First-in-the-Twin Cities bus transit line breaks ground, set to open in 2025
After a decade of planning, local, state and federal officials gathered in Woodbury on Wednesday to break ground on the Twin Cities’ first rapid transit line with a dedicated, separate roadway for buses along the route.
“That is an incredible accomplishment,” said Metropolitan Council Chair Charlie Zelle, who has worked on the Gold Line project both on the Met Council and previously as state transportation commissioner.
Previous bus rapid transit lines, like Metro Transit’s A Line and C Line, are faster than traditional buses, but must share the road with cars.
The Gold Line, set to begin service in 2025, will run about 10 miles, from downtown St. Paul, through Maplewood, Landfall and Oakdale and to a station just east of Interstate 494 near Valley Creek Road in Woodbury. At about $505 million, it’s the biggest transit project yet in the eastern Twin Cities suburbs.
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Zelle said the project will offer some of the same service as light rail, but with buses, rather than trains. Features will include:
regular, all-day service
pre-boarding fare payment
park and ride lots in St. Paul, Oakdale and Woodbury
real-time arrival and departure information at every stop
heated shelters
raised platforms that allow people to walk or roll directly onto a bus floor
About 70 percent of the route will utilize a special-built roadway that will separate Gold Line buses from regular traffic.
The Gold Line route is an area that needs the service, said Ramsey County Commissioner Trista MatasCastillo.
“The I-94 corridor... has the highest rates of car-free households anywhere in the metro,” she told a crowd marking the groundbreaking at a ceremony along Century Avenue and the interstate. “These transit lines are going to mean connections from all parts of our communities to all parts of our region.”
The line, using buses, avoids some of the bitter political fights that light rail has sparked, especially the Southwest Corridor light rail line that has drawn legislators’ ire and is running hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.
But it also represents a what may be a fading amity among suburbs looking at big transit connections. Another east metro transit line, the Purple Line, was originally planned to run from St. Paul to Forest Lake. It sparked a flurry of opposition from people in the outer suburbs, who say they don’t want bus traffic from St. Paul. White Bear Lake passed a city resolution asking the Met Council to skip their city earlier this year.
Met Council officials say they’re hoping to unveil a route modification for that line in mid-November, subject to meetings with local officials and engineers along the way.