Station Spacing and Location. The DEIS proposed to space stations one mile apart along two segments in Saint Paul: from Rice Street to Snelling Avenue and from Fairview to Raymond Avenues. In its comments on the DEIS, the DCC supported half-mile station spacing outside the Central Business Districts. Study of Stations at Western, Victoria, and Hamline — Neighborhoods in the three-mile segment from Rice to Snelling have some of region’s highest concentrations of transit dependent, low-income, and racially/ethnically diverse households. These concentrations are noted in both the Central Corridor DEIS and the New Starts Application. The DCC identified transportation equity for these neighborhoods as a high priority issue and commissioned research on the issue of station spacing and location. Findings from that research indicate that one-half mile station spacing is common practice in similar urban neighborhoods across the US and that projected ridership in these neighborhoods might be even higher if LRT is made more accessible by spacing stations one-half mile apart. Other research findings noted that one-half mile stations spacing would address issues of transportation equity and environmental justice, offer more economic development opportunities for these economically distressed neighborhoods, provide greater community cohesion for different ethnic and racial groups, and be consistent with the CCLRT Project’s goals and objectives (see Attachments 2 and 3 for full research report). This research has been shared with the community, the Met Council, and elected officials involved in the project. A community report of responses to the research and support for construction of the stations is attached along with DCC Comments submitted to the Met Council as part of its series of ‘Listening Sessions’ (see Attachments 4 and 5). The DCC is pleased to see these stations included the SDEIS work scope. The DCC urges the Met Council to include the following tasks as part of the SDEIS. • Supplemental ridership analysis to verify ridership projections generated by the Regional Transportation Model, a 4-step model that is known to under-forecast LRT ridership. • A rigorous analysis of impacts, such as community cohesion and economic development, which will result from a delay in the construction of these stations. • A thorough mitigation analysis that would address such issues as additional circulators to improve access to LRT stations, should these stations not be built as part of the project. We beli...
