According to this article over at Thisweek (funny how easy that is, eh), the Dakota County Regional Rail Authority stated that while they love the idea of “high-speed rail” they do not want to pay for it and believe it should all come from state and federal funds.
I’m a big advocate of mass transportation and rail especially. I love the idea that we may eventually be able to take a train to Madison or Chicago and be there in 1 or 2 hours, respectively. What I am not a big fan of is the time line which, according to the article, will be over the next 20 years, nor the Dakota County Commissioner’s fears that the state will purposefully plan funding shortfalls so that part of the money to pay for this will come out of county dollars. The article goes on to mention that plans may be enacted to place a station in Rosemount but the County Commissioners do not want any part of that as they claim it’s nothing more than an attempt to get money from the taxpayers.
While I had no problems with the County Commissioners wanting no part of helping to fund this project if there was no direct benefit to the local community (e.g. if the train was going to stop in Winona, Red Wing, and St. Paul only–you know, which would make less stops and the travel times as fast as they currently claim) but if they are seriously planning a stop in Rosemount, then I want the County Commissioners to more clearly state their disagreement with the plan. As far as I see, that would be a huge boon to the county–much more so than the $21 million transit station in Apple Valley which the County Commissioners and Apple Valley mayor believe will be some sort of jobs creation juggernaut.
What are your thoughts on paying for “high speed rail” in Dakota County? Would it be worth it for the County Commissioners to come down off their high horse if a station was planted in Rosemount or would you prefer that the funding remain only at the federal and state levels? Whatever you think about the Dakota County Regional Rail Authority (I find this name ironic in light of BRT)’s decision to stamp their feet and pound their fists over this plan go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.
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January 28th, 2010 at 10:56 am
I don’t think the County (ultimately, us) should have to use our tax dollars for this. We still end up having to pay for the ticket fees for the rail anyways. It really isn’t fair to the rest who might not use it to have to pay for it.
I already hate having to fund things I don’t use.
January 28th, 2010 at 11:33 am
I am not opposed to something like this, if it is done correctly. I think the benefits would greatly outweigh the cost.
Regional High Speed Rail, conected to local LRT and Bus routes could radically change transportation in our area. To be honest, it is really what I was hoping for a year ago when all the talk about infrastructure and stimulus plans began. Personally I think it would go much farther toward creating jobs, rebuilding our economy, and dealing with sprawl and eroding infrastructure than the plan that has been followed for the last year. Taking a trillion dollars and just awarding it to whatever political allies might have helped you get elected for them to use for a hodgepodge of sometimes conflicting plans at local and regional levels just seems pretty wasteful to me.
January 28th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
I haven’t been very impressed with any of the high speed rail proposals I’ve heard thus far. While I’m still a fan of high speed rail, in general, there are FAR MORE pressing needs in Dakota County. Any and all transit funding should be directed to intra-metro projects for now.
And don’t even get me started on how our current funding sources encourages cities, counties, and states to refuse to build anything unless they can convince someone else to pay for it….
January 28th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
“I already hate having to fund things I don’t use.”
Um – like – prisons, schools, I-395,
Cheers!
Irving
January 28th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
I use prisons indirectly, I pay for them to keep criminals off the streets that could harm me in some way.
Schools I’ve used, I use interstates daily…
January 28th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Because I don’t subscribe to the antiquated assumption that people want to read my articles in a worthless paginated format, I have to resort to providing useful data that’s worth clicking time and time again to drive my pageviews. Thankfully prisons do that for me: http://www.lazylightning.org/dynamic-dakota-county-inmate-data-dashboard
January 28th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Trains..trains… trains. I dunno, I always feel like isn’t there something else we need to be working on? But I suppose we need a long view as well. I guess I’d like to see government stick to the requirements until we can see the economy improving. When government is having trouble meeting it’s obligations without cutting things, it seems foolish to be adding more things.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
The two different routes are interesting to me. A station in Rosemount would be nice and close, but I picture the river route as being a much much more enjoyable ride. The drive down Hwy 61 to La Crosse is beautiful. Probably one of the better spots in the state. The drive to La Crosse on Hwy 52 and interstate 90 is about as boring as they get. I think I would favor the river route just because of that.
I don’t know enough about the funding options to really comment on that, but I am all for funding this type of infrastructure. I don’t mind paying for our share, but the county would have to make sure that we are getting a solid return on any investment.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
I couldn’t agree more.
January 29th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
rochester’s whining about getting high speed rail, that’d be the mayo clinic. they, the mayo’s, raised holy hades when dm+e wanted to upgrade their tracks through the city to compete with union pacific and bnsf bringing coal from powder river, wyo. cried about the usual shit thats being cried about from the u of m and pbs and the like with the central corridor. now rst will be bending over to get the steel wheels to stop in their front yard.
i don’t know the cost for new track to be laid per mile, but the light rail from downtown to the mega dump, all new tracks, was 70 mil per mile! 11.7 miles! i can do the math there. the cost to use the rails already in from msp to big lake was about 300 mil mostly adding the new stations and some track work. i guarantee you that the central corridor will top a billion. it’s already over 900mil and counting!
bb