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the primary focus today is acquisition of the corridor in order to preserve it for a future transportation use. Due to the active freight rail service between Roseville and White Bear Lake, the region will probably not take action on this corridor for at least ten years. Diaz did encourage the local governments to continue to pursue acquisition and to plan land uses with the possibility of an exclusive transitway in mind. Art Leahy (General Manager, Metro Transit) discussed the inefficiencies of the current transit system, namely the duplication of routes in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Leahy also identified how the transit service restructuring proposal contained in the Metro Transit Sectors I and II Study will alleviate these inefficiencies and provided enhanced transit service to the Northeast Area. VI. Northeast Diagonal Transitway Steve Sarkozy (Roseville City Manager) provided a brief history of the Northeast Diagonal Transitway. Sarkozy explained that approximately 18 months ago, the Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) Railroad announced plans to abandon the portion of this corridor from Broadway Ave. to Walnut St. After that announcement, the affected local governments formed an ad hoc group to determine if there was a potential public use for the corridor. The group determined that the corridor should be acquired and preserved for a future transportation use. The next steps in this process are for the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority (HCRRA) to finalize acquisition of the corridor and for the City of Minneapolis to implement a TEA-21 funded trail. V I I . Discussion Probst facilitated a half-hour group discussion of the corridor. Issues/concerns expressed by attendees included the following: • As the right-of-way becomes available it should be purchased to preserve the corridor. • Transit 2020 does not identify enough new transit service for the St. Paul NE area. • Community needs to reach consensus on corridor's purpose d� then pursue it. • Evaluate whole corridor (Mpls. to White Bear) in any future studies. • A bike trail should be built in this corridor. • Bikes should be allowed on light rail, commuter rail, � buses. • Corridor may make sense for reverse commute opportunities. • Corridor should be used for fiber optics as well as transportation. • What about potential impacts of telecommuting d� technology for future transit? • What impact will increased train traf fic have on safety, noise, d� property values? • Why is this corridor identified as a potential busway rather than LRTlcommuter rail? • How do we get people out of their cars d� onto transit? ♦ Could this line extend 2�0+ miles to the north? C:\kwalkerined iagonallinfomtg�notes. doc