Hennepin County reconsiders BRT on Broadway

Minneapolis-Rogers busway takes a new track

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/50862.html

For the proposed northwest busway between Minneapolis and Rogers, officials are seeking permission from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad to build the bus lanes alongside the tracks that run parallel to County Rd. 81.

The original plan was to build the bus lanes down the middle of the road, and the state granted $20 million this year to build park-and-ride lots and shelters for that route. But Hennepin County has changed its mind about where to build the bus lanes, in part because a new traffic forecast for the year 2030 shows that the road would be too congested to accommodate the center lanes. The county's preference for the railroad route has touched off thorny negotiations with Burlington Northern Santa Fe about who would be responsible and who would pay in the event of an accident, said Chuck Ballantine, director of housing, transit and community works for the county.

The railroad has said that it is willing to lease - but not sell - land for the bus lanes and that it wants assurances that the railroad would not be liable for accident damages, Ballantine said. Lawyers and risk managers are researching the question of what kind of indemnity government can offer a private railroad, said Mark Fuhrmann, deputy general manager of Metro Transit, which would operate buses on the route.

The project will not advance, however, until negotiations with the railroad are concluded and questions of liability and cost are settled, Fuhrmann said.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on the use of the state funds. The state's $20 million for the shelters and park-and-ride lots must be committed by the end of 2006.

Hennepin County likes the idea of providing bus rapid transit and getting commuters past rush-hour delays on County Rd. 81. "If we are really going to be bus rapid transit, we should try to be rapid," said Commissioner Mike Opat, a key champion of the project. If the railroad will not agree to share space with the buses, the project would have to be reconsidered, Opat said. "We would have to ask ourselves if we are really providing a new transit alternative," he said.

More railroad talks

The busway's need for railroad approval puts the fate of two metro-area transit projects in the hands of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which moves slowly and cautiously when considering joint operations. The other project is the Northstar commuter-rail service between Minneapolis and Big Lake.

Negotiations on the Northstar line, which have gone on for years, are continuing over the proposal to use the railroad's freight tracks for Northstar passenger trains.

Negotiations are moving slowly on the busway as well, Opat said.

Providing transit alternative

As planned, the busway would run between downtown Minneapolis and Rogers through the suburbs of Robbinsdale, Crystal, Brooklyn Park, Osseo, Maple Grove and Dayton along County Rd. 81.

The goal is to provide a transit alternative on a busy commuter route and to use the transit investment and Hennepin County's phased reconstruction of the road to transform it from a dated hodgepodge of uses into an attraction for new transit-oriented development.

Besides the $20 million from the state, the project has received $10 million from the federal government. Another $30 million would be needed to build the exclusive bus lanes.

With the initial funding, construction is scheduled to begin next year on bus shelters on W. Broadway in Minneapolis and at two park-and-ride lots to the northwest. One would be at 63rd Avenue in Brooklyn Park; a site for the second hasn't been chosen.

Initial bus service (not in exclusive lanes) would begin in late 2007 or early 2008 from new the park-and-ride lots.

24-foot clearance needed

Along County Rd. 81, the railroad right of way is about 100 feet wide with the tracks in the center. The busway would require 24 feet for two 12-foot lanes plus some safety clearances between the tracks and the edge of the road. To provide that space, a storm-water ditch between the tracks and road would have to be filled.

Railroad spokesman Steve Forsberg said the proposal would put bus operations within 16 feet of the tracks. He also said the company is waiting to learn how the Metropolitan Council, the agency that operates Metro Transit, proposes to relieve the railroad of liability for accidents.

Fuhrmann said the next round of meetings to present that proposal would be scheduled soon, with a goal of resolving differences by the end of the year or early next year.

The railroad route will be discussed further by an advisory group known as the Bottineau Boulevard Partnership. It will meet Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at the Terrace Mall in Robbinsdale. (Bottineau Blvd. is the second name officials gave County Rd. 81 this summer.)

The partnership's draft resolution in favor of the railroad route says that it would be safer and easier for people to park and walk to bus stations on the side of the road.

-- Laurie Blake | 612-673-1711