Gold Line BRT - Woodbury to St. Paul (3/22/2025) and Minneapolis (2027)

[MNdible]

It would probably be easiest to do a Lake Street-style median station at great expense. But that would still result in bus access having to cross multi-lane high-volume ramps or Snelling itself.

If the 94 re-imagining results in inner lane transit lanes (which would seem to be a pretty logical outcome), doesn't a 46th Street style station become the most likely outcome? Or has Metro Transit fully sworn off the cross-over that this requires? And assuming that the Snelling bridge would have to be fully rebuilt anyway, the added cost for this wouldn't be terribly significant.

I suppose once you've done that, you could build an in-line island stop with a pedestrian bridge connection to a climate controlled transfer point to campus connector buses at Huron.

[angrysuburbanite]

I love how fast some of us start to go into fantasyland with transit announcements like this. Not that it's a bad thing

However, based on the cost and the new subpage on the Metro Transit website, this looks like it was a quick add-on until further actions can be made with Rethinking I-94. (https://www.metrotransit.org/gold-line-extension)

Based on the outcome of MnDOT’s project, future adjustments can be made to the Gold Line Extension – the extension does not predetermine outcomes of that project. But offering additional transit service now is more beneficial to area residents than waiting for the full duration of Rethinking I-94 MnDOT’s project.

[MSPtoMKE]

Is there any published timeline for when major construction could potentially start on whatever is decided for the Reimagine I-94 project? Whatever is chosen, it seems all but certain that there will now be at least some significant transit improvements included in the project, although I still don’t see full removal as being at all likely.

The news release only mentions new station shelters at Snelling and 11th Ave, but wouldn’t the path to getting on/off I-94 in St. Paul mean skipping the Smith Ave. stops that are currently under construction? The B Line will still use them, but will there be new stops for the Gold Line in the same general area, or will the Gold Line not stop there? Also, do we know if these will be full BRT shelters, or the Olson Hwy style “temporary” stations using standard bus shelters?

[J. Mc]

Considering in 2013 it was proposed to completely remove the 94 express between downtowns outside of weekday rush hours to help pump up the Green Line ridership, and the midday weekday service we currently have was the result of heavy pushback on that proposal from transit riders, it's nice to see how far we've come. No more express fare surcharge either once this switch happens. (Though with the upcoming fare system upgrades this may be a moot point by 2027 anyways)

I do hope the battery-electric buses will be able to handle that extended operating range without major issues. The newer orders of 40' and 60' Xcelsiors in other systems do seem to be performing much better than our 'first production' order from 2019 so presumably there'll be far fewer teething problems.

[EOst]

The city and MnDOT would need to seriously rethink that Riverside/25th/Butler triangle if they wanted to add a Gold Line stop there without intermittent 10+ minute congestion delays. It's probably a bigger project than Metro Transit wants to do for this phase.

[rhettcarlson]

Anyone know of plans to expand existing 94 express service (weekends/frequency) ahead of the Gold Line? Thought I read something online.

[Silophant]

The Network Now plan shows the 94 getting 30-60 minute weekend service by 2027. Presumably that wouldn't be affected by the Gold Line extension plan - it wouldn't hurt to be able to ramp up the number of operator hours needed rather than having a step change like when they open an entirely new line with frequent service.

[rhettcarlson]

Thanks - I thought it was going to happen sooner. I'd hope they could fast track those plans (especially the weekend service) to start building a ridership base. And selfishly I want to take it to weekend Wild games.

[Silophant]

Slide 16 of next Monday's presentation to the Met Council says that the 94 is getting some kind of service improvement with the December service change. It doesn't say what it is (might just be going up to 15 minute service during rush hours instead of 20, or 20-minute daytime service instead of 30), but I fully expect Metro Transit to continually improve 94 service as they hire drivers in the run-up to the Gold Line.

[MidwayLuke]

I'll toss my support behind a Riverview Station.

And hey, there's your U of M connection: Just hop on the 2! (probably faster than any connection at Huron tbh).

