Originally Posted by daihard

I'm not familiar with the Minneapolis / St Paul area, but what is the area like between the two, where the train runs? Are they urban neighborhoods that are already developed, or more like suburbs? Assuming there are a few train stations between the two cities, I'd say the long-term development around those stations may actually bring more people into the area. That's what's been happening to the areas where the light rail runs (and will run) in Seattle.

As for adding lanes to the freeway, why not just designate one lane as transit-only instead? That would cost far, far less than building one full lane and still enable the bus services to run efficiently. IMO, adding a traffic lane for the cars will not solve the traffic problem in the long run - it would simply increase the traffic volume and cause the same traffic issue in a few years, if not sooner.