us), a half-acre of new park land right across from the community co-op grocery store, and new pedestrian medians. One mile of new bike lanes was added, along with new trees and pedestrian-scale lighting.

 

One mile of new north-south bike lanes improves the bikeability of Raymond Ave. The route also connects to the new BWTC-funded east-west bike lanes on Como Ave.

 

Be sure to get out and take a look! Hats off to the City and the neighborhood for all the good work!

 

And if your neighborhood group is interested in learning more about this successful effort to improve Raymond Avenue, we encourage you to reach out to Lauren Fulner-Erikson, a community coordinator with St. Anthony Park Community Council (651-649-5992 or lauren[at]sapcc.org), or to city engineering staff Paul St. Martin, Barb Mundahl, or David Kuebler. 

 

 

Key Takeaways from MnDOT’s Draft State Highway Investment Plan

Public comment period ends July 31. Public hearing July 29 at 4 PM.

By Barb Thoman, Executive Director

What highway investments will contribute to a prosperous future for Minnesota? How much should be spent to maintain existing pavements and bridges, retrofit streets to improve safety for everyone, and add transit infrastructure to highway corridors? What is the additional transportation funding Minnesota needs and how can it be raised without unduly burdening low-income Minnesotans?

MnDOT recently released its draft State Highway Investment Plan (MnSHIP), which seeks to address questions like these. With current projected revenues, MnDOT will have approximately $8 billion to invest over the first ten years of the plan and $10 billion for the second decade. These revenues are generated primarily from the state gas tax, vehicle registration fees, motor vehicle sales tax and federal funds. They are separate from allocations to counties, cities, and townships.

 

Image credit: MnDOT

The investment percentages shown below are for the first ten years of the twenty-year plan. Overall, TLC applauds the focus on maintenance, safety, and bicycle and pedestrian travel, and the reduction in emphasis on highway expansion. This allocation reflects recent trends in travel behavior (i.e. less driving) and growing demand for alternatives to driving (see pg. ES-10 of the draft plan). The draft plan also features much clearer investment categories—nine in all—and greater specificity in all areas of the plan.

 

 Image credit: Metropolitan Council

1 and 2. Pavements and bridges (59% of investment). Minnesota must maintain a large and aging system of pavements and bridges. Our state has the nation’s fifth-largest roadway system (141,000 miles in total with 12,000 miles owned by MnDOT). The Twin Cities metro area has the eighth-largest regional highway system (in lane miles per person). Projected investment levels are not adequate to keep up with maintenance needs, especially on the secondary system of state-owned corridors. MnDOT identifies an unmet need for maintenance of $4 billion over 20 years. TLC supports greater investment in maintenance to meet the agency’s repair targets.

3. Project Support (11% of investment). This category includes right-of-way purchases, consultant fees, and contractor incentives. Project support (program delivery) is slated to receive a significant percentage of investments. Including these costs, to the extent possible, with corresponding projects (such as pavements, mobility, safety, etc.) would provide greater transparency and accountability.

4. Roadside infrastructure (9% of investment). This category includes culverts, traffic signals, noise walls, signage, drainage systems, pavement markings, and even rest areas. These investments maintain safety and system integrity, reduce impacts on the environment, and improve quality of life.

5. Twin Cities mobility (7% of investment). The draft plan projects $520 million in highway expansion projects and high-occupancy toll lanes over ten years. This investment category is greatly reduced—as we think it should be—over what it has been for the last four decades. An aging population, less growth at the metro region’s edges, young people driving less, and the need to address climate change and equity, all signal the need to reduce spending on highway expansion.

The draft plan budgets for completion of the widening project/MnPass lanes on I-35E north of downtown Saint Paul; the completion of TH-610 west to I-94; the construction of MnPass lanes on I-94 between downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul; and the construction of MnPass lanes on I-35W North from Minneapolis to Highway 10.

6. Regional and Community Improvement Priorities (7 % of investment). This category addresses regional or community priorities in Greater Minnesota, including conversion of two-lane state highways to four-lane divided highways, intersection changes, drainage projects, main street projects and other projects that address local safety, economic development, or quality of life.

TLC believes that complete street retrofits—especially in communities where a rural or suburban main street is a trunk highway—should receive additional attention and investment.

7. Traveler Safety (4% of investment). While safety is a part of all construction projects, this category includes independent installation of rumble strips, lighting, cable median barriers to prevent head on crashes, and other spending on what MnDOT calls “lower cost, high benefit” projects.

