Rochester Today – Big Changes For Rochester’s Transportation Systems

The coming transit and transportation changes in Rochester due to the Destination Medical Center plan were discussed Tuesday during the Rochester Today show with Tom Ostrom and Andy Brownell on KROC-AM.

The Mayo Clinic push to transform Rochester into a world-class destination for medical care will require some dramatic changes to the way people travel to and around downtown Rochester. Some projections suggest the new jobs and increase in visitors to the city's downtown would clog the streets and parking facilities with an additional 20,000 vehicles without a shift to a more robust public transit system.

Developing that system will be challenging and costly. The DMC Comprehensive Development plan envisions a so-called "circulator" for the downtown area that would feature a modern streetcar system along with expanded and improved bus services and enhanced pedestrian access. The price tag would likely be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and while supporters contend most of that could be covered by federal funding, there is no guarantee the federal money will be available when the city needs it.

It is one of the many "pieces of the puzzle" that warrant close scrutiny by citizens as the community moves ahead with the DMC plan.

Click on the play button below to listen to the entire show.