The University of Minnesota's burden as the lone holdout against the planned 11-mile route of the light-rail line linking St. Paul and Minneapolis will likely be lifted today, when the institution's governing body is expected to endorse a route along Washington Avenue, President Robert Bruininks said Wednesday.

From the Pioneer Press, June 12, 2008

"We did not want to be the principal that stood in the way of this getting built," Bruininks said after introducing a resolution supporting the route. He urged the regents to pass the resolution today.

Since 2001, the university's position has been that it wants a tunnel beneath Washington Avenue. If not that, then a detour around the northern edge of campus through Dinkytown. The tunnel proved too pricey, and a university-sponsored study found the Dinkytown detour would draw too few riders to meet a federal benchmark.

But until Wednesday, Bruininks had been holding out for the Dinkytown detour, a position that had drawn harsh criticism from regional leaders. Critics feared the U might undermine the entire project, or at least the goal of starting construction in 2010 with trains running in 2014.

Bruininks said he didn't regret the weeks-long holdout, though he acknowledged it did draw "a few bruises in new places."

He and other university leaders simply needed time to digest the results of the U-sponsored study, which concluded the northern detour would fail the Federal Transit Administration's ridership-cost formula. In the end, those results persuaded him to abandon hope.

"You have to respect evidence, and you have to respect the data that came out of these studies," he said. "That weighed very heavily on me."

Bruininks also said he didn't believe the U's delay caused any lasting damage to the project's timeline.

Before Bruininks' remarks Wednesday, regents questioned Metropolitan Council Chairman Peter Bell, who is both a former regent and the senior official in charge of the Central Corridor. Several regents expressed long-held concerns about student safety, protections from the university being stuck paying for traffic fixes, and vehicle access to the Academic Health Center and other important — and revenue-generating — medical facilities.

After Bell gave his assurances, Frank Cerra, the U's senior vice president for health sciences — and a man whose approval was seen as key for the regents to get on board — heaped praise on the Washington Avenue route. He said the car-free stretch would improve the quality of life on campus, which suffers from an abundance of concrete and a dearth of grass.

"Nothing would please me more than to grab a cup of cappuccino, grab a Viennese hot dog and play a game of bocce on the way to work," Cerra told regents.

The U's turnabout was welcome news to leaders in Ramsey County and St. Paul, who have been hoping to resolve issues with the university so they can attend to concerns along the St. Paul portion of the line.

"This is a real positive step forward," said Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough, who chairs the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority.

Of course, the drama around the U could be nothing more than a historical footnote if the $892 million line moves forward. What won't be a footnote is how the campus will look when, as is now planned, several blocks of Washington Avenue are converted into a tree-lined pedestrian and transit mall. Trains, some buses and emergency vehicles will be allowed. But regular vehicles won't be.

Where 20,000 to 30,000 displaced cars a day will go is the subject of at least $20 million in traffic improvements.

ONLINE

Read University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks' resolution at CityHallScoop.com.

From the Star Tribune, June 12, 2008

In an interview at Morrill Hall, he said the university's negotiations with other public agencies have resulted in "enormous progress" on concerns such as traffic, hospital access and the impact on sensitive research equipment -- and who might pay for solutions.

Planners of the 11-mile Central Corridor light-rail line have twice voted in support of running trains through the East Bank campus on Washington Avenue, but in recent months the school has been vocal in its preference for a northern alignment that would take trains through Dinkytown, and it paid for a study of such a route.

The study "had some encouraging findings," Bruininks said, but acknowledged that the northern route fell short of meeting current federal requirements on costs and ridership.

The university's change of heart will help the project meet a September deadline for applying for the federal money that's expected to pay for half the line, which would open in 2014.

In 2001, the Board of Regents approved a resolution stating its preference that the line follow the northern alignment or be placed in a tunnel under Washington Avenue.

The tunnel was deemed too costly earlier this year, and on May 28, the Central Corridor Management Committee and the Metropolitan Council eliminated the northern alignment from consideration.

From MinnPost.com, June 10, 2008

The university saw great potential in a northern alignment for the Central Corridor line, including tremendous economic opportunity for communities destined to grow, expansion of new housing starts, a less disruptive path through campus, less traffic disruption for surrounding neighborhoods, and enhanced transportation options to key areas of the university for the 80,000 people a day who live, work, study and visit here. We felt strongly enough about the long-term potential of this route that, once it became clear that the long-preferred option, a tunnel beneath Washington Avenue, was not financially feasible, we agreed to fund and conduct a preliminary study of the northern option.