8 and 9. Access by walking and bicycling (3 % of investment). For the first time, MnDOT’s draft plan makes improved access by bicycling and walking a clear priority. TLC strongly supports this! Bicycling and walking are healthy, low cost, and environmentally friendly modes of transportation. Many people cannot drive— due to age, ability, or because they simply can’t afford to own a car—and they deserve a full quality of life. TLC would like to see faster progress than what the draft plan proposes on the expansion of safe, accessible facilities for walking and bicycling.

We remind the few people who still erroneously argue that bicyclists and pedestrians don’t pay transportation taxes that most people who walk and bicycle also own a car. And those who do not are likely paying more than their fair share for local roads through local property taxes  

The funding gap. The draft plan states that the funding gap over the next 20 years is $12 billion, or $600 million annually (equivalent to a 20-cent gas tax increase). If additional revenue is raised, TLC would like to see greater investment in pavements and bridges, safety, and community priorities, especially complete streets and flood prevention projects. Given the recent decade-long plateau in car travel, and the competitive advantage of regions with expanded transportation options, we seriously question the use of new funding for the additional highway expansion projects proposed on page 58 of the draft plan.  

What the draft plan is missing:

• Targets for reducing car travel (i.e. VMT) on the state highway system.
• Ambitious mode share goals for trips by transit, bicycling, and walking as required by state law.
• Discussion of the health impacts of proximity to high traffic corridors, which have high levels of harmful emissions and noise.
• Discussion of the impacts that road construction and runoff from roads have on land and water quality.
• A better description of traffic congestion in the Twin Cities. (Referencing the 2012 Texas Transportation Institution Urban Mobility Report, page 44 of the draft plan leads the reader to believe that the Twin Cities metro region has above average levels of traffic congestion, stating, “The Twin Cities area was ranked the seventh most congested of 32 metropolitan areas of similar size in 2010.” As we have written in a previous blog, a closer reading of the Urban Mobility Report finds that the Twin Cities is the 16^th largest metropolitan area in the U.S. but has only the 25^th worst traffic congestion. In fact, we are the largest of the 32 “large” metropolitan areas referenced and thus are not “similar in size.”)

Comment on the plan. A public hearing on the draft plan is scheduled for July 29 at 4 PM (MnDOT Central Office, 395 John Ireland Blvd., Room G15, Saint Paul) and public comment will be accepted until Wednesday, July 31. TLC encourages its members to review and comment on the plan. Recommended talking points:

1. Applaud MnDOT for prioritizing, and directing funds, to improved bicycle and pedestrian access.
2. Encourage MnDOT to explicitly convey to the public the recent dramatic changes in travel trends (VMT flat for a decade after a century of growth) that have critical implications for the allocation of transportation funds into the foreseeable future.
3. Encourage Mn/DOT to explicitly direct federal highway funds to key transit expansion projects in highway corridors.

 

This Spring: Influence Twin Cities Regional Development for the Next 30 Years

By Dave Van Hattum, Senior Policy Advocate

 

 

The Metropolitan Council’s new regional development plan, Thrive MSP 2040, will set the framework for how the Twin Cities metro area will grow over the next 30 years.  It will influence the footprint of the developed area, including how much land will be converted from farmland and open space to housing and employment sites. It will set targets for affordable housing and establish goals for parks and water quality. And Thrive MSP will also influence our region’s future mix of transportation options: Will we invest in more highway lanes and new interchanges? Or will our region shift investments to additional public transit, bike routes, and sidewalks along with the repair of existing roads?  

You Have the Power to Influence this Plan

This spring, the Metropolitan Council is seeking input on the plan. We strongly encourage you to tell the Council what investments matter most to you, and what kind of community you want to live in going forward. Your ideas matter! Share them online, or participate at an upcoming Thrive MSP Roundtable Discussion near you. These roundtables will focus on four issue areas: 1) Regionally significant economic places, 2) land use and transit, 3) affordable housing priority, location and need, and 4) water supply and a thriving region.

Upcoming Thrive MSP Roundtable Discussions:

• Tuesday, April 30, 6:30-8:30 PM, Eagan
• Saturday, May 4, 10 AM-Noon, Saint Paul
• Thursday, May 9, 6-8 PM, Shoreview
• Thursday, May 16, 6-8 PM, Minneapolis

Setting Goals for Land Use and Transit

With regard to land use and transit, here are three key points to keep an eye on when you comment on Thrive MSP:

** Affordability = Opportunity. Thrive MSP should make sure the entire region has convenient access to transit and safe, accessible bicycling and walking options.

