The St. Paul City Council held a public hearing Wednesday on a major regional transit project still in the infancy of planning — a $1.4 billion to $2 billion proposed streetcar line down West Seventh Street to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Mall of America in Bloomington.

Following the hearing, the council voted 6-0 to support the 12-mile Riverview Corridor, as well as a proposed study of how to connect the corridor to a future residential area planned for the site of the former Ford truck plant in Highland Park. Council Member Dan Bostrom was absent.

“We need to be clear-eyed as we go forward about the financial impacts (and) the impacts on businesses,” said City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, “(but) I think we need it. We need a new mode of transit … that compels people to leave their cars behind.”

About 10 people spoke Wednesday against the “modern streetcar” option, with Kent Petterson, president of the West Seventh Business Association, and several business owners calling for a cheaper and more flexible rapid-bus route with fewer affects from construction and on parking.

At least one alternative transit advocate said streetcars would have a negative impact on cyclists and would not serve the needs of residents and commuters along East Seventh Street.

“What we heard from … the business association really, really concerns me,” said City Council Member Jane Prince.

At least as many proponents — including a spokesman for the Minnesota Wild NHL team and another for the neighborhood advocacy group Sustain Ward 3 — noted the streetcar would boost existing transit ridership and connect to both the Green Line and Blue Line light rail corridors.

More than 4,000 riders per day already use the Route 54 bus, and that’s expected to climb to 10,000 riders over the next couple decades. “Fixed-rail is more (attractive) to developers,” said Shannon Watson, the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce’s public affairs director.

After three years of study, a regional advisory committee chose the streetcar option as the preferred transit mode in October.

Gathering preliminary municipal approvals and completing initial planning for the Riverview Corridor will take another three or four years. Environmental review is likely to span another two years, followed by several years of final design and construction.