Our intention has never been to derail or delay this project, but to ensure that all feasible alternatives were thoroughly explored before a costly long-term decision was made. While it is disappointing that we have thus far been unable to share our vision in a compelling way, our goal remains to help build a working light-rail transit system that serves the needs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Hennepin and Ramsey counties, the university, and the millions of people who will visit our communities for decades to come.
Several specific concerns remain
To that end, I want to reiterate the university's strong support for the Central Corridor project, not only as an adjacent property owner but also as one of the biggest customers and advocates of public transportation in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. We initiated a strong mitigation plan for Washington Avenue. We are participating in fruitful negotiations with the Metropolitan Council and our partners in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Hennepin County and Ramsey County regarding the details of this plan, and I believe we have made considerable progress toward an acceptable solution. However, we cannot gloss over the significant challenges that face a street-level train through campus. We are working with these stakeholders to address specific concerns, including:

• Re-routing 25,000 cars and 1,200 buses per day from Washington Avenue.
• The impact of those cars and buses on surrounding neighborhoods, the East River Parkway and the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.
• Access to our hospital and clinics for half a million faculty, students, staff and especially patients.
• The effect of train vibrations and other disruption on highly sensitive measurements and mission-critical research conducted in nearby laboratories.
• The impact of closing Washington Avenue on the only other cross-campus traffic artery, University Avenue-Fourth Street.
• The environmental, cultural, and historical impacts of the route.

These concerns are not simply aesthetic, and their impact is not limited to our campus. We maintain that the new Central Corridor line should improve our current transit system and must do no harm to the university's ability to deliver basic services and accomplish its mission. We believe our partners agree, and we continue to work collaboratively to complete a viable plan and budget to address these issues.

Advocacy takes many forms. Sometimes it's an enthusiastic yes. Sometimes it is quietly consultative. And sometimes it involves asking hard questions and fighting to be understood. But if undertaken in good faith and with a common goal in mind, the outcome with debate and dissent is always better than without.

From the Minnesota Daily, June 4, 2008

Further consideration of the northern alignment could delay the project by at least one year, increasing project costs due to inflation.

Metropolitan Council Chairman Peter Bell said it was time for the University to accept an above-ground Washington Avenue alignment.

"Time is of the essence," Bell said after last week's vote. "The University needs to acknowledge the timeframe."

Vice President for University Services Kathleen O'Brien cast last week's lone dissenting vote during a meeting of project advisers. She said the University didn't have time to complete its northern alignment study, which it is still working on.

The University is spending slightly more than $400,000 on the study, she said.

This month, the Board of Regents will decide whether the University will change its preferred alignment to the Washington Avenue route.

A plan to mitigate traffic in surrounding communities and safeguard fragile University research will also be considered.

Ward 3 Councilwoman Diane Hofstede, who represents the Dinkytown area, has heard community concerns that some neighborhoods won't see any benefits from the line, but will feel the effects of increased traffic.

"This is the beginning of a discourse," Hofstede said.

Bell and other corridor planners contend that the project must stick to the Federal Transit Administration's strict schedule. The FTA must approve the project for plans to move forward.

O'Brien said the University is spending "five figures" to retain Patton Boggs, a lobbying and law firm that will help the University understand the federal guidelines and schedule.

"We really had a disagreement about how much flexibility there was in the schedule," she said.

Other project partners have also hired consultants, she said.

"It's not the intention for the University to seek a legal remedy," she said. "We believe that there are major issues that need to be addressed and we're trying to address them constructively."

University General Council Mark Rotenberg said the University isn't lobbying at this point because no lobbying needs to be done.

"The Met Council has not been interested in having an open dialogue with the FTA involving the University up to this point," Rotenberg said.

Ramsey County Commissioner and Regional Rail Authority Chairman Jim McDonough said the University is working to make the above-ground Washington Avenue route work.

However, concerns from a major partner like the University could make the FTA nervous, he said.

O'Brien said the University does support the project and is working on a way to make the Washington Avenue route and transit mall work.

"The devil is in the details, and that's where we are," she said.

The Central Corridor has an $892 million budget, half of which will be covered by the federal government. The 11-mile line is expected to be open by 2014.

