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Councilmember Dean Zimmermann
position on the Access Project
From the Star Tribune Net Letters section, published 11.20.02
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/3443174.html
Let the public decide
Minneapolis City Council Member Robert Lilligren has caused quite
a stir by bringing to light offers that have been used to garner
support for additional inner-city ramps to and from Interstate Hwy.
35W at Lake Street (Star Tribune, Nov. 15). I would like to endorse
my colleague's position and offer a suggestion to the project managers.
Rather than waste time trying to discredit Lilligren's statements,
why not simply show these offers on the project balance sheet? Add
the $2 million requested by the Nicollet-Lake developers; add the
costs of expanding bridges at Franklin Avenue. Allow the public
and elected officials to evaluate the project with all its costs
and benefits accounted for.
Even before these additions, the proposed ramps project would cost
Minnesota taxpayers $153 million.
No one has convinced me that the ramps will actually solve the
access problems they are intended to, but they will add to the bottleneck
on I-35W as drivers slow to exit and enter the freeway at Lake Street.
The project will remove housing and businesses from the tax rolls,
reduce livability in several Minneapolis neighborhoods, and disrupt
the community-based economy on Lake Street.
Building more freeways will only increase congestion on downtown
streets. Perhaps a better use of our scarce transportation dollars
would be to build a light-rail line or a segregated bus lane as
a supplement to the freeway in this transportation corridor. The
dedicated bus lane or light rail could carry more people with less
congestion.
-- Dean Zimmermann, Sixth Ward council member, Minneapolis.
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