9. Conclusion
There is clearly a prima facie case for the development of a multimodal Highway 52 corridor
that would connect the Twin-Cities and the city of Rochester by high-speed rail. This vision of a
high-speed rail link would achieve an important objective: to provide an effective transportation
connection between Rochester and the Twin-Cities. At the same time, it will help link these
cities to the rest of the Midwest.
Still, the viability of this vision needs to be carefully researched by additional studies of both the
nature of the market and the engineering and environmental costs of building the system. It is
essential to ensure there are no fatal flaws in the logic that has been used to create this vision,
and the promise of the vision can effectively be turned into reality.
The development of the high-speed rail link will help the cities of Rochester and Twin-Cities
meet the transportation challenges of the 21st century. This should ensure that both the prosperity
and the long-term economic growth of the region are achieved.