"Taking 40 minutes each way, the Central Corridor light-rail line won't be the fastest way to get from St. Paul to Minneapolis when it starts rolling in 2014.  But speed isn't the point.  As the line gets closer to becoming reality, the reality is that the transit project is as much --or more -- about economics as it is about moving people. It's seen as the key to economic development, new investment and neighborhood revitalization"  So writes Chris Havens here in the Star Tribune about the Central Corridor light rail expansion connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul.  Havens quotes several pro-rail people citing the alleged benefits in cities like Phoenix.  But as the Forgotten Man has written before, light rail has only provided a payback in one city across America.  Randal O'Toole writes about the fallacy of development in his book Best Laid Plans.  To Havens credit, he also quotes Robert Cervero, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who said, " that light rail is often sold as a quick fix to revitalize neighborhoods, end cycles of poverty and lower crime.  Past experience suggests the economic development impacts of LRT in all but the most fast-growing, economically robust settings are over-sold, while light rail might bring better mobility for poor people, he added, the line by itself likely won't invite new outside investments." 

So what kind of development will we get and how long will it take?  According to a study from the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, it will probably take from five to 10 years before some development -- likely housing -- takes off along the Central Corridor.  And a recently released University of Minnesota study showed that houses near Hiawatha light-rail stops in Minneapolis gained about $5,000 in value after the line went into service.

To sum it all up, we are going to spend $957 million to increase home values by $5,000 in about 10 years and the trip will take longer than getting in your car and driving the 9 miles from one city to the other.   For that amount, we could move give 191,000 people a check for $5,000 to buy a new car or to help with moving expenses and not be stuck with a train that no one uses.