Minneapolis — Streetcar Alernative Analysis

Rail Transit Online, September 2011

The city council on Sept. 23 authorized the hiring of a consultant early next year to conduct an Alternative Analysis of a modern streetcar starter line that would serve downtown's Nicollet and Central avenues. The study will look at both conventional and express bus service in addition to streetcars, although the latter is the clear favorite among local officials. "There's a tremendous amount of interest in the communities I represent," Councilman Robert Lilligren told the Star Tribune. A $900,000 federal grant awarded last January will cover three-quarters of the cost with the remainder coming from an earlier streetcar feasibility study; no capital funding has yet been identified. The initial segment would be expanded to a nine-mile (14.5 km) route from 46th Street in south Minneapolis to Columbia Heights. In April 2010, the council selected six potential streetcar routes and in the intervening months narrowed the choice down to Nicollet Mall/Central Avenue. The city's once vast trolley system was scrapped in 1954.