Central Corridor planners and the Metropolitan Council held an open house at City Hall, showing off preliminary design plans for the line.

Although the Central Corridor will primarily run through St. Paul, part of the line will extend into Minneapolis, connecting with the existing Hiawatha LRT line.

“The biggest overall challenge was finding the right way to get through the University of Minnesota campus,” Hymes said.

University of Minnesota representatives have unsuccessfully advocated for the line going through Dinkytown.

Hymes noted that it’s still early in the life of the project and that much work remains, adding that “We’re really just getting into preliminary design.”

In a poetic touch, whistles from the Hiawatha LRT line, which stops directly in front of City Hall, could be heard on the third floor conference room where the open house was taking place.

Seven bound volumes of engineering drawings and details totaling 1,200 pages sat largely untouched at the open house.

Preliminary engineering work is slated to continue through the end of August. Construction on the 11-mile Central Corridor line is set to begin in 2010 with completion set for 2014.

The project budget, which has gone up and down over the years, currently sits at $892 million.

The open house served as a preamble to a public hearing Tuesday afternoon before a special meeting of the Transportation & Public Works committee of the Minneapolis City Council.

“We will not be taking action today, we will be listening,” said Minneapolis City Council Member Sandy Colvin Roy, who chairs the committee, at the outset of the public hearing.

Colvin Roy noted that the city would accept additional comments in writing through the end of the business day Monday, June 9.

The matter comes before the committee for a vote June 10. If it moves forward then, it would go before the full Minneapolis City Council on June 20.

Travel time between the two downtowns on the light rail line is estimated to be 37 minutes.

After a 1-week allowance to get on board the current plan for the Central Corridor, the University of Minnesota president has decided to oppose the plan, according to a letter Bruininks sent to Met Council Chair Peter Bell.

From the Pioneer Press, Tuesday, May 27, 2008

"In accordance with the Board of Regents Resolution dated July 12, 2001 and periodically reviewed and re-affirmed as recently as April 2008, the University cannot support any measure that calls for the elimination of the northern alignment from consideration at this time," Bruininks wrote in the letter, dated Friday.

The "northern alignment" is the U's preferred route as trains approach campus — a detour north of campus through the Dinkytown neighborhood. Every local government involved — the Met Council, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Ramsey and Hennepin counties — has agreed to lay tracks along Washington Avenue.

Last week, representatives from all those governments were prepared to vote to end any discussion of the Dinkytown detour once and for all, but a request from Gov. Tim Pawlenty gave the U an extra week to mull things over.

Met Council Chair Peter Bell requested an audience with the U's Board of Regents to present the case for the Washington Avenue route — as well as a presentation of the U's own study, which concludes the Dinkytown route fails a key federal benchmark. But Bruininks' letter indicates he won't call such a meeting. The next regents meeting is scheduled for June 12 and 13.

"Given the preliminary nature of information gathered on both the northern alignment and at-grade on Washington Avenue alternatives, it is premature to make definitive decisions and require project partners to identify specific options," Bruininks states in his letter.

As far as the U causing delay in the roughly $900 million project, Bruininks writes: "Schedule alterations are commonplace in large transit projects, and we have absolutely no indication from the FTA or any other federal authority suggesting that the analysis we recommend will in any way jeopardize federal funding for the CCLRT project."

On Minnesota Public Radio this morning, Bell, a former regent himself, expressed frustration with the university's opposition. "Why they're doing that is anyone's guess," he said. "I respectfully disagree with him," Bell said of Bruininks' position.

A re-vote is scheduled for tomorrow, and Bell said the vote will go forward.

"I think the vote will be unanimous, with the exception of how the university will vote," he said on MPR.

Read Bruininks' letter on CityHallScoop.com

All the local governments involved are board for the proposed route for the roughly 900 million dollar light-rail line between St. Paul and Minneapolis.

After giving the U a one-week reprieve last week, Metropolitan Council Chairman Peter Bell says a vote of a key advisory panel will be taken around 1 p.m. Later in the afternoon, the full Met Council will vote.

Bell has scheduled a personal pitch beforehand to leaders of the Board of Regents. He says he's not optimistic.

It's not clear if the university's opposition will hurt the project's chances for federal funding.

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.

Today, the U is expected to say "no" to the plan to put trains on Washington Avenue -- but lose a crucial vote to forces aligned against the U's preferred route through Dinkytown.

