Aubrey Austin Completes Research on Hiawatha Light Rail Line

Geography senior Aubrey Austin completed a geography honors thesis project on the Hiawatha Light Rail line in Minneapolis and Bloomington, Minnesota. She analyzed how businesses such as restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs and attractions such as the Mall of America, Airport, and Target Field promoted use of the Hiawatha Line. The Target Field was notable for its promotion of the Hiawatha Line. She also surveyed Gustavus students to assess their use, knowledge, and perceptions of the Hiawatha Line. She compared students from Minneapolis with those from the suburbs of the Twin Cities and the rural areas of southern Minnesota. Students from Minneapolis were much more likely to have used the Hiawatha Line than suburban or rural students (93% versus 72% and 53%). Still, there was widespread knowledge and use of the line. However, most of that usage was for special events such as sporting events. The Mall of America, Target Field, Airport, and Metrodome were the most widely known stops on the line. In the map created by Austin, the sizes of the red circles are proportional to the number of students who were able to identify that particular stop. In fall 2011, Aubrey will attend the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute for a Master’s of Urban Planning.