"Business Responds"

1. Communication Periodic e-mails go to everyone who’s signed on to be part of Business Responds. A recent one asked companies to compile data on their contributions to the initiative so far. That information will help the City of Minneapolis apply for funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (FEMA wants to see that its funds complement local efforts.)

But communication opened up in both directions, says Becky Boland, a program manager for the Minneapolis Regional Chamber whose work is dedicated now to Business Responds. “There’s some [road] signage that doesn’t make any sense now,” she says. “For example, maybe there’s a ‘No Left Turn’ sign in a place where no one is coming through anymore. We encourage individuals to come to us, so we can forward those ideas to the right people who can make the changes.”

2. Fleet and freight management “It’s so important to get trucks off the road during rush hour,” Boland says. “Some of the biggest users of [routes through Minneapolis] are the large companies like Target, Best Buy, Macy’s, Coke, Pepsi, and others that bring trucks in and out all day. They are working very hard not to be here during rush hour.”

3. Transportation management Several at the August 3 meeting donated their parking lots as park-and-ride space for Metro Transit. Many others, like Fairview Health Services Vice President of Public Affairs Mary Edwards, offered to subsidize transit passes for their employees or implement flex-time policies for their workers to minimize the number of vehicles on the road during rush hour.

4. Recovery and rebuilding “We saw that there may be requests for help in the future that were not transportation specific,” Boland says. Businesses wanted to be on call to respond to those needs, which might include environmental or other services and equipment for the bridge site cleanup.

The importance of mitigating congestion in the urban core can’t be overemphasized, Christenson says.

“Let me dramatize the point for you,” he continues. “All the people in all the vehicles that were on the bridge, other than those in the school bus, could have fit into two Metro Transit buses—easily. That’s how much room a car with one occupant requires on a roadway.

“The point is, if we are successful in moving people onto the bus, we will free a lot of the congestion on the major arterials of our city—East Hennepin Avenue, University Avenue, the Third Avenue bridge. That’s our goal,” he continues. “Unless we can keep that traffic moving, it will slow down our city and damage our neighborhoods.”