The Startribune has published an excellent article describing some of the engineering difficulties of building a new transit center - to connect the region's light rail line with the proposed Northstar commuter line - on a site adjacent to the future Baseball stadium.
- Article: Next stop: Northstar, LRT and the new Twins stadium (Star Tribune)
The vision for the new Twins ballpark in the Minneapolis Warehouse District includes thousands of fans arriving by light rail and commuter trains.The stadium site is flanked on one side by the railroad tracks that will bring Northstar commuter rail trains downtown and on another by 5th Street, on which the Hiawatha light rail line will be extended to its front door.
The problem is that two train stations and the ballpark must be shoehorned into a site barely two blocks square while leaving space for freight trains to run under a corner of the stadium. That adds up to a colossal engineering challenge for the transportation planners and ballpark designers, who hope to bring it all together by 2010.
Click here to visit the new stadium's website, which has a page on the site/location.
To be noted on the stadium's website:
THE BEGINNING OF A "STADIUM DISTRICT?"– According to a recent article on the Vikings' Web site, the organization is considering possible sites for a new football stadium. "The primary site under consideration is the Farmers Market area, south and west of downtown Minneapolis." If it becomes reality, Minnneapolis would in effect give birth to a "stadium district," a sports mecca, in which the Timberwolves, the Twins and the Vikings would play within blocks of each other. The state, the city and taxpayers would save money by using the same infrastructure for all three stadiums.
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Filed under Infrastructure, Community Planning, Transit and Transportation with 3 Comments
|3 Responses to “The Complexities of Building a Transit Center in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis”
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October 10th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
The site is definitely at the edge of the downtown area. It's absolutely necessary to link the lines, but locate the station outside of the downtown core?
Shouldn't an opportunity like this - to have the rail lines connect - happen at a station in the middle (or near the middle) of the downtown core? This sort of investment could region daily, rather than for just the 80 or so home games each year. My guess is putting this site together was much easier (there was available space.
Imagine taking the commuter line into Minneapolis (everyday for work) and then having to transfer to the light rail line to go the two stops that would bring you into the downtown core. It seems like more hassle than should be necessary.
On the other topic - I think that the statdium site is a great site (putting to the side the public financing part of the deal, which is an entirely different issue).
October 11th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
I don't know too much about Minneapolis' downtown layout, so I can't really comment on that. I do, however, want to suggest a radical idea. In the cited portion of the article, we read that "The state, the city and taxpayers would save money by using the same infrastructure for all three stadiums." The idea, if I've understood it right, is that the physical proximity of the three stadii should contribute to an economy of scale and lead to other synergies.
Here's a radical idea: how about a single, multi-use stadium? Given that a football stadium is only used for 8 home games a year, shouldn't any space dedicated to football use also allow for other uses? Like baseball, for instance? Isn't land in the city valuable enough that this option should be considered?
–Steve (http://grossreport.blogspot.com)
October 12th, 2006 at 6:49 am
Why share when there's so much extra money to go around?
Think of it as Minnesota's gift to the owner of the Twins. I mean, he's only the second wealthiest Minnesotan. You don't get to be #1 without a little help.
Seriously though. I don't know why stadiums aren't consolidated among different sports more often. It makes a lot more sense to me. Anyone know why there aren't more shared stadiums? The meadowlands is shared between the Giants / Jets, but I don't believe any baseball teams play there.
My understanding is that the serious proposed location for a football stadium is in Blaine (not downtown Minneapolis) where there is far less transit infrastructure, but also much more available land.