The Metropolitan Council and the U have failed to bridge their considerable gap in recent weeks, disagreeing on everything from the amount of engineering that's been done on the northern alignment to the timetable required to garner federal funding for the $892 million project.

They're not even in agreement on the need for today's resolution, which was tabled last week in order to give the U more time and will be considered early this afternoon by a panel that includes city, county and state officials. The full Met Council is scheduled to vote later in the day.

"There is no practical, legal or regulatory reason to hold such a vote," University President Bob Bruininks wrote to Peter Bell, chairman of the Met Council, in a letter dated Friday. "To the contrary, there is every reason to believe that the Federal Transit Administration will ask the Metropolitan Council to adjust its current timeline," which calls for an application to be submitted to the federal government this September.

Bell, however, maintains the timeline must be followed if the 11-mile line is to open in 2014, and he's frustrated by the university's position insisting on a northern alignment, especially in light of the compromises made on the St. Paul end of the project, where the line was shortened and neighborhoods aren't getting all the stations they wanted.

The U's opposition "has the potential to kill" the project, Bell said.

"They don't have a dime in this. ... The U is playing with everyone else's resources," he said. He was referring not only to construction costs -- estimated to rise $45 million a year for each year of delay -- but also operating costs, which he said would be $4 million more per year if the northern alignment were built.

While the U might not be paying to build or operate the line, it has been funding its own studies of the northern alignment and could incur expenses not covered by the project, such as moving sensitive laboratory equipment away from the line.

Bruininks says that federal officials who hold the purse strings are more flexible about the timeline than Bell has indicated, and that further study of the two routes is warranted.

"Schedule alterations are commonplace in large transit projects, and we have absolutely no indication from FTA or any other federal authority suggesting that the analysis we recommend will in any way jeopardize federal funding for the [Central Corridor] project," wrote Bruininks, who was out of state and unavailable for comment Tuesday.

The university has hired Rodney Slater, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, "to help us understand the federal process," Kathleen O'Brien, vice president for university services, said Tuesday.

A spokesman for the FTA wouldn't comment Tuesday on what would happen to the Central Corridor if its application wasn't submitted in September. "I'm not going to talk about deadlines," said Paul Griffo, the agency's senior public affairs officer.

The vanishing tunnel

The Met Council, which would operate the line, and the university also don't see eye to eye on how they got to this point.

Earlier plans for crossing the East Bank campus included a tunnel stretching under Washington Avenue SE., which would have allowed vehicular traffic to remain on the street. The current at-grade plan converts Washington into a bus-train-pedestrian transit mall, with cars diverted to other streets.

O'Brien said Tuesday that the tunnel was still a possibility as late as February of this year. That was when revised "cost-effectiveness" numbers showed that the tunnel's $200 million cost would make the line too expensive to win federal approval, even though the university had become "very heavily involved to bring the cost of the tunnel down," she said.

But Bell says that, as early as June 2006, he was warning that the tunnel would be too costly. "I know of no one outside of the university that ever thought the tunnel was a viable option," he said.

Bell expects to keep the project moving forward after today's vote, and Bruininks' letter indicates the U's willingness to continue to work on efforts to mitigate the effects that the at-grade alignment will have on the campus and surrounding neighborhoods.

"We'll have time to bring them along," Bell said.

From Minnesota Public Radio, May 19, 2008

Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough said the Federal Transit Administration, or FTA, won't hand over any money until it knows where the local money is coming from.

Lawmakers' action yesterday answered that question. There will be state money, county money, and money from a new transit sales tax that takes effect this summer.

"When you have a dedicated funding source, it's so much easier to move your project forward on the financial side of this for the local match because the FTA knows your money is there and it's solid," McDonough said.

But the money wasn't so solid last month, after Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed the $70 million from a bonding bill.

Pawlenty said concerns with the project that forced his veto last month have now been satisfied. The funding, for example, also comes with an additional requirement that the state pay no more than 10 percent of the total construction costs.

"That's a good thing because the cost of these projects escalate as local officials and people want additional stops," Pawlenty said. "They want different things along the way; the costs escalate and we wanted to make sure the state's exposure was capped and that was achieved in the new bonding bill."

Now with the funding back in place, supporters of the Central Corridor can turn to finalizing the line's route.

The University of Minnesota and Metropolitan Council have been squabbling over how best to get the line through campus. The current plan takes tracks down Washington Avenue, while university officials recently suggested a northern route, through Dinkytown.

