I took 30 years and the surprise election of a professional wrestler before it was built. It has been wonderfully successful and cost less to build that a new freeway interchange. And of course, the technology was not made in USA.
As much as everyone likes the new tram line, it is obvious that such an important transit link should have gotten a real subway line. "Remember the I35W bridge--who needs terrorists when there are Republicans"
The downtown to downtown line proposed for University Ave / I-94 would make more sense as a subway, I think.
you are the media you consume.
On the other hand, with Google I find Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area has 3 million inhabitants (though less than a million downtown), big enough for a well-designed subway system. But certainly, it would be good to have more than one line. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
There is an interesting tidbit in there that you wouldn't expect to hear very often in the US:
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) and the Northstar Corridor Development Authority (NCDA) studied options for development of the corridor to handle the increasing commuter load, and felt that a commuter rail line was the best option. It is expected to cost about US$265 million in 2008 dollars, estimated to be approximately 1/3 the cost of upgrading existing highways.
Granted it's that much cheaper because the rail is already in place, but that kind of thinking hasn't been common in the past, and would be referred to as "social engineering" by the usual suspects. I think American politicians have come around to the reality that our highways simply cannot scale further (without even taking into account the potential nightmares of declining future energy and resource availability and the implications for our road system).
