Minnesota Light Rail Delivers People, Pride and Progress
By William J. Angelo

After a 50-year hiatus, rail transit has finally returned to the Twin Cities. The new $715.3-million Hiawatha Light Rail Line connects downtown Minneapolis and the Nicollet Mall with the Minneapolis/St Paul International Airport and the Mall of America in nearby Bloomington. While the project was long in development, success came quickly as ridership soared, new housing and commercial development proliferates and expansion plans abound.

Call it what you will–neighborhood preservation, transit-oriented development or just plain common sense–but Minnesota’s first and largest design-build project is a resounding success. It is a fixed-price, 12-mile long, double-track, electric-powered system that includes 17 themed neighborhood stations. But getting there wasn’t easy as burgeoning population pressure and urban traffic congestion issues forced residents and public officials to think and rethink possible solutions. In the end, the Hiawatha line was the consummation of decades long wrangling that evolved slowly from a State Highway 55 expansion project to a bus rapid- transit system into a design-build rail tale.

The project teamed the Minnesota Transit Constructors DB Joint Venture (MnTC), consisting of local offices of Granite Construction Co., C.S. McCrossan Inc., Parsons Transportation Group and Edwards and Kelcey, with a number of co-located public agencies. The seven-county Metropolitan Council owns the project; a divisional unit, Metro Transit, operates it; and the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation built it.

Under a separate contract, the Metropolitan Airports Commission oversaw construction of twin 1.8-mile long tunnels and two stations. Funding came from a variety of federal, state and local sources and had the support of two governors. "We had 25-years of debate then Curt Johnson, chairman of our regional government, and Gov. Arne Carlson (R) led the process to light rail and Gov. Jesse Ventura (I) and Metro Council Chairman Ted Mondale finished it," says Bob Gibbons, Metro Transit director of customer services. "Our federal grant required a 2004 opening, which we did with 27 days to spare."

	Gibbons

A glorious 70-year history of electric-powered rail transit ended in 1954 when the Twin Cities Rapid Transit System closed shop. By the 1970s a city arterial, Hiawatha Avenue, also known as the Highway 55 corridor, was being considered for expansion from four lanes to an eight-lane expressway. But public opposition succeeded in stopping the project and converting decision-makers into light-rail advocates. The final plan was for a four-lane road with the light-rail system running along one side.

Preliminary engineering and environmental reviews were completed in early 2000. That same year, a $268-million design-build contract was awarded in September and ground finally was broken in January 2001. The first phase of the line–eight miles and 12 stations running from Hennepin Avenue to Fort Snelling–opened in June 2004 to critical acclaim and the full line opened last December. Click here to view map

Projected ridership doubled in the first two months after opening and now has settled in at about 19,300 passengers daily, climbing to an estimated 24,600 by 2020. Trains run every 7 to 10 minutes and riders can transfer free onto 46 Metro bus routes. "The Hiawatha Line has been in operation 14 months and we are experiencing 64% more riders than expected," says Gibbons. "We’ve already ordered three new rail cars."

Stations consist of a platform, canopy, ticket vending machines and partially enclosed shelter.

Montreal-based Bombardier, manufactured the train shells under a separate contract at its plant in Mexico. But because of Buy America contract provisions, they were assembled in upstate New York. Trains can consist of one or two cars. Each articulated car costs $3 million and is 94-ft long and capable of moving 66 seated passengers plus another 120 standing passengers. Top speed is 55 mph, though normal speed is closer to 40 mph and slower in the downtown area. "It was a new [to North America] low-floor design for Bombardier that would not disrupt the streetscape and it provides ideal loading and unloading conditions because of wide doors and level platforms," says Mike Schadauer, MnDOT’s acting Hiawatha project manager.

Fast Tracks

Design-build project delivery was selected because of schedule needs. "It was basically a timetable issue," says Robert P. Sands, Edwards and Kelcey senior vice president. "MnDOT has since done a number of highway design-build jobs but this is their first and only rail job."

Robert C. Winter, MnDOT director of district operations notes that lack of agency expertise and available staff also were key issues. "We needed help and design-build was the best way to get it," he says. A best-value, fixed-price, two-step selection process winnowed out four teams that included a BPL joint venture led by Balfour Beatty, Bechtel Infrastructure Corp., Kiewit Mortenson and Raytheon Engineering and Construction. Only MnTC was able to meet final budget requirements (by $40 million), which enabled the project to proceed.

The team was able to shave considerable time and money by substituting cast-in-place, post-tensioned concrete box girder structures for two steel-girder bridges–one 1,400-ft long, the other 2,200 ft. "They are both flyovers. The first crosses Route 55 from the east before Lake Street and supports the station. The second crosses the Route 55/62 interchange below the VA Medical Center Station and levels out before the Fort Snelling Station," says Ken Besse, Granite project manager and MnTC project manager.