Metropolitan Council Chairman Peter Bell said he doesn't think the Dinkytown route can be done to the federal government's standards, which would put federal funding at risk.

And Bell said the council will probably put the university issue to rest this week. Council members will either vote to stick with the current Washington Avenue route or go with Dinkytown. Either way, it should let the entire project move forward.

"I think the residents of the seven-county area can look forward to the certainty of an expanded transit system, with a line that will provide a strong degree of service," Bell said.

In a statement today, university President Robert Bruininks praised the new state funding for the Central Corridor and says the school is committed to finding a workable solution.

Bell said the Met Council plans to submit its request for $450 million in federal money this September.

And while the state funding for the Central Corridor was getting most of the attention this weekend, lawmakers also passed a lesser-noticed measure.

The builders of both Central Corridor and the Northstar commuter rail line will now be able to buy things like train cars without paying state sales tax. That exemption is worth about $9 million and will take effect in 2010.

"We've been through a couple of them just over the past couple of weeks, but we got it across the finish line, and I'm very excited," he said.

The next stop should be finalizing a path through the University of Minnesota. The Council wants to go down Washington Avenue, replacing the cars with trails, buses and pedestrians.

"No cars on Washington," said University of Minnesota Senior John Morgan. "I've got no problem with that. It's too busy now as it is, so, that would be great."

"Anything that kind of encourages public transit seems like a step in the right direction," said Sophomore Sam Molstad.

"It could shut us down," said Tom Hutsell, co-owner of the Big Ten Restaurant & Bar, which is on the South side of Washington Avenue.

"It could be that bad where we'd lose all our foot traffic. Obviously the cars will be gone, and that's a big part of our business," he said.

Hutsell would prefer the so-called Northern Alignment, which bypasses the West Bank of the University of Minnesota and follows an old railroad bed through Dinkytown.

The plans will be debated on Wednesday, and riders can't wait for an answer.

"I just think in general it's hard getting around in St. Paul," said Danielle Laird, a light rail rider from South Minneapolis. "If I could take some other kind of transportation there it would be good."

The Metropolitan Council needs to submit its final plans to the federal government by September in order to get final approval by February, and break ground by 2010. Even under that timeline, the project won't be completed until 2014.

The Central Corridor light rail line from Minneapolis to St. Paul has faced two unknowns in recent months: state funding and the line's route through the University of Minnesota.

One of those issues was settled yesterday when lawmakers' approved $70 million for construction.

The university issue will be discussed -- and might also be settled -- on Wednesday.

Half of the money for the $909-million project is expected to come from the federal government, so $70 million from the state might not seem like a lot. But without it, the rest of the funding was in limbo.

Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough said the Federal Transit Administration, or FTA, won't hand over any money until it knows where the local money is coming from.

Lawmakers' action yesterday answered that question. There will be state money, county money, and money from a new transit sales tax that takes effect this summer.

"When you have a dedicated funding source, it's so much easier to move your project forward on the financial side of this for the local match because the FTA knows your money is there and it's solid," McDonough said.

But the money wasn't so solid last month, after Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed the $70 million from a bonding bill.

Pawlenty said concerns with the project that forced his veto last month have now been satisfied. The funding, for example, also comes with an additional requirement that the state pay no more than 10 percent of the total construction costs.

"That's a good thing because the cost of these projects escalate as local officials and people want additional stops," Pawlenty said. "They want different things along the way; the costs escalate and we wanted to make sure the state's exposure was capped and that was achieved in the new bonding bill."

Now with the funding back in place, supporters of the Central Corridor can turn to finalizing the line's route.

The University of Minnesota and Metropolitan Council have been squabbling over how best to get the line through campus. The current plan takes tracks down Washington Avenue, while university officials recently suggested a northern route, through Dinkytown.

Metropolitan Council Chairman Peter Bell said he doesn't think the Dinkytown route can be done to the federal government's standards, which would put federal funding at risk.

And Bell said the council will probably put the university issue to rest this week. Council members will either vote to stick with the current Washington Avenue route or go with Dinkytown. Either way, it should let the entire project move forward.

"I think the residents of the seven-county area can look forward to the certainty of an expanded transit system, with a line that will provide a strong degree of service," Bell said.

In a statement today, university President Robert Bruininks praised the new state funding for the Central Corridor and says the school is committed to finding a workable solution.

