Met Council wants help picking next three fast transit line routes

Even as crews are only starting to dig their way under the Crosstown Highway to build a tunnel for Southwest Light Rail trains, transit planners already have more than five other major transit lines in the pipeline that are expected to cost about $700 million.

They’re bus rapid transit lines, like the A Line buses that run from Minneapolis to Rosedale and the C Line that connects the Brooklyn Center Transit Center with downtown Minneapolis.

Metro Transit is already quite a way further down the alphabet — on lines F, G and H, says Katie Roth, assistant director of bus rapid transit for the agency. Planners are going to recommend which routes will get the new, faster service in March. There are already proposals for 10 lines.

There are four near-term options for the three additional lines:

• Como/Maryland, currently served by Route 3

• Johnson/Lyndale from northeast Minneapolis to Bloomington, Minn., now served by Route 4

• Central, which runs from the Northtown shopping center to downtown Minneapolis, currently served by Route 10

• Rice/Robert which runs from Little Canada, Minn., to Mendota Heights, Minn., now on the 62 and 68 routes.

“Our intent in identifying three lines right now is really to start building that pipeline and entering projects into planning and beginning detailed community conversations about what each of these corridors would look like,” Roth said. “Ultimately, we plan to build these out one at a time, but it would all be dependent on funding.”

Roth added that COVID-19 has put a stop to the usual practice of holding public meetings, so Metro Transit is asking users and the public to weigh in online. They have a survey on their website. The survey is open through Jan. 20, and asks respondents which lines should be built first and why.

What about those other letters? The B Line is already fully funded and construction between Union Depot and Uptown will start in 2023. The D Line will run from the Brooklyn Center Transit Center to the Mall of America, on the Route 5 line. That’s going to start construction next year. The E Line would run from the Southdale Transit Center to the University of Minnesota, with construction planned in 2023.