Progress on Our Doorstep: Looking Good, University Avenue

By Riordan Frost, Policy Associate, January 11, 2012 at 2:00 pm

After spending a semester at graduate school in Washington, DC, I returned for the holidays to find a pleasant surprise in front of MN2020: Central Corridor light rail tracks in the ground, flanked by smoothly paved roads, attractive pedestrian-scale streetlights, and aesthetically pleasing bus stops. This stretch of University Avenue looks good, and I don't know if I ever expected to say that.

Central Corridor construction, which has served as the basis of this blog series as well as the center of many local debates, started in March of last year, and it is 36% completed, according to the project's website—which also notes that the project has over 2,300 workers. In front of MN2020's offices, however, the construction crews have moved on down the corridor, and the avenue is left in much better condition, including the newly installed audible crosswalk buttons complete with specially marked crosswalks.

University Avenue desperately needed reconstruction, and while the loss of on-street parking has inconvenienced some businesses, the additional foot traffic from light rail will more than make up for these spots—which, by the way, were constantly underused.

Current residents and current businesses on the corridor will benefit, of course, but new businesses and residents are quickly arriving. We recently wrote about the Metropolitan Council's tabs on current private development along the corridor, and noted others not included in their counts. This type of investment usually generates a positive cycle as well, with more businesses and liveliness of the avenue contributing to more of the same.

We have enumerated the mobility, environmental, and economic benefits of light rail many times at MN2020, but as the progress moves to other doorsteps, we are looking at another good reason for Central Corridor: a reconstructed, aesthetically appealing avenue. One which just so happens, mind you, to now contain multimodal infrastructure, safer crosswalks, and better lighting. Now that's progress.

Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Public Transportation  Central Corridor