Bell said the Met Council plans to submit its request for $450 million in federal money this September.

And while the state funding for the Central Corridor was getting most of the attention this weekend, lawmakers also passed a lesser-noticed measure.

The builders of both Central Corridor and the Northstar commuter rail line will now be able to buy things like train cars without paying state sales tax. That exemption is worth about $9 million and will take effect in 2010.

Minnesota Rep. Jim Oberstar said recently passed federal legislation could resurrect debate over an underground light-rail tunnel through the University of Minnesota.

The U of M and the Metropolitan Council have been squabbling over how to weave the Central Corridor train through campus.

A September deadline for a federal funding application has put pressure on negotiations between the two parties. Oberstar's comments will likely add more fuel to the debate.

Under the old system, Oberstar said the FTA focused on what's known as the cost-effectiveness index. The CEI is a complicated formula that looks at travel times, ridership and construction costs.

But Oberstar said the index means the agency essentially ignores other factors such as environmental benefits and the potential for economic development. He pushed for the recent changes, which will require the FTA to also give comparable weight to five other criteria.

Map of LRT routes
Oberstar said that could open the door for a University of Minnesota tunnel, if that's what local partners want.

"It would at least put the issue back on the table and further give the proponents, the university president and the University of Minnesota engineering school, an opportunity to provide new information that in the past, the Federal Transit Administration simply dismissed out of hand," Oberstar told MPR. "It doesn't say the tunnel would be built, but it gives the opportunity to consider new factors and a broader range of information than the FTA has given up to now."

The bill tweaks language in a broader transportation act called SAFETEA-LU. The bill cleared Congress last month and is awaiting the president's signature.

But Met Council chairman Peter Bell downplays the significance of the legislation, saying it would have little impact on the Central Corridor. Bell said an underground tunnel would add $200 million to the project's $909 million price tag, and it would push the CEI well above the recommended threshold.

Bell said while the FTA may now consider other factors, the agency will still look at the cost-effectiveness of projects.

"It doesn't say the tunnel would be built, but it gives the opportunity to consider new factors."
- Rep. James Oberstar
"That number still has to be met. They still have a fixed budget they are operating with," Bell said. "The FTA has not informed us of substantive changes to that formula they use that could come near to including the tunnel."

The U gave up on the costly tunnel idea earlier this year and agreed to support a street-level route along Washington Avenue. Over the past month, however, university officials have amplified their concerns about traffic and pedestrian safety. They're also studying an alternative route farther north that would steer the train through Dinkytown.

U officials declined to comment, saying they didn't have enough information on how the federal legislation would affect the project.

On the other end of the route in St. Paul, Ramsey County leaders were also hesitant to say much. They have already agreed on a compromise route that stopped short of the Union Depot concourse.

Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority chairman Jim McDonough said he doesn't know if the new federal language would allow the possibility of lengthening the route.

"We don't know that it could be on the table, we don't know what it does to the CEI, we don't know what it does to the timeline," said McDonough. "We're moving forward right now on the same principles we have all along."

The Met Council has described September as a crucial deadline. Agency officials have said missing the date by even a month would essentially delay the project for an entire year.

But Oberstar said that may not be the case. He said submitting the application later this fall might not take the project out of the running for that funding year. And he said there may be benefits to waiting, especially once a new president is elected. Oberstar said transit projects will have increased funding at the beginning of the calendar year.

"We have a better chance in the next administration, with a more complete project, that's more fully evaluated on a wider range of merits than it currently stands," said Oberstar.

An FTA spokesman said applications are accepted year-round and can advance to the next stage at any time.

The Met Council's Peter Bell said while his agency could submit its application at any time, he said it needs to stick to the September deadline to get the green light to go into final design by next February.

Bell said he's hopeful after a lengthy talk with university officials last week that they're getting closer to seeing eye to eye. But if a U of M tunnel is back on the table, the two may be further from a Central Corridor agreement.

If you can't sell someone on the Central Corridor light rail line based purely on the merits, you try a different approach. Backers of the transit line, which would connect Minneapolis to downtown Saint Paul via University Avenue, are doing just that.

With time running out in the 2008 legislative session, Saint Paul Democrat Alice Hausman tried Friday to appeal to Governor Pawlenty's business sense.

"$450 million dollars," Representative Hausman told Capitol reporters, "The $70 million for Central Corridor leverages that amount of federal money: $450 million."

