Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. 3. Recipients Accession No. CTS 03-04 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Transportation, Urban Design and the Environment: January 18, 2003 Highway 61/Red Rock Corridor 6. 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Lance M. Neckar 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Project/Task/Work Unit No. Department of Landscape Architecture University of Minnesota 11. Contract (C) or Grant (G) No. 1425 University Ave S.E. Room 115 Minneapolis, MN 55414 12. Sponsoring Organization Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered Minnesota Department of Transportation 395 John Ireland Boulevard Mail Stop 330 14. Sponsoring Agency Code St. Paul, Minnesota 55155 15. Supplementary Notes 16. Abstract (Limit: 200 words) This report is a combination of two reports (Task 1 and Task 2 and 3) on the Highway 61/Red Rock Commuter Rail Corridor. The Task 1 portion describes the baseline conditions related to subdivision-scaled growth in the corridor, with particular concentration on Cottage Grove, one of the station sites. Also considered are current plans for the downtown St. Paul Union Depot. The Task 2 and 3 portion focuses on issues relating to the relationship between transportation and the environment. An important issue in this study, therefore, is the design and institutional integration of objectives across investments in transit services at a regional scale, public space, and the long-term value of developed private space, especially in suburbia. The report offers designs for new, alternative patterns of regional growth, both urban and suburban, in broad corridors served by commuter rail service. The study also demonstrates the designs’ effects on two principal problems of sprawl embodied in the street and highway network that is the bones and circulatory system of growth: 1. Unstratified, single-mode transportation infrastructure designed for peak demand, and 2. Degradation of environmental resources, especially water, the state’s namesake resource and a central article of its competitive advantages. 17. Document Analysis/Descriptors 18. Availability Statement Urban development Commuter rail No restrictions. Document available from: Regional development Environmental impacts National Technical Information Services, Suburbs Water quality control Springfield, Virginia 22161 City planning Travel patterns 19. Security Class (this report) 20. Security Class (this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 269 Transportation, Urban Design, and the Environment: Highway 61/Red Rock Corridor Report #13 in the Series: Transportation and Regional Growth Study Prepared by Lance M. Neckar, Professor Department of Landscape Architecture University of Minnesota 1425 University Ave S.E. Room 115 Minneapolis, MN 55414 February 2003 Published by Center for Transportation Studies University of Minnesota 200 Transportation and Safety Building 511 Washington Ave. SE Minneapolis, MN 55455-0375 CTS 03-04 This report represents the results of research conducted by the author and does not necessarily represent the view or policy of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Council, and/or the Center for Transportation Studies. This report does not contain a standard or specified technique. Preface The Transportation and Regional Growth Study is a research and educational effort designed to aid the Twin Cities region in understanding the relationship of transportation and land use. Many regions of the country are experiencing rapid commercial and residential development, often accompanied by population growth and growth in the total area of land developed. This has caused a range of concerns, including the direct costs of the infrastructure needed to support development and the social and environmental side effects of development patterns. This study is an effort to better understand the linkages between land use, community develop- ment, and transportation in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. It is designed to investigate how transportation-related alternatives might be used in the Twin Cities region to accommodate growth and the demand for travel while holding down the costs of transportation and maximiz- ing the benefits. The costs of transportation are construed broadly and include the costs of pub- lic sector infrastructure, environmental costs, and those costs paid directly by individuals and firms. Benefits are also broadly construed. They include the gains consumers accrue from travel, the contribution of transportation and development to the economic vitality of the state, and the amenities associated with stable neighborhoods and communities. The University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies is coordinating the Transportation and Regional Growth Study at the request of the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Council. The project has two components. The first is a research component designed to identify transportation system management and investment alternatives consistent with the region’s growth plans. It has six parts: 1. Twin Cities Regional Dynamics 2. Passenger and Freight Travel Demand Patterns 3. Full Transportation Costs and Cost Incidence 4. Transportation Financing Alternatives 5. Transportation and Urban Design 6. Institutional and Leadership Alternatives The first three research areas are designed to gather facts about the transportation system and its relationship to land use in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The other three research areas will use these facts to investigate alternatives in financing, design, and decision making that could have an impact on this relationship. Results of this research is and will be available in a series of reports published for the Transportation and Regional Growth Study. The study’s second component is a coordinated education and public involvement effort designed to promote opportunities to discuss the relationship between transportation and growth based on the research results. It is believed that this dialogue will help increase knowledge and raise the level of awareness about these issues among the study’s many audiences including decision makers who make policy, agency professionals who implement policy, stakeholder groups who try to influence policy, and members of the general public who experience the con- sequences of those policies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Principal Investigator Lance M. Neckar, Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture University of Minnesota Research and Design Staff, Department of Landscape Architecture Aaron Mikonowicz, Research Fellow Jason Aune, Research Fellow Rich Harrison, Research Specialist James Pettinari, Research Fellow Robert Sykes, Associate Professor Shawn Kummer, Research Assistant Kate Terrell, Research Assistant Consultants Steven Wilson, SRF Consulting Jonathan Ehrlich, SRF Consulting Technical Advisory Panel Karl Weissenborn, MnDOT Technical Liaison Jim Klessig, MnDOT Adminstrative Liaison Jim Barton, Metropolitan Council Jon Burbank, City of Cottage Grove James Dustrude, MnDOT Mark Gander, Parsons Consulting John Hensel, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Gary Oberts, Metropolitan Council, formerly Greg Pates, Metropolitan Council Mike Rogers, Washington County Joel Schilling, SEH Consulting Brian Vollum, MnDOT Don Wisnewski, Washington County Thanks also to: Frederick C. Dock, PE, AICP. PTOE, Meyer, Mohaddes Associates, Inc. Mary Vogel, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Landscape Architecture TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................ i CHAPTER 1 ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION: URBAN DESIGN AND THE GENETIC CODE OF SUBURBAN GROWTH .................................................................. 1 Traffic and Transit Politics........................................................................................................................................................ 2 Quality of Life............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 The Genetic Code of Subdivision Today ................................................................................................................................... 4 Urban Design and the Physical Order of the Genetic Code .................................................................................................... 7 The Integration of other TRG Findings into the Framing of this Study................................................................................... 8 Smart Growth, Urban Design, Transportation, and Water: Central Issues of the Study ....................................................... 9 Space (Not Time) and Money................................................................................................................................................... 10 Methodology............................................................................................................................................................................. 11 CHAPTER 2 ....................................................................................................................................................................................