The Thrive MSP Transportation Goal should include the word “affordably.” Today’s transportation system works pretty well for people who can afford to drive a car, largely connecting motorists with destinations safely and reliably. But it nearly requires owning a car—a huge cost to families in the region. For young adults, the elderly, people with a disability, or others without the means for car ownership, this burden limits opportunity and makes home ownership, educational advancement, and personal health harder to achieve.  We can advance Thrive MSP’s equity principle by prioritizing affordable transportation options. For example, materials for the Thrive MSP Roundtable discussions ask, “How could transit investment decisions enhance access to opportunity for low-income and people of color. . . . ?” We think the best way to enhance access to opportunity is to increase investment in transit, bicycling, and walking – affordable options.

** Connect the Dots to Climate Change. Thrive MSP should help achieve Minnesota’s goal to reduce climate change by setting and measuring goals for the percent of trips by transit, bicycling, and walking in our region.

If our region is to dramatically reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, Thrive MSP needs to include a specific goal (as is already in state statute) for the share of trips made by public transit, bicycling, and walking that will help to achieve the state climate goals. To make progress toward those goals, the Met Council needs to explicitly advocate for the funding and policy change necessary to expand the availability of these transportation options.  Transit emits a fraction of the pollution of driving alone, and bicycling and walking are emissions free.

** Transit-Supportive Land Use.  Thrive MSP should encourage most new development inside the I-494/I-694 beltway and along transitways or near high-frequency transit.

As Thrive MSP Roundtable materials state, “Over the last 60 years, our rapidly expanding region built a network of highways and grew outward around them. This new development provided jobs, homes, schools, and recreation for the region’s residents. However, this development pattern is not sustainable.”  We agree with the Metropolitan Council. Planning for the majority of new growth (housing and employment sites) to occur where there is current infrastructure (roads, utilities, schools, etc.) in place, along major bus corridors and transitways, and inside the I-494/694 beltway where density levels are favorable for providing efficient transit makes good economic and environmental sense.

These materials also ask, “How could local land-use decisions improve the future viability of transit?” The Council can do this by ensuring that Thrive MSP is more specific, with clear goals, identified growth areas, and by channeling incentive funding into investments that help to achieve the plan’s goals.

Stay Informed, Get Involved

The Metropolitan Council will be working on Thrive MSP through the end of 2013, with adoption planned for February 2014. Because this plan will provide a strategic vision for the Twin Cities for decades to come, we encourage you to get involved, online or in person, throughout the process.

For more on this topic, don’t miss our other recent blogs in the Thrive MSP series:

Top Ten Elements in Regional Plans: Our Peers Have Set a High Bar

Thrive MSP 2040 – Why and How to Create a Shared Vision

Northfield garners national recognition for policy to create streets that work for everyone

Nearly 130 communities across the United States adopted Complete Streets policies in 2012, and Northfield, Minnesota, was one of the best.

That’s according to the National Complete Streets Coalition, a Washington-based organization dedicated to Complete Streets advocacy. On Monday the Coalition released its list of Top 10 policies of 2012, and number 5 on the list was Northfield Policy Resolution 2012-017.

 

 

“Northfield’s policy should be a national standard,” said Stefanie Seskin, Deputy Director of the National Complete Streets Coalition. “It takes a strong stand for everyone who uses our streets, including people young and old, walking, driving, or bicycling, riding a bus or out shopping.”

“This award is partly about recognizing Northfield’s leadership on this issue. It’s also about showing other cities what a great Complete Streets policy looks like. Northfield has done that extremely well,” Seskin said.

“Transit for Livable Communities is a strong supporter of Complete Streets,” said Barb Thoman, executive director. TLC participated in the MnDOT study of complete streets in 2009 and was a member of the statewide Complete Streets Coalition that worked for passage of the state Complete Streets policy in 2010. TLC staff member Steve Clark currently serves on MnDOT’s Complete Streets Advisory Group. Many of the projects funded through the federal program Bike Walk Twin Cities that TLC administers are projects that work to make streets, segments of streets, or intersections “complete.”  

Complete Streets policies help make sure everyone—regardless of age, ability, income, or ethnicity, and no matter how they travel—can get around safely and conveniently. In many cities that means changing how roads and sidewalks are designed and built, to be “complete” streets.

See the full list of this year’s Complete Streets policies and learn more about what makes a great Complete Streets policy at www.smartgrowthamerica.org/complete-streets-2012-analysis. Also of local interest, Maplewood, Minnesota, a Twin Cities suburb with a population of 38,000, recently adopted a Living Streets policy, the culmination of an extensive stakeholder process to establish a common vision for the community's future.

