You can think of the Energy Innovation Corridor as a second set of tracks running parallel to the Central Corridor light-rail transit line and taking the Twin Cities to an important destination.
The
Energy Innovation Corridor is not an actual transit line but a group effort by businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations to promote energy efficiencies along the
Central Corridor, from downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis.
The Central Corridor line itself is "doing about 60 percent of what needs to be done," says Brian McMahon, executive director of
University UNITED, a coalition of business people along University Avenue, which will carry the light-rail trains for most of their route.
Light-rail transit already achieves many environmental goals by getting people out of cars and encouraging more efficient high-density development. But as the Central Corridor project gained steam several years ago, University UNITED convened environmental groups to discuss how to ensure that anticipated transit-oriented development along the route went the rest of the way toward sustainability.
Among the concepts getting a push by the Energy Innovation Corridor are green building, better stormwater management, and solar and thermal energy generation. Retrofitting existing buildings and taking advantage of more energy-efficient land use along the Central Corridor are also priorities.
McMahon wants to make the Central Corridor a model for a holistic approach to transforming an urban environment. "Virtually everything the world is trying to do, we could show along University Avenue," he says.
Source: Brian McMahon, University UNITED
Writer: Chris Steller