	The two airport stations and twin 1.8-mile long tunnels were constructed under a separate $143.5-million contract.

Design-build also introduced the use of mechanically stabilized earth walls with the bridges. "We had no experience with them prior to Hiawatha," says Winter. "Now they are becoming standardized on all our projects." According to Sands, the flyovers and walls saved over $15 million and removed a steel-fabrication schedule risk that helped keep the project on time.

Fourteen prefabricated 1.5-MW substations also added speed and saved $2 million. MnTC was required to build 1 MW stations, but by upping the power, it could make the system more responsive, efficient and cheaper. "We just built screen walls and placed the units inside," says Sands. "The walls matched the community."

Winter	Sands

Another prefabricated 2.5-MW substation powers the $25-million operations and maintenance facility, located near the Cedar-Riverside Station. The shop can accommodate the entire fleet indoors and offers state-of-the-art security and operations controls.

Perhaps the biggest challenge was a last-minute major realignment of the line into the Mall of America, which resulted in a $39.9-million owner-driven change order paid with reallocated federal and local funds. It drove the price to $715.3-million.

"The original design located a station across the street from the mall connected by a skybridge because there already was a bus stop in the mall," says Sands. "At the last minute, an intermodal station was agreed upon, which required us to realign one mile of rail and design and build a new station, which could have only been done through design-build." Besse says it was the right thing to do but created a challenge because he needed to complete the job on schedule and had to recall the design team.

Winter says the change is a vastly improved solution and he is pleased with the overall collaborative process. "We are happy with the end product. We took a big bite for our first design-build project but we hired Parsons Brinckerhoff to help us with the selection process because we had always done low-bid and best-value was new to us," says Winter. "The cultural change took some time getting used to, but we learned to let go and let the process work. Now we want to apply design-build lessons learned such as performance specifications, partnering, schedule management and having designers and builders working together as well as co-locating staffs for joint development of design into all our projects."

	Neighborhood groups helped develop their station design so that no two are the same.

Concurrent tunnel work at the airport was done under a separate $143.5-million design-bid-build contract by locally based Obayashi Corp./Johnson Brothers. It was included in the total price. Work on the 24-ft diameter tunnels started at a boat section near the Fort Snelling station and then bored under two runways and the end of a parking structure to emerge near a charter flight terminal. "That required lots of local coordination," says Winter. "They built the tunnels and two stations while we supplied the rail and systems."

Gold Rush

The rail system runs through an eclectic mix of urban neighborhoods. The team sought input from local artists and the public to help develop community-themed designs on the stations, which helped alleviate some project anxiety.

The project "starts in a downtown urban setting, then moves to the Metrodome sports area, then near the University of Minnesota and on to a high-rise minority section," says Winter. "From there, it moves through a typical middle-income residential neighborhood to the Fort Snelling military section, then under the airport and to the Mall and adjacent commercial office complexes. Along the way it also runs through some light industrial sections."

Two cast-in-place concrete flyovers replaced 1,400-ft long and 2,200-ft long steel bridges to save the project over $15 million.

A typical station consists of platform, canopy, ticket vending machines, partially enclosed shelter with radiant heaters and lighting. Most cost $1 million to $1.5 million. Distinctive finishes could include a bungalow-looking roofline at the 38th Street Station to reflect the nearby housing style and wildlife medallions imbedded in the platform and etched on glass to reflect a nature theme at the 50th Street-Minnehaha Park Station.

The Metropolitan Council says Hiawatha already has changed housing patterns in the area, as condominium construction flourishes near the stations. It estimates 7,150 housing units and 19 million sq ft of new commercial space will be built as a result of the rail line. "It’s happening and proving that Minnesotans are hungry for urban rail transit because it simplifies their life," says Schadauer.

	Schadauer

Public satisfaction and the new development has prompted talk of rail expansion. Several new light and commuter rail lines are being considered. "The success of the Hiawatha Line sets the table for additional projects," says Gibbons. "It raised the visibility of all types of public transportation."

"Our next commuter rail project is the 40-mile long Northstar Line, which will run on existing freight rail tracks," says Gibbons. "Preliminary engineering has already been completed and MnDOT is awaiting federal approval to enter final design." The budget is $265 million, with completion in 2009. "Connecting Hiawatha to Northstar will build on our success and set the stage for an extensive future network of urban rail transit," says Schadauer. "Hiawatha changed everything."

(All photos courtesy of Minnesota Dept. of Transportation)