Met Council takes feedback on transportation plan
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The Metropolitan Council is laying out a long term transportation plan meant to shape the Twin Cities for the next 20 years.
During a hearing on the 2030 transportation policy plan Wednesday, incoming St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce board chairman Dan Scott said the plan doesn't do enough for job growth and economic development in the East Metro.
"There's tremendous opportunities in the east. And we have visions of the transitway corridors that go to to the north and the south and to the southeast. Even into Wisconsin. And we believe there is opportunity for us to work together and to expand the region from what we see is currently a very west tilted approach," Scott said.
Scott said the plan doesn't give the East Metro the equivalent of planned transit lines to Eden Prairie, Maple Grove and Big Lake.
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Joshua Houdek spoke for the Minnesota chapter of the Sierra Club.
Houdek said his group feels the Met Council needs to reshape the Twin Cities itself, not just the transit system and road network.
He said urban sprawl is a root cause of the area's transportation problems, and he asked the council to address the issue in their twenty-year plan.
"Lower density is raising the cost of everything from public infrastructure to school bus transportation. We believe that the transportation policy plan should demonstrate better commitment to more compact land use, which supports transit, bicycling and walking," Houdek said.
Critics of the plan ranged from environmentalists to the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Met council is taking feedback on the plan until November 6th.
