Fast facts

The latest LRT project in the Twin Cities earned a visit from the Hamilton Community Foundation in part because of a reputation for innovative efforts to preserve affordable housing along its latest 18-kilometre Green Line.

The metropolitan area in Minnesota — a state sometimes jokingly referred to as Canada’s 11th province — also shares a few LRT-challenges in common with Hamilton, like our winter climate, a growing backlash to gentrification and a contentious decision to dig up a central traffic artery filled with small businesses. Some Green Line highlights, by the numbers:

4.2 billion

Estimated dollar investment in residential and commercial development along the line. (Like in Hamilton, critics question how much of that development is actually due to LRT, rather than, say, a post-recession bounce in the economy.)

4 million

The dollar amount fundraised by foundations and doled out to struggling businesses during LRT construction in the form of grants and forgivable loans. (Canadian and provincial laws restrict the ability of a city like Hamilton to do this.)

40,000

Average weekday rides in 2017. The original 2030 weekday projection was 41,000. (Past estimates for a Hamilton LRT suggested 62,000 daily rides by 2031.)

3,573

Number of newly created or preserved affordable housing units along the LRT corridor two years after it opened in 2014.

968

Number of struggling families who received financial help to avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes.

252

Net loss in small businesses along the corridor following construction, or about four per cent. Actual jobs along the line nudged up three per cent.

44

The percentage jump in median rent between 2011 and 2015 for a twobedroom along the Green Line, which opened in 2014.

23

Number of stations along the line between Minneapolis and Saint Paul. (In Hamilton, there are 17 station stops planned between McMaster University and Eastgate Square.)

18

Route length in kilometres, a majority along the main University Avenue artery connecting the two cities. (Hamilton’s LRT covers 14 kilometres, also following the main traffic corridor Main, King and Queenston.)

4

The number of professional sports

stadiums on the transit line. (Hamilton has one, CFL home of the TigerCats, a block from its proposed line.)

3

Number of lawsuits initially faced by the Green Line over noise, vibration and stop locations. (None to report in Hamilton ... yet.)

The Blue Line runs from Target Field, the Minnesota Twins baseball stadium, past US Bank Stadium, left, the Minnesota Vikings football stadium, to the Mall of America with the final stop at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis.