Freight Traffic and Re-route Issues in St. Louis Park  (posted May 28, 2011)

The issue of what to do with existing freight traffic in SLP once light rail transit (LRT) is underway is a vexing challenge that has been under discussion in our community for years.  Since being elected last year, I have thoughtfully studied this issue, listening to residents and reviewing as much information as possible before reaching a decision. I take my responsibilities in this matter very seriously, and it has not been an easy decision.

If St. Louis Park residents support the Southwest LRT there are two options: co-location and re-route. Both routes would require changes to the status quo and both present challenges to the residents of Saint Louis Park. While co-location may appear easier to some, it will create many forseeable problems at Beltline Boulevard and Wooddale and leave other important safety problems unaddressed.

The conversation on this over the past year has been largely one-sided and many folks have asked me to step up and speak with a louder voice on their behalf.  The “other side” of this issue is that a re-route of freight traffic would be a benefit to SLP in terms of overall public safety, traffic flow and reduced congestion, increased economic development and therefore less reliance on homeowners for property tax payments to pay for city operations.

My support of the re-route is based on the research of Dave McKenzie of SEH, the consultant that the city of SLP hired after the failed PMT “planning” process produced little usable information.  The Hennepin county PMT process was a colossal waste of our resident’s time and our city’s resources.  Very little new information surfaced from that process and none of the mitigation measures suggested by residents or the city have emerged in the subsequent Environmental Assessment Workshop (EAW).  I was one of the councilmembers that asked city staff to hire our own consultant to independently analyze and assess the information that was being used in this discussion.  Our consultant has done a fine job in doing just that – pointing out challenges and concerns related to both possible routes.

The reports the city received from our own consultant on this issue (see city website for links to these reports), demonstrate that there is another story that has not been told and differs somewhat from what we’ve all heard for the past year.  This includes:

  • The freight re-route would not “add” trains to St. Louis Park.  The trains are already running through our neighborhoods and by our neighbors’ homes on their way to Minneapolis.  And they are often just sitting on the tracks just west of Wooddale in front of SLP residents’ homes.
  • By creating an interconnect, we reduce the total time trains actually spend in our SLP community. This is because the 3-4 hour-long switching at the wye in Elmwood/Skunk Hollow will not be needed, and instead trains will clear our city within 15-20 minutes.  Removal of the “wye” has been a city priority for nearly 20 years and would be a benefit to SLP overall.  Trains that are moving are safer and less impactful than trains that stop, uncouple, bang together while they re-couple their cars and then move again.
  • The number of households that are impacted by freight will be reduced substantially with the reroute, from about 600+ today to less than 450 with the re-route. (SEH Tech Memo #4, Table 5, p. 10)
  • Traffic safety. With the re-route, traffic safety in SLP will be vastly improved, particularly because Wooddale and Beltline have such high traffic crossings, and this will substantially increase after LRT opens. With the re-route, traffic exposure (people, bikes and cars) to trains is reduced from 173,666 to 102,536 per day – a reduction of 71,130 each day – making St. Louis Park overall a safer community.  SEH Tech Memo #4, Table 7, p.14

Wooddale and Beltline rail crossings will have an extremely busy and complicated intensity of uses within a small area, even without the addition of freight traffic.  This includes 1) LRT trains every 7-10 minutes, 2) Highway 7 on/off ramps, 3) frontage road traffic (including NordicWare trucks), 4) commuter and recreational bicylists, 5) thousands of pedestrians, and 6) increased bus and automobile traffic feeding into the SW LRT stations.   Adding freight to this mix is a serious safety concern for children, families, seniors and everyday commuters.

Waiting time and queuing for residents and commuters around the LRT stations with freight there is unsafe.  The thousands of people who will be coming to the SW LRT stations that would have to wait up to 10 minutes at each station for the freight trains to pass (versus 45 seconds for LRT trains to pass), creating unsafe conditions for both cars and pedestrians, because of the volume of traffic.  Our recent consultant’s report provides a visual rendering of traffic challenges with and without freight at LRT stations.  Look at pp. 12-15 for traffic projects/visuals from May 23, 2011 SEH report

  • Train volume. The total maximum number of train cars that would travel on the MN&S with the re-route is less than the average number per day up until 2000s.   During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, traffic on the MN&S averaged 10 trains per day  SEH Tech Memo #1 .   While these trains were shorter – averaging about 40 cars per train – the total amount of rail cars on that line AFTER a re-route will be less than what was on those tracks for more than 30 years – around 400 per day previously versus 353 maximum in any one day after the re-route according to  TCW railroad letter from Bob Suko .  It is true that some of that will include longer cars and other freight (coal, etc), yet the total maximum possible is still less than the average per day up until the 2000s.
  • Remove coal trains from SLP. I am leading the fight to remove coal trains from SLP entirely, which would reduce the impact on our city by removing over 3,000 of the heaviest and largest train cars each year from our city.
  • Increased economic development. Finally, the amount of economic development that the SW LRT stations can leverage increases substantially when freight is removed and a more pedestrian friendly area is created around the stations.  And that means a larger tax base, lower taxes for single family homeowners, and economically vibrant future for our whole community.  See pp. 7-10 of May 23, 2011 SEH report for a visual rendition of what the stations could look like without freight).

We are well positioned to demand and obtain a robust list of mitigation measures – largely thanks to the organizing work of Safety in the Park.  The Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) which is supposed to document these needs is woefully incomplete and our comments are critical to ensure that real mitigation happens in SLP.   I will continue to lead the demand for robust mitigation measures.