Twin Cities Boulevard meeting presentation recap
At our March 2022 monthly community members meeting, Our Streets Minneapolis staff, Alex Burns, spoke about their organization’s vision for Rethinking I-94: filling it in altogether between Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
Alex is the organization’s Transportation Policy Coordinator and provided a detailed overview of the concept and answered many thoughtful questions.
Watch the recording of the presentation or view Alex’s PowerPoint slides.
Highlights from the presentation:
Alex explained the origin of the Twin Cities Boulevard idea. Several years ago, MnDOT started an engagement campaign called “Rethinking I-94” to begin planning for reconstruction/improvements for the stretch of freeway between Saint Paul and Minneapolis, since it is reaching the end of its life.
MnDOT released a “Purpose and Need” document as part of the environmental review process for the project. Our Streets Minneapolis noticed a lack of ambition in this defining document, and began to facilitate an alliance of organizations along the corridor to sign a letter demanding a true re-imagining of the corridor. They also fostered community engagement to gather ideas.
From community engagement by Our Streets Minneapolis, a new vision has emerged to replace the corridor with a multi-modal, street-grade, community-focused street grid. The proposed idea would increase transportation options while reducing health impacts and environmental pollution.
Additionally, the boulevard vision would include returning land to community through a public land trust, promoting BIPOC-focused economic development, supporting small businesses, and more. Strong policies to prevent displacement and actually increase investment are integral to the vision.
Our Streets predicts huge cost savings over the long term if the boulevard is implemented versus the status quo idea of rebuilding the trench freeway. .
Responding to questions about the volume of traffic currently using I-94, Our Streets discussed the concept of “traffic evaporation.” It is well established that adding lanes to freeways only induces more traffic. They contend that reducing lanes would also reduce traffic. “Through traffic” could use other freeways (Highway 36, for example), and local trips would use the full street grid., transit, walking, bicycling, etc.
Another organization is proposing a land bridge. Our Streets Minneapolis contrasted the boulevard vision with the land bridge idea. A land bridge would only stitch together a tiny portion of the full length of the project area, and would not address air and noise pollution. Also, rebuilding I-94 as-is, plus a land bridge, would mean 60 more years of high traffic volumes rather than building for a climate-smart future.
Our Streets Minneapolis wants this to be a community-centered endeavor and is engaging community through door knocking and other efforts. The Twin Cities Boulevard idea is a living concept, and is expected to evolve and change with community ideas and input. Feedback is welcome and desired.
Sustain Saint Paul board members emailed Alex a series of questions. He submitted answers back to board members via email.
What’s next ?
Sustain Saint Paul board members are meeting to discuss various perspectives on this topic and will share more after that meeting, tentatively scheduled for late April or early May 2022.
