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Lawmaker sags light rail's funding "looks promising' (_3/07/1998) page J, of -ERPLANET Published Saturday, March 7, 19981 s light rail's funding "looks in the Pioneer Dress. Lawmaker say i This material is copyrighted promising' and may not be republished • i Panels chair sees consensus building,yet hurdles remain without perrrussion of originating newspaper or .......................................................................................I...... .................... ................................ ........................................-........... ........ wire service. BILL GARDNER STAFF WRITER FioneerPlanet Will this Minnesota Legislature spends big money is a service of the pioneer to make light rail transit an alternative to the automobile in the Twin Press. Cities? For more information, click �`It looks very P romising to tie," state Rep. ,lean wagenius, here. chairwoman of the House Transportation and Transit Committee, said Friday, On Thursday, the state Senate approved a bonding bill that included $50 million to start light rail construction along the 10-mile Hiawatha Corridor-from the [university of Minnesota to the Mall of America -- a project with an overall price tag of$400 raillion, half of which would come from federal funds, as yet unsecured. The state House will make a decision on similar money next week. However, even if both houses are for light rail, there's still Gov. Arne Carlson. And his version of the bonding hill doesn't include light rail; he's proposing a 44 million buses-only '`transitway," resembling a frontage road, for the Hiawatha Corridor instead. Transit insiders expect an intense round of lobbying and horse-trading of items in various bonding bills before the (legislature adjourns this spring. Another example: the governor backs $65 million in state bonding for a new hockey arena at River Centre in downtown St. Paul; the Senate bill didn't contain a dime for it. "This is the first time you have seen a consensus," Wagenius, DFL- Minneapolis, said of the Senate vote Thursday on the bonding bill containing light rail. "The The first time we have had a general understanding of what we are going to do to meet commuter needs for the long haul." The Minnesota Department of Transportation indicated last year that it would need an additional $6.6 billion for highway construction to deal with increasing traffic congestion in the coming decades. http://www.pioneerp l anet.com/seven-days/6/news/does/o 2743 5.htm