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Northeast Diagonnl Transitway Informational Meeting Notes The Northeast Diagonal Transitway Informational Meeting was held on-Wednesday, April 26, 2000. from 4:00 PM to 5�30 PM. Invitations were distributed to elected officials, planning commission members, and staff from the following entities: the cities-of Minneapolis, St. Anthony, Arden Hills, New Brighton, Gem Lake, Little Canada, Mounds View, Roseville, Shoreview, Vadnais Heights; the Hennepin and Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authorities; the Metropolitan Council and Metro Transit; the Minnesota Departments of Transportation and Natural Resources; and, the Ramsey County, Suburban Hennepin, and Minneapolis Parks Departments. Approximately 60 persons attended the meeting inciuding at least one representative from each of the groups listed above. Note: Due to a Hiawatha Light Rail Transit (LR� press conference, a number of the speakers arrived late and the meeting did not begin until 4:20 PM. I. Welcome and Introductions Dennis Probst (I-35W Corridor Coalition Chair and Arden Hills Mayor) convened the meeting at approximately 4:20 PM by welcoming the attendees, explaining the structure of the meeting, and asking the audience members to introduce themselves. II. Opening Remarks Ramsey County Commissioner .7an Weissner and Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Stenglein thanked everyone for attending, discussed transit and related policy issues, and invited attendees to ask questions and share their vision for the corridor. III. Purpose of Meeting Probst explained that the purpose of the meeting was to share information and to get feedback from attendees regarding future opportunities for/interest in the corridor. Iv. Regional Perspective Transportation Commissioner Tinklenberg provided the group with an overview of the Hiawatha LRT press conference in which FTA and FAA approval for Final Design was announced. Tinklenberg also explained that the Hiawatha LRT is the first piece in a new system of exclusive transitways (i.e., LRY, Commuter Rail, d� Busway) for the region. Tinkienberg reiterated the Transportation Department's commitment to transit as one element in an overall system of strategies for managing the region's congested roadways. V. Transit 2020 Nacho Diaz (Transportation Director, Metropolitan Council) explained to the group that the region as well as the country was at the end of the roadway construction era. As roadways become more congested and the region is constrained in its ability to build additional roadway capacity, we need to focus on providing alternatives. A regional plan for providing alternatives is contained in the Metropolitan Council's Transit 2020 plan. The overall goal of Transit 2020 is to double regional transit ridership by 2020. To accomplish this, Transit 2020 focuses on improvements to the existing bus system (i.e., coverage, frequency, hours of service, etc.) and the development of a network of dedicated transitways, beginning with the Hiawatha LRT. Diaz then addressed the NE Diagonal corridor specifically, stating that C:�kwalker\ned iagonal\infomtg�notes. doc