There are tracks on Cedar street for the central corridor light rail line also known as the green line. This picture was taken from 10th and Cedar. I believe these tracks will eventually go past the historic churches and cross 7th street or maybe there will always be piles of dirt and bulldozers in the street.
As for the picture click on it to make it larger. The dome in the background is our state capital building which is also under construction.
I took a drive/walk along university early yesterday morning when no one was looking. It looks like some of the businesses are surviving light rail construction and there are a couple of new chain type fast food places wedged in between the wonderful asian restaurants. There are some vacant store fronts along University avenue where construction killed some of the businesses that were spared by the great recession.
When my mother was in college she took a train down the very same street but back then they called the trains street cars. The tracks were torn out long ago in the name of progress. Back then progress was buses. Now progress is trains so they are putting the track back onto University. [Click on the photos to make them larger]
People ask me if the light rail will have an impact on local housing. Yes it will. The rail line has created construction jobs already and there are some apartments on the rail line that will also benefit.
The street improvements and stations look wonderful.
There is no better way to show the progress on the light rail transit (LRT) construction than with photos. This is the green line which when complete will connect downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis via the Central corridor. Once every couple of weeks I get on my bike and navigate through the closed roads and sidewalks and grab a couple of shots downtown or get in my car and do what I call drive by shooting of the construction along University Ave.
The first picture was taken at Robert street at 14 Street E. If you look straight down the street in the picture you can see the Rossmor condos. This is the Robert street station which is just North of I94 on N. Robert street. The station looks to be almost complete.
In the second picture you can see the state capitol building in the background. This is the Cedar street station near 10th and Cedar. Cedar street south of 10th to 7th street is all dug up and of course closed.
The rail line is scheduled to open on 2014. I am looking forward to the end of the endless contruction.
Tracks on 4th street ETwo sets of tracks and they are even kind of curvy.
I took this out the window at CoCoMSP in lowertown. The union depot is looking good and I like the pretty copper roof on the light rail station. It is indeed a work of art at least as far as light rail stations go.
Here are a couple of pictures I took in downtown St. Paul of the light rail construction.
I wasn’t the only one who was watching. Construction is a spectators sport.
It seems like 4th street in front of the union depot ha been under construction forever but forever is a long time.
The street improvements appear to be done on 4th street E. in lower town from the farmers to the union depot. The street has been open to traffic in both directions since last year and the rail has been laid. They are still working on the station and on the union depot. I can’t wait to see the depot when it is done.
