American Boulevard Travelshed Analysis

Abstract

This project was completed as part of a year-long partnership between the City of Rosemount and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (http://www.rcp.umn.edu). The Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA), the public transportation agency that serves Rosemount and neighboring suburbs in the region, is reevaluating service to the American Boulevard area—a historically challenging location to serve due to limited access and the congestion on neighboring I-494. MVTA offered service to American Boulevard in years past, but the agency gradually cut back as ridership declined. The agency currently provides no service to the Boulevard, although it does service neighboring areas, including I-35W and the Mall of America. The goal of this project was to determine whether area development, access, and travel patterns have changed substantially enough to warrant service from Rosemount and neighboring suburbs to American Boulevard. In collaboration with project co-leads Eric Zweber, a planner for the City of Rosemount, and Jen Lehmann, Planning Manager at MVTA, a team of students in GEOG 5564: Urban Geographic Information Science and Analysis conducted a travel shed analysis of the American Boulevard and provided recommendations for potential transit routes and schedules to the area. A final report and poster from the project are available.