U of M pushing own Central Corridor route
For months, the University of Minnesota has warned before it won't support Washington Avenue route for the Central Corridor transit system, meant to connect Minneapolis and St. Paul by light rail.
And less than a week before Metropolitan Council planners meet Wednesday to vote on it, the school's president again signaled its dissent.
The university is calling on the Metropolitan Council to consider an alternative "northern alignment" route that would run through the Dinkytown area just north of campus.
"The University cannot support any measure that calls for the elimination of the northern alignment from consideration at this time," University President Robert Bruininks wrote in a letter dated May 23 addressed to Peter Bell, chairman of the Metropolitan Council.
The letter was also sent to Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the university's Board of Regents, members of the Central Corridor Management Committee and Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough.
Bell has said previously that delaying the project to study the university's proposal further would risk the $892 million project.