Any idea when the lightrail will be completed (to St. Cloud)? (Minneapolis: construction, colleges)

[Stormcatcher]

[FONT=Verdana]I am currently living in Minneapolis, and have a girlfriend living in St. Cloud; however neither of us have access to the car at the moment, and we probably won't for some time. Having the light rail completed between the two cities would make visiting so much easier! However, it is difficult to find any concrete information by searching online (probably because there doesn't seem to be any official timeline, as the funding keeps on changing)... Would anyone have an educated guess as to when it might be done? I am clueless at the moment; some say 5+ years, some say much less... Any thoughts would be appreciated. [/FONT]

[moving123456]

That route is full size commuter rail, not light rail.

It is supposed to be starting service later this year and ending in Big Lake for now. There is no official timeline that I know of for the proposed St Cloud expansion.

I believe St. Cloud is planning to start bus service to Big Lake and back when the train service starts.

[MrMinneapolis]

get a new gf....kidddddinggggg (not really) lulz

[akronbball]

Did you check out Amtrak? I know that the Empire Builder runs from Minneapolis to St. Cloud.

[knke0204]

The Northstar Commuter Rail was supposed to start construction early 2008 from around Coon Rapids going west to St. Cloud and then From Coon Rapids going East to Minneapolis. However funding has delayed the project, and now its nearly 2010, and still no word on what's going on.

I think it would be great, it would allow those in St Cloud to affordibly and easily access the Twin Cities without the headaches of driving. It would cut down on emissions, and wear and tear on interstates, as well as congestion. The good sides highly outweigh the downsides, however MONEY is the only issue.

[marmac]

Originally Posted by knke0204

The Northstar Commuter Rail was supposed to start construction early 2008 from around Coon Rapids going west to St. Cloud and then From Coon Rapids going East to Minneapolis. However funding has delayed the project, and now its nearly 2010, and still no word on what's going on.

I think it would be great, it would allow those in St Cloud to affordibly and easily access the Twin Cities without the headaches of driving. It would cut down on emissions, and wear and tear on interstates, as well as congestion. The good sides highly outweigh the downsides, however MONEY is the only issue.

Northstar never had funding approved to St Cloud.

Big Lake was as far as it ever was approved.

If you are referring to --talk-- of it going as far as St Cloud, heck, the original --talk-- was it going as far as Rice.

[Umbria]

If you look around, nobody moves real fast to complete anything. There's a serious productivity problem with all the construction here. Maybe the supervisors should be given cattle prods - just kidding - or was I? Given the economy I would think a simple "move or lose your job" would do. Can't imagine how long this light rail project would take.

[uptown_urbanist]

While the Northstar isn't (yet) going as far as St. Cloud, I think they're still planning on having commuter buses that connect to the outer Northstar stations. It's a start, at least.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by marmac

Northstar never had funding approved to St Cloud.

Big Lake was as far as it ever was approved.

If you are referring to --talk-- of it going as far as St Cloud, heck, the original --talk-- was it going as far as Rice.

Easy marmac, easy. I understand that. If anyone in the forum knows about the Northstar Commuter Rail, it's me. I have worked on hundreds of projects for cities, colleges, and counties about this. I know the project like the back of my hand. I understand that St. Cloud was never in the final approval. But Big Lake is as far as it's going to go, if ever. Open your pocket books, and let's start building some things that are going to change the way we live our lives.

[marmac]

Benton County Commissioners opened Benton County taxpayers--pocketbooks--by authorizing funding to study having the line run beyond Big Lake.

Voters were so impressed with their spending money on the study that some got voted out of office.