38th Street and Hiawatha: Transit Oriented Development Potential along the Light Rail.

Analysis of the area surrounding 38th Street and Hiawatha Avenue was completed with the objective to help inform the 38th Street Station Area Plan. The 38th Street Station Plan aims to facilitate a mixed use redevelopment that supports the objectives of Transit Oriented Development. The project produced maps representing the commuting behaviors of workers and residents working and living adjacent to 38th Street Hiawatha Light Rail Station prior to redevelopment. According to the M3D data, the highest percentage of commuters from the 38th Street and Hiawatha analysis zone (13.5%) travel to downtown Minneapolis, while the next largest percentage of its commuters travel to Bloomington (7.6%). Both of these commute areas are connected by the Hiawatha LRT line. On the other hand, workers in the analysis zone are either more likely to live in the neighborhoods directly adjacent to their employment locations, or in suburbs not necessarily connected by the Hiawatha LRT. This suggests that mixed use redevelopment options may have a strong potential to capture the use of light rail to reduce commuting costs, while the loss of current job opportunities through redevelopment may have a direct impact on surrounding neighborhood residents.Prepared on behalf of Longfellow Community Council by Minnesota 3-D (M3D), administered by the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota