Minneapolis - St. Paul: Central Corridor (Green Line)

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Minneapolis – St. Paul Central Corridor (Green Line)

The 11-mile Central Corridor light rail line is nearing completion and will start service in 2014.  The line will connect 5 major activity centers: downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, the Midway area, the state Capitol area, and downtown St. Paul.  The line’s western terminus in Minneapolis will be near Target Field.  The Union Depot in downtown St. Paul will be the project's eastern terminus.  

 

Population within each activity center:

Downtown Minneapolis: ~30,000

University of Minnesota - Minneapolis (immediate area): ~22,000

Midway West: ~14,000

Midway Central: ~13,000

Midway East: ~20,000

Capitol area and Downtown St. Paul: ~14,500

 

Workforce within each activity center:

Downtown Minneapolis: ~160,000

University of Minnesota - Minneapolis: ~25,000

Midway: ~5,000

Capitol area:

Downtown St. Paul: ~72,000

 

 

 

 

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Update:

The first light rail vehicle was pulled from Minneapolis to St. Paul to make sure that it had proper clearance.  Numerous tests will take place over the next few months before service begins.

 

 

 

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I recently came across this time-lapse video of the Central Corridor line.  It starts in downtown St. Paul's Lowertown and ends in the U of M's West Bank area.  Officials hope the line will be ready before the 2014 MLS All-Star Game. 

 

http://vimeo.com/81240982

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Update:

 

The Central Corridor (Green Line) is officially set to start service on June 14th.  

- There will be 23 stations, including 18 new stations

- 59 new vehicles, each with 68 seats as well as room for 132 standing passengers

- Trains will run every 10 minutes

- Met Council estimates that the line has yielded $1.7 billion in private development (already built, underway, and about to break ground).

Read more: http://finance-commerce.com/2014/01/all-aboard-green-line-light-rail-starts-running-june-14/#ixzz2rFdTNPos

 

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Time lapse video of the new Green Line light rail from St. Paul' Lowertown to the Minneapolis' Target Field station.

 

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Metro Transit announced ridership hit 107,039 opening weekend for the new Green Line.  Not bad considering all the rain.

 

Totals:

Saturday: 61,248

Sunday: 45,791

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Update:

* Green Line ridership numbers hit 40,445 weekday rides in the first week of September.

 

* The line is above its goal of 27,529 weekday rides by 2015 and is set to surpass its 2030 forecast of 40,936.

 

Recent CNN article:

How the Twin Cities got transit right

http://money.cnn.com/interactive/technology/minneapolis-light-rail/index.html

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Thanks to the addition of the Green Line, Minneapolis - St. Paul moved into the top 10 in terms of the number of daily light-rail passenger trips.  The Green Line opened midway through 2014 and ridership has been increasing each month since, so the Twin Cities will pass Salt Lake and possibly Denver.  

 

Ranking by average weekday ridership of 10,000+

Ranking / City / Daily Passenger Trips / Percentage Change from 2013.

1. Boston - 223,300, -4.01%
2. Los Angeles - 200,800, +0.20%
3. San Francisco - 128,500, +7.15%
4. San Diego - 119,800, +15.34%
5. Portland - 113,900, -0.32%
6. Philadelphia - 111,900, -4.00%
7. Dallas - 101,800, +3.17%
8. Denver - 86,300, +11.95%
9. Salt Lake City - 68,500, +6.02%
10. Minneapolis - 62,500, +57.43%

11. St. Louis - 49,900, -1.23%

12. Houston - 45,300, +17.91%

13. Sacramento - 45,200, -1.02%

14. Phoenix - 44,800, +0.27%

15. San Jose - 35,200, +4.43

16. Seattle (Sound Transit) - 35,200, +11.65%

17. Pittsburgh - 27,700, -1.87%

18. Baltimore - 27,100, -5.77%

19. New Orleans - 23,000, +5.27%

20. Buffalo 16,500, -14.98%

21. Charlotte - 15,800, +3.07

 

Cleveland - NA

Newark - NA

 

Source: http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2014-q4-ridership-APTA.pdf

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Green Line Ridership Sets New Monthly Record with 1.25 Million Rides

http://www.startribune.com/green-line-ridership-sets-new-monthly-record-with-1-25-million-rides/332785241/

The Green Line carried nearly 1.25 million passengers in September.  Average weekday ridership was 45,644, which is well past the 2030 projection of 41,000 a day.

Minneapolis - St. Paul LRT ridership (Blue and Green lines) set a single-day ridership record of 100,909 passengers on September 3rd. 

 

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Planning is underway for the Green Line extension.

* The 14.5-mile route will serve Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie

* There will be fifteen new stations with connections to streets and trails

* Total project budget of $1.79 billion, funded by a combination of federal, state and local sources

* Construction is expected to begin in 2017

 

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Green Line ridership for 2015 hit 12.38 million - an average of about 34,000 per day.