The Development Landscape

{1} Transportation

>>> “The number one component to getting a job may be an education,” Peter Bell says, “but the second component to a job is being able to get to the job.”

Poor transportation infrastructure amounts to a hidden tax, he explains. If workers are constantly stuck in traffic, it’s a huge impediment to economic development. It costs companies money that they could be spending on other things, and it has a chilling effect on new business.

Transportation includes both road infrastructure and public transit. It’s hard to keep either one in a condition to support the fast-growing Twin Cities metro, but the Council is trying. Improvements in the local transportation system are projected to have a huge impact in moving the region’s economy forward.

“When I came to the Council, we provided approximately 69 million rides [on public transportation] a year,” Bell says. “Now we are providing 74 million rides a year. We have an aggressive plan to build out our park-and-rides; we literally can’t build them fast enough. Building the Central Corridor is also part of it, and so is building the Northstar Commuter Rail line.”

>>> Bell says that the way the Twin Cities region chooses to grow will determine how efficiently it will use a wide range of infrastructure systems. “One type of development uses roads more efficiently than another type,” he says, by way of example. “One type of development uses waste water more efficiently. So really efficient development has a huge impact on our region’s economy.”

Like poor transportation infrastructure, poor planning can act as a hidden soft tax; it’s built into the cost of locally made products and services, and makes area businesses less competitive.

Every decade, the Met Council reviews growth plans from all 189 municipalities in the seven-county region. The municipalities describe how they want to grow and develop, and the council accepts or rejects the plans based on efficient use of infrastructure.

>>> Health care isn’t specifically a Minnesota issue, but it’s on everyone’s mind nevertheless; it’s the fastest growing expense for businesses. The more companies spend on health care, the less they can spend on salaries, equipment, research and development, training, and productivity enhancements.

Bell says there’s no easy solution for the problem. Healthy workers are just one factor to be weighed. “You want healthy employees, of course,” he says. “But [health care] still doesn’t improve the productivity of a company like buying a new piece of machinery or software.”