By: Ethan Fawley and Michael Noble

The Midtown Greenway bike trail in south Minneapolis has been a great success over the last few years from numerous perspectives. It’s a beautiful separated bicycle trail that’s well-lit at night and plowed in the winter. It’s the home of community gardens, new housing, and urban green space in what once was a long-dilapidated industrial district. It’s well-used: the bike trail now supports an average of more than 2,000 bicycle trips a day. And it might even be the future home of a streetcar or light rail route.

But most importantly, the Midtown Greenway has created huge economic development opportunities in adjacent neighborhoods. For example, the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, which is bisected by the Greenway, is the hottest development market in Minnesota, with hundreds of new housing units and office spaces despite the slowest real estate market in a generation. Sure, people are choosing Uptown because of the access to diverse restaurant options and good transit, but they’re also drawn by Uptown’s multiple connections to the Midtown Greenway. As gasoline prices rise and demographics change, more people and families are seeking housing choices that have good transit access and biking and walking opportunities.

On January 10, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) heard testimony about a proposed high-voltage transmission line called the Hiawatha Project. A new line is needed in the area to meet the increased energy demand that comes with new development. But the project itself has proven quite controversial, primarily around the issue of line placement. Several years ago, Xcel Energy proposed an above-ground transmission line that would run alongside the Greenway between Hiawatha Avenue and Oakland Avenue near Interstate 35W, a plan that if approved would hurt the Greenway and stunt economic development a mile or two east of Uptown in the area known as Midtown or Phillips.

But there was a chorus of testimony on January 10 in favor of burying the lines under nearby 28^th Street instead of putting them on the Greenway. Department of Commerce staff joined the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, local neighborhood and community groups, and Wells Fargo in supporting this plan.

But—most importantly—Xcel Energy also supported burying the lines, a reversal from its earlier position.

An above-ground line would have serious negative effects not just on the neighborhood, but on a valuable regional transportation asset. The Greenway already has more bike traffic than 80 percent of Minneapolis streets—a number that has been climbing significantly. The Greenway is also the site of a planned future transit line to connect the existing Hiawatha Light Rail Transit line with the planned Southwest Light Rail Transit line, which is currently slated to open in 2017. Above-ground power lines would stunt the growth of bike traffic and would raise the cost of future transit connections.

Building the line above ground would also hinder future economic development in the area, reducing the tax base and providing fewer living options. On top of all that, the Greenway is a national historic district and an important natural resource, and transmission lines do not fit with that designation. Burying the line under 28^th Street is the only viable and prudent option, one that is supported by numerous precedents, including a line that was buried recently less than two miles from this location. Above-ground lines along the Greenway are also not workable because neighborhood opposition would be so strong (and local laws strong enough to support that opposition) that they could never be built. In addition, it is customary and routine that important environmental resources be avoided in routing new transmission, so it would be standard practice in this case to route this line under 28^th Street instead of overhead on the Greenway corridor.

So now, with the unanimous support of all the key stakeholders for burying the line, only two questions seem to remain: when will the PUC grant the permit for burying the line, and who will pay for the additional cost (estimated at approximately $14 million)? The PUC is scheduled to decide whether the project should proceed and where the transmission line should be located on January 12. Fresh Energy believes the PUC should determine that burying the line under 28^th Street is the only “standard facility” option in this case because an above-ground line alone the Greenway is not reasonable or prudent. The costs of “standard facilities” are spread evenly. A “standard facility,” according to Xcel Energy’s rules, is one:

“whose design or location constitutes the reasonable and prudent, least-cost alternative that is consistent with the existing electric system configuration, will meet the needs of the Company’s customers and will maintain system reliability and perform under the circumstances. In determining the design or location of a “Standard Facility,” the Company shall use good utility practices and evaluate all of the circumstances surrounding the proposal.”

After more than three years of review, it’s time for the PUC to approve the “standard” location of transmission lines under 28^th Street.

Editor’s note: On January 12, the PUC voted 4-1 to bury the power lines under 28^th Street and protect the Midtown Greenway—a big win for everyone. The PUC decided that a decision on who should pay for the cost of burying the lines should be delayed to gather more information and public input. That decision is expected in about six months.

Photo: By Micah Taylor (The Greenway) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Midtown Greenway bike trail in south Minneapolis has been a great success over the last few years from numerous perspectives.