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The Northstar Line runs on existing Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) tracks with five <br />weekday morning downtown inbound trips and five outbound weekday trips. There is one <br />reverse commute trip each day. Daily ridership averages 2,400 riders per day which is below the <br />Metro Transit goal of 3,400 riders per day by 2010 and 5,900 riders per day by 2030. There is <br />limited weekend service as well as extra trips provided for special events such as Minnesota <br />Twins (baseball) and Vikings (football) games. <br />The $317 million project was built with $157 million in federal transit funds, $97.5 million in <br />state sales tax revenues, and $34.8 million from the Anoka County Rail Authority, $8.0 million <br />from Sherburne County, $5.9 million from the Met Council, and $2.6 million from the <br />Minnesota Twins. A total of $107.5 million was paid to BNSF for a perpetual easement for track <br />rights. The rail corridor continues to be one of the busiest freight corridors in the region with an <br />average of 50 to 60 freight trains per day. <br />The line is planned for a future extension to St. Cloud, which is an additional 42 miles. It was <br />not included in the original full funding grant agreement with FTA due to cost effectiveness <br />concerns as measured by the costs per new rider. A major cost factor is the need to complete <br />double track rail for a 14-mile segment north of Big Lake. <br />Transit Oriented Development <br />TOD can be defined as mixed -use residential or commercial development within walking <br />distance of a transit station designed to maximize access to transit and incorporating features <br />designed to encourage transit ridership. A TOD often resembles other activity centers with a <br />greater mix of uses and higher densities than the surrounding market area. TODs typically have <br />the following features: <br />• Mix of Uses — Land uses can be mixed either vertically or horizontally. TOD is most <br />often primarily residential at suburban locations but can have employment and other <br />commercial and retail uses at activity center and downtown locations. <br />• Compact Development — TODs are built at higher densities than the surrounding market <br />area, creating a focal point around a transit station. The density and amount of <br />development are market driven; higher land values support higher development densities <br />and more urban locations support greater amounts of development. <br />• Pedestrian Oriented — The development pattern at TODs is designed to facilitate <br />pedestrian access to and from the station with ample sidewalks, interconnected blocks <br />and streets, and buildings oriented toward the street and parking located in secondary <br />locations. <br />Stations can be classified according to their transit function and their approximate place in the <br />continuum of urban and suburban development. This continuum ranges from Downtown and <br />Regional Activity Centers areas on the larger and most intense end of the development spectrum <br />to Neighborhood Centers on the smaller end, as shown in Figure 1-2. There are also more <br />specialized single use centers such as hospitals or major sports complexes. The mix of uses <br />varies by type and locational setting; however, the larger, more intense urban centers tend to be <br />1-2 <br />