[DanPatchToget]

With the Kellogg Boulevard Bridge closed for 3 years, how is the Gold Line going to operate during that time?

[EOst]

It will open on detour down Mounds to E 7th, then back through downtown to the permanent route.

No idea what it'll do when E 7th is under construction in 2026, though.

[COLSLAW5]

o my word I had not seen any layouts for that project. Incredibly sad that there is no bike path on the E 7th portion even though they say people were asking for it. that is one of the only ways in and out of DT, I know you can't fit everything ever where but come on.

[Silophant]

Yikes. I suppose buses won't fit under the railroad bridges to be able to take Commercial St/4th St through Bruce Vento? I'm as disappointed as anyone that the F Line was pushed back a couple years to open after the Central Avenue reconstruction, but this is a pretty good example of why it was the right thing to do. Having a flagship route open on a three-year detour is really, really unfortunate.

[pannierpacker2]

o my word I had not seen any layouts for that project. Incredibly sad that there is no bike path on the E 7th portion even though they say people were asking for it. that is one of the only ways in and out of DT, I know you can't fit everything ever where but come on.

That's not the only part of the project where there's a lack of planning. Some citizens at the MnDOT meetings were also asking about better bike access to/from the Seeger Square area (given its significance in the Purple line discussion) but that fell on deaf ears. Also, Arcade Street won't have any bike lanes on it (surprise, surprise) nor is MnDOT going to make it easier to cross Arcade except at Clear Ave and only because there is a highschool there.

Really frustrating how Minneapolis is getting a lot of good promises on MnDOT for the redesign of Central Ave (aka Highway 65) but St. Paul isn't getting a whole lot of favors. I wonder if St. Paul simply lacks that staff that have the skills/desire to carry out good negotiations with MnDOT.

Also, not sure that anyone on the new St. Paul City Council really cares about bike infrastructure.

[Wezle]

East 7th and Arcade are both on the city's recently approved 2024 Bicycle plan too. According to the Bicycle plan:

"State and County staff were consulted during the development of this plan and are committed to making biking safe and connected in Saint Paul. Future design phases of the planned network will be led by the agency who owns each individual road, in coordination with the City of Saint Paul and the community."

I'm surprised to find that there aren't any active transportation committees for St Paul. Sometimes it just takes a couple people in city government to push for things to make it happen. Having some cyclists on the Minneapolis city council and both pedestrian and bicycle advisory committees goes a long way for Minneapolis as well. I know that advisory committees are relatively toothless in Minneapolis but they do provide feedback that MNDOT and Hennepin county seem to take into account.

[DanPatchToget]

Yikes. I suppose buses won't fit under the railroad bridges to be able to take Commercial St/4th St through Bruce Vento? I'm as disappointed as anyone that the F Line was pushed back a couple years to open after the Central Avenue reconstruction, but this is a pretty good example of why it was the right thing to do. Having a flagship route open on a three-year detour is really, really unfortunate.

I would think the F Line would be pretty easy to detour, like the D Line and its indefinite detour around 38th & Chicago. The Gold Line on the other hand has very few surface street routes to get across a major railway corridor.

[angrysuburbanite]

Gold Line now shows up on Pantograph. It looks like the weekend schedule is every 15 minutes (with steep morning and evening cutoffs), and every 10 minutes on weekdays. Good to see that they can start off with such a robust schedule, hopefully ridership warrants it!

[daveybabymsp]

Gold Line now shows up on Pantograph. It looks like the weekend schedule is every 15 minutes (with steep morning and evening cutoffs), and every 10 minutes on weekdays. Good to see that they can start off with such a robust schedule, hopefully ridership warrants it!

I have trouble imagining it having successful ridership numbers before the extension to Minneapolis. But I am glad it is starting out with good frequency to build ridership before the extension

[mattaudio]

Curious what the risk is of the Mpls extension being successful, but the entire service getting lower frequencies due to low ridership. IMO this is why it might not hurt to have an overlay branding for the downtown to downtown segment. That way a future Purple Line or even an ABRT line could pick up that overlay branding to ensure higher frequencies between the downtowns.