Learn more about recent steps toward statewide Complete Streets policy adoption in Minnesota at http://www.bikewalktwincities.org/news-events/news/mndot-leaders-consider-draft-complete-streets-policy. 

 

New MnDOT chief good for transit

This week, Governor Mark Dayton announced that Charlie Zelle will take over in January as the head of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Zelle is the CEO of Jefferson Lines, an inter-city bus company. He also is chair of the board of the Minneapolis area Chamber of Commerce.

"Charlie Zelle understands that transit is essential to creating jobs in Minnesota and making sure people can get to work affordably," said Barb Thoman, executive director of Transit for Livable Communities. "As commissioner of MnDOT, Zelle will be working with a very talented and dedicated staff. We hope he will ensure that MnDOT is a partner in building out the transit system, accelerate the implementation of Complete Streets policy throughout the state, and focus on keeping our roads in good repair. He understands the links between urban, suburban and rural communities--and how our economic health depends on being connected."

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Thrive MSP 2040 – why and how to create a shared vision

By Dave Van Hattum, Senior Policy Advocate

Editor’s Note: This blog is part of a series exploring Thrive MSP 2040, the long-range regional plan being crafted by the Metropolitan Council. Because Thrive MSP will provide a strategic vision for the Twin Cities for years to come, we encourage you to stay informed about Thrive MSP throughout the planning process. Even better: be involved! Tell the Met Council what investments matter most to you, and what kind of community you really want to live in. Share your ideas online. Here, Dave Van Hattum explores the connection between Thrive MSP and your transportation and housing options, decodes the planning process ahead, and shares primary principals guiding the Met Council.

 

So why does a regional and local land use plan like Thrive MSP matter?

Think of THRIVE as Transportation and Housing, Regional Investments for Everyone. By encouraging more compact development, a mix of uses, open space protection and strong connections between future development (housing and commercial) and transportation systems, regional and local land use plans can play a significant role in creating more affordable transportation and housing options for all Twin Cities households.

Housing and transportation are the two greatest costs for most households—and represent an even larger financial burden for low income families. When households can live with fewer cars, have more housing choices, and more practical options for getting around by transit, biking, and walking, costs can be substantially reduced. And the savings can be redirected to mortgage payments, education, health care costs, etc. Ultimately, it’s about investing in choice, affordability, sustainability, and economic opportunity.

 

How will the Met Council and Thrive MSP actually influence development and transportation choices in the region?

In a nutshell, Thrive MSP 2040 will forecast population and housing growth levels, allocate that growth to different parts of the region, and provide the foundation for the Met Council’s system plans for Transportation, Aviation, Parks and Open Space, and Water Resources. These regional systems plans, in turn, set expectations for local comprehensive land use plans in every city and county in the seven-county metro area. It is critical that the new regional plan allocates growth based on a sustainable vision that recognizes changing demographics, housing size, and transportation costs. 

The Met Council plays a substantial role in the extent of transportation choices across the region. The Council operates Metro Transit, collaborates with suburban transit providers, andallocates a substantial pot of federal transportation funding to local and regional projects.

While less directly involved in housing, the Council is undertaking a regional housing plan with major implications for the provision of affordable housing in the seven-county region. 

What process can you expect and how can you voice your opinion?

Thrive MSP 2040 is moving forward with two key interdependent processes: One, the creation of key principles and goals by Met Council members; and two, a series of public listening sessions in cities throughout the region. Identifying principles is a great first step as it will provide basic elements of the emerging regional plan for the public to react to. The listening sessions and a corresponding online forum are then providing the first of several opportunities for the public to shape the vision, principles, goals, and objectives of the Thrive MSP 2040 plan. Expect more opportunities to weigh in as the plan takes shape over the next two years.

Six key principles and why they need your input

At a recent working session, Met Council members recommended six provisional principles to guide all their work. Interestingly, these principles are easily grouped under the three e’s (economy, environment, and equity) of sustainability, along with a principle guiding the process of creating and successfully implementing Thrive MSP 2040.

Economy

Principle 1: Prosperity, Vitality, Livability

Principle 2: Economic Opportunity

Equity

Principle 3: Equity

Environment

Principle 4: Stewardship

Principle 5: Sense of Community, Sense of Region

Public Process

Principle 6: Partnerships/Collaboration

To get to a true regional vision, community members and local governments need to bring greater definition to these broad principles. For example, what does equity mean to your city, to you? What will greater prosperity, vitality, and livability look like in communities and families across the Twin Cities? Which transportation investments will lead us in that direction? This conversation is already underway, and with significant implications for the future. Join in now with your own sense of what our region needs to thrive!