At one point Pawlenty liked the Central Corridor project enough to include it in his own bonding proposal, but he used his line-item veto to knock it out of the bonding bills delivered to his desk by lawmakers.

"And I would venture to say there is not another Governor, Republican or Democrat, in any other state in the nation who would let $450 million in federal money slip through their fingers," Hausman remarked.

She made her comments standing outside Governor Pawlenty's office, flanked by other members of the Saint Paul delegation, and transit backers who held up giant mock checks in the amount of $450,000,000.

"Those are federal dollars," Hausman said, "And if they don't come here they're going to Sacramento, Miami, Charlotte, Salt Lake City or Phoenix."

When Pawlenty cut the project out of the bill vetoed the bill April 7th, he said he still had concerns about the total cost and the fact that the University of Minnesota hasn't agreed to the route the other stakeholders approved.

On Friday he was out of town for the fishing opener, but a day earlier told reporters he'd consider another bonding bill only after he reaches a deal on the balancing the overall state budget.

"Whether there's a bonding bill or not will hinge on whether we have a budget deal and what that looks like," Pawlenty said.

He's been in private negotiations with legislative leaders from both parties for the past several weeks, but they haven't come to terms on how best to erase the $935 million projected deficit for the current budget cycle.

"We'd like to get a deal," Pawlenty explained, "If the pattern of history is true in these matters they'll start sending us bills that are close to what we like then they'll put a couple stink bombs in there that they know we can't sign."

That, he said, would result in a special session being called. And then there's an option that's even more troubling for most lawmakers, a rare process known as "unallotment" in which the governor can unilaterally chop away on existing programs until the budget is balanced.

Hausman, as head of the Capital Investments Committee in the House, was the one of the main architects of the bonding bill the Governor signed in April after chopping out $208 million. Many of the projects that fell to the wayside were in Hausman's district, including the Central Corridor and the Como Park Zoo gorilla and polar bear exhibits.

Pawlenty found many of the projects wasteful, and items that came at the expense of some of his targetted favorites including the Minneapolis Veterans Home and Lake Vermillion State Park.

Hausman Friday told reporters that this version of the bill is totally clean.

"This is my spreadsheet," she said holding up the line-by-line breakdown of her bonding bill, "It has one project, the Central Corridor, 70 million dollars."

She said that amount would still leave wiggle room within the overall $825 bonding limit set by the Governor earlier in the session, allowing lawmakers to give him something for the veterans home and the proposed new state park.

From The Minnesota Daily, May 1, 2008

Pawlenty's conditions include finding a resolution of the "mitigation costs" requested by the University. The University has favored the Northern Alignment of the Central Corridor over the alternate route running along Washington Avenue.

While legislators had asked the governor to outline his position, Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL- St. Paul, said the condition relating to the University is one the Legislature has no way of fixing. It exists solely between the University and the Metropolitan Council, she said.

If the issue goes unresolved, it could lead to the end of the Central Corridor, at least in this session.

Calling the University-related condition "problematic," Hausman said the school is a "big, big obstacle" in the project's path and its Northern Alignment position the "biggest threat" to the future of the whole project.

For its part, the University maintains Northern Alignment is the best way to pursue the Central Corridor, University spokesman Mark Cassutt said in an e-mailed statement.

"This is a billion-dollar public investment that will have a lasting impact on our region and campus," he said. "It'd be irresponsible to not do it right."

While no specific changes have been made, Cassutt said at a Central Corridor Management Committee hearing Wednesday, the timeline for consideration was adjusted, something he called "promising."

Cassutt said the CCMC is awaiting more information regarding the Northern Alignment and is considering the route as an option for the Central Corridor.

The project was originally included in the state's bonding bill, but Pawlenty vetoed it, surprising a number of lawmakers.

In a previous postveto interview, Hausman said Pawlenty "single-handedly killed the central corridor," and called the axing of the project "the tragedy of the bill."

Since the veto, legislators have come out in support of getting the project done. In a press conference earlier this month, Speaker of the House Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, said she'll remain the "the optimist in getting this done," referring to the vetoed project.

"We are absolutely committed to the Central Corridor project, as a House," she said. "We feel very strongly about the project."

Despite the optimism, Anderson Kelliher said it was unclear what legislators would have to do to secure funding for the project, and added it could find its way into a second bonding bill or the state's budget bill.