City Will Revist Bottineau Transitway Plans

At a meeting on Oct. 9, Mayor Shep Harris and the Golden Valley City Council announced that the city will revisit plans for the Bottineau Transitway.

According to Harris, on November 13, representatives from the Metropolitan Council and Hennepin County will sit down with councilmembers and answer questions about the transitway.

"I think its important for this communication to happen," Harris told Patch. "We need to have these conversations to discuss concerns and get clarification."

At a City Council meeting last June, councilmembers voted against the transitway, making Golden Valley the only city along the route to oppose the light rail construction.

But today, the Golden Valley City Council isn't the only group thinking twice about issues that surround the Bottineau Transitway.

Last February, in a letter to Bottineau Transitway Project Manager Brent Rusco,  the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) said that they unanimously opposed the D1 Alignment--a light rail path where the train would parallel the eastern boundary of Theodore Wirth Park.

On Sept. 5, after the D1 Alignment was chosen to be the Locally Preferred Alternative by the Policy Advisory Committee and the Hennepin County Regional Rail Authority, MPRB decided to take another look.

"The MPRB supports the Bottineau Transitway and will work with the Bottineau project team to make the very most of the chosen alignment," John Erwin, MPRB Board President, wrote in a letter to Rusco. "We look forward to gaining more detailed understanding of the potential impacts and the opportunities that are presented by the D1 Alignment."

Some residents are also in favor of reassessing the plans for the Bottineau project. In a blog published on Golden Valley Patch on Sept. 25, resident Andrea Wiley urged the Golden Valley City Council to consider the D1 Alignment.

"Golden Valley needs to plan for the future of transportation and not remain entrenched in old, isolationist ways of thinking," Wiley wrote. "Let’s endorse this Locally Preferred Alternative and allow the study to be done."

Should the City Council and reassess plans to bring the Bottineau Transitway through Golden Valley? Tell us in the comments.