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The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

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Central Corridor and U

The Twin Cities would benefit from the expansion of light rail.

The University has beautiful campuses, and although it does a pretty good job of connecting them with buses and bridges, the connection could be even stronger with the construction of Central Corridor light rail.

The Central Corridor is an 11-mile route between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. If the transit line is built, there will be numerous stops on the East and West banks, as well as in St. Paul.

Not only would the construction of the system be a more efficient way to connect the University’s campuses, but also it would better connect the University with Minneapolis and St. Paul. Students would have a lot more mobility and would in turn be more able to experience all of what the Twin Cities has to offer. This has the potential to increase dramatically the amount of traffic through businesses, benefiting the entire community economically.

Right now, 66 percent of the University community uses some sort of public transportation to get to campus. With so many students, faculty and staff members commuting to and from campus, it is silly not to seriously consider the widespread benefit a system like the Central Corridor would bestow. Imagine the impact of such a large-scale public transportation system on the nightmarish traffic congestion around the University.

The University already has experienced the benefits of accessible public transportation. Since the creation of U-Pass, University ridership has increased every year even in a time when bus fares continually increase. If every student was to have a U-Pass and be able to use it on the Central Corridor system, many of the transportation problems around at the University would cease to exist.

Even though the Central Corridor system wouldn’t be fully running for a while, the Minnesota Student Association should work toward getting a U-Pass in the hands of every student who enrolls at the University. This would go a long way in solving the many transportation problems around the University.

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