Stark proposes Road Diet for University Avenue

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Plan preserves parking along light-rail route

By Dave Orrick - dorrick@pioneerpress.com
Article Last Updated: 06/05/2008 01:35:32 PM CDT

Faced with the choice of killing parking or killing traffic on University Avenue, St. Paul City Council Member Russ Stark on Wednesday evening said kill the traffic.

Stark's bold idea is to eliminate one lane of traffic each way on four-lane University Avenue.

He raised the issue — based not only on parking but also on sidewalk width, bike lanes and general atmosphere — at a public hearing on the preliminary route design for the planned $892 million Central Corridor light-rail line linking St. Paul and Minneapolis via University Avenue.

The hearing underscored concerns along the length of the line in St. Paul, from Hmong businesses to two historic churches along Cedar Street in downtown St. Paul whose parishioners fear the trains will essentially ruin them.

Current plans call for trains running down the middle of University, forcing traffic lanes, in most places, to shift toward the curb, eliminating parking. Stark said in some cases sidewalks could shrink to narrower than 10 feet — a distance that would struggle to accommodate bus shelters, trash cans, trees, snow piles and pedestrians. Additionally, he said, the notion of traffic buzzing by along the curb threatens to undermine the pedestrian-friendly atmosphere the mass-transit plan is supposed to encourage.

"I can see eight to 10 years down the road, us looking at these 8- to 10-foot sidewalks, saying, 'What were we thinking?' " Stark said. He said Central Corridor officials told him they had discounted the idea early on in the process but would now look into it and get back to him.

It was unclear Wednesday how such a change might affect the aggressive schedule of project planners to submit plans to federal officials this fall with hopes of breaking ground in 2010 with trains running in 2014.

"I understand there's a time-sensitive issue, but this is such a big issue," Stark said.

The clash of trains, traffic, pedestrians and atmosphere was also the concern of two historic churches along Cedar Street in downtown St. Paul: the Church of St. Louis, King of France, and its neighbor, Central Presbyterian Church.

Both are on Cedar south of 10th Street.

The Rev. Paul Morrissey, pastor of the 700-family Church of St. Louis, accompanied more than a dozen of his parishioners, many of them speaking of the possible impact to the 1909 Beaux-Arts structure, the loss of parking and the dangers of crossing the street to attend services.

Morrissey said he believed the trains would lead to the eventual end of the church's vibrancy. Among the numerous concerns: funerals and weddings with trains running "10 to 15 feet from our front door."

Both churches have been in talks with Central Corridor officials, but he said their proposal for funerals — to allow only a hearse and one other vehicle to park in front — was unacceptable.

"Their proposal for a funeral is, at best, disrespectful of the ritual," he said.

Among the other ideas and concerns brought up at the hearing:

• A plan is needed for Fifth and Cedar streets, where a key skyway link could be severed and there's no plan for how to keep the connection open.
• Someone should close off a portion of Fourth Street right now and drive around with a "gong" to simulate the traffic and noise scenario of trains rolling through downtown, suggested downtown business owner and former City Council candidate Bill Hosko.
• There's a need to figure out the parking problem and work more closely with businesses along University Avenue, said Pete Vang, board chairman of the Hmong Business Association.
• Several residents, community leaders and council members spoke of the need for public art planning as part-and-parcel of the design process, not as a later "add-on," as Council Member Lee Helgen described the current process.