(The following story by Lawrence Schumacher appeared on the St. Cloud Times website on August 9.)
ST CLOUD, Minn. — Preliminary estimates of ridership and cost for extending the proposed Northstar commuter rail line to Rice will not be available next week as planned.
A Northstar Corridor Development Authority Phase II committee meeting scheduled for Aug. 16 has been canceled, said Tim Yantos, Northstar project administrator.
A verbal report on the findings of a $128,000 study looking at extending the rail line — which is scheduled to begin operating between Minneapolis and Big Lake by late 2009 — was to be shared with the committee at that meeting, he said.
A written report is not expected until some time in September, Yantos said.
Yantos said he does not know why the meeting was canceled, but the study is proceeding.
Kimley-Horn and Associates are conducting the study. It is expected to tell Northstar members — Anoka, Benton, Hennepin, Sherburne and Stearns counties — whether extending the line past Big Lake has a chance of federal approval.
If the Phase Two committee recommends going forward based on the study results, more in-depth work would begin on environmental analysis, preliminary engineering, negotiations with BNSF Railway and other steps.
The next scheduled meeting of the Phase II committee is Oct. 18.