Crystal Mayor Expresses Frustration With Light Rail Planning

Some important milestones are coming up this year for the planned light rail line through the northwest suburbs. But at least one local official isn’t happy with how the process has played out so far.

“We came into this new alignment with an extreme amount of, or lack of trust,” said Crystal Mayor Jim Adams. “And through this process of the last year and a half — or however long it’s been since we got the new alignment, or towards that — that trust hasn’t been restored. A lot of the things we’ve asked for have been ignored.”

Mayor Adams directed those comments to Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Lunde at this week’s Crystal City Council meeting.

Later this year, the cities along the proposed light rail route will be asked to provide municipal consent. It’s a process where the cities vote on whether to approve the design plan.

Adams, however, accused the light rail project office of not being forthcoming with information. And in his mind, Crystal would be served just fine with enhanced bus service.

“We have a highway. We can put a bus on it. It doesn’t have to be BRT [bus rapid transit], it doesn’t have to be light rail. It just needs to be transit,” Adams said. “And that can be done with a bus and a driver. We don’t need to designate a lane. Traffic is flowing. Are we going to get serious about transit or not?”

The municipal consent approval period for the light rail project is expected to take place between August and October.

SOURCE: CCX MEDIA