The cities of Oakdale and Lake Elmo made their opposition to a proposed busway connecting to St. Paul known by withdrawing their support for the project. Now Gold Line transit planners are refocusing their efforts on station location decisions.
"Transit planners are regrouping on plans for a Gold Line busway, after citizen blowback in Oakdale and Lake Elmo’s decision to withdraw altogether," reports David Peterson.
Bob Shaw reported in March about the details of the opposition to the Gold Line proposal from the suburbs located east of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Some of the opposition focuses on the $485 million price tag for the proposed project, while some focuses on the potential for the project to "urbanize" the suburbs.
Despite that opposition, "officials insist there’s a role for transit in an area that’s already congested and heading for thousands of more cars." Gold Line planners have launched a new outreach effort in the wake of those criticisms, generating comments about station locations along the line. Already, station locations have drastically changed since the initial project proposal. According to Peterson, "The latest route map to be published wipes away every proposed station east of the Crossroads/Oaks Business Park district…"
FULL STORY: Transit planners regrouping on Gold Line busway after taking hits
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