Orange Line / 35W@94: Downtown to Crosstown Project

[SkyScraperKid]

From a local/accessibility standpoint, it would make more sense to route it south on Nicollet and perhaps terminate at Burnsville Center, but from a regional/mobility standpoint going onto I-35 is the better choice. I'll just be satisfied if it at least serves one place in Lakeville that isn't a park & ride ramp with very little surrounding land uses.

HAH!

Lakeville would never support that, they only want park and rides to keep the riff raff out. Then when they ask why they need park and rides on transit lines that are NOT express lines they don't see the logic in driving to a park and ride to ride downtown when they could just driver there and pay for parking instead of a bus ticket.

Wish they were more progressive down there but they just are not. I'd love to see the red line expanded to downtown St. Paul & Minneapolis service with a southern loop that ran into downtown Lakeville. Same with the Orange line, a southern loop that ran into downtown after leaving the freeway at Co. Rd. 70. The outrage from the people would be as if they were unloading bus loads of 5 bus riders! ...they won't say it directly but, that would be a nightmare for them even to have the idea floated around the mega houses with oversized lawns. Oh the horror!

[Tcmetro]

The Burnsville Center area is difficult to serve by transit. Most of the jobs are retail, which draws workers from the local area, and would be better served by good connections. Placing the station between the highway and the shopping mall is a bad idea unless the city and the mall owners can come up with a redevelopment plan. The Sears closest to the proposed bus stop is now closed, and the rest of the shops aren't doing well right now. Also, while Downtown Lakeville looks like a logical choice for a BRT terminus, it is really small and has far less business and activity than any of the strip malls on the arterial roads. There is a decent size industrial park south of the downtown area that could generate some trips however.

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Orange Line TAC PPT shows that Orange Line starts in Dec. 2020, but the Lake St Station won't open until 2021.

https://www.metrotransit.org/Data/Sites ... tac-23.pdf

[mattaudio]

The Orange Line should transition to aBRTish service south of Burnsville Transit Station. Run down Nicollet Ave with stations near Burnsville Parkway/HoC, Civic Center Parkway, McAndrews/Ridges Campus, then across the freeway on McAndrews or 42 to the Burnsville Mall. Or maybe a new bridge from Nicollet Court and the Golden Triangle across 35W to the Mall. The station would be best on the west side of the Burnsville Mall since there's a significant cluster of apartments between the mall and County 5.

[Silophant]

Orange Line TAC PPT shows that Orange Line starts in Dec. 2020, but the Lake St Station won't open until 2021.

What happens in the meantime? Does it skip Lake St entirely? Keep using the existing half-assed shelters?

[LakeCharles]

Either option is terrible. Skipping Lake St would be bad for all those transit-dependent riders. But doing that weave, especially with all the construction going on, would be really slow.

Will the existing Lake St stops (on the shoulders) even exist then though? They might be demolished for the construction.

[Tcmetro]

I think the existing Lake St stops will be gone soon.

[mattaudio]

If anything, these buses (along with most other express buses) are slated to use temporary bus lanes Park and Portland during the project.

[Silophant]

Have they released a timeline for those yet, or just mentioned that they're happening?

[mattaudio]

I haven't seen a specific timeline. I had some back and forth emails with MetroTransit lobbying for these buses to stop around 26th St to serve the major job concentration in Phillips, but they came across like they had no clue what was going to happen either.

[billhelm]

I figure they'd have to have it in place by phase 2 of the project, listed as Summer 2018 on mndot's site. So sometime in the next 6 months?

[Korh]

they could is try to re route some routes to I-35 & 46th and maybe increase some of the routes that already use the station to try and help, but it probably won't do much (I at least hope they get the main functional parts in the station done first so it can somewhat be used while they finish the more aesthetic aspects to it)

[tmart]

So for the first year-plus it's potentially just going to skip straight from 46th to Downtown? It's like they're actively hostile to anyone using this thing for a purpose other than getting from a Park and Ride in Bloomington to Downtown.

[intercomnut]

So for the first year-plus it's potentially just going to skip straight from 46th to Downtown? It's like they're actively hostile to anyone using this thing for a purpose other than getting from a Park and Ride in Bloomington to Downtown.

That’s why they slowed down the ride from the park and ride in Bloomington by moving the stations offline at American Blvd. Definitely didnt do that to make walking distances shorter.

[tmart]

OK, perhaps the sarcasm was unnecessary and obscured my point. More precisely, it's shocking to me how low a priority has been placed on serving riders or destinations between I-94 and MN-62 for this project.

[SkyScraperKid]

OK, perhaps the sarcasm was unnecessary and obscured my point. More precisely, it's shocking to me how low a priority has been placed on serving riders or destinations between I-94 and MN-62 for this project.

You must be new here. Welcome to reality. Also keep in mind this is just a temporary situation that will only feel like eternity for you. Happy travels, to places you can ever get to from here!

I'm just glad the entire line is funded even if it will open in phases, work will continue onward until the entire line is completed. See Were Making Transit Great Again! ..ok, great ish? ok... less awful.

[mattaudio]

I know it's too late now, but I wish the City or County could have stepped up to fund a center island BRT station at 38th Street. Not only would it connect with Route 23-Future-38, but it would provide another good walk-up transit option for the growing area along 38th St between Pleasant and Chicago Aves.

[Bakken2016]

I know it's too late now, but I wish the City or County could have stepped up to fund a center island BRT station at 38th Street. Not only would it connect with Route 23-Future-38, but it would provide another good walk-up transit option for the growing area along 38th St between Pleasant and Chicago Aves.

It could always be an infill station later.

[tmart]

Yeah, an infill station at 38th, and ideally another infill station somewhere north of Lake St., like Franklin, would go a long way toward convincing me this is an actual Metro service that's serving the community it runs through.

[mattaudio]

Well considering the Franklin bridge over 35W is being rebuilt right now, I don't see Franklin happening for another 50+ years.

[tmart]

Yeah, it's a pretty sad missed opportunity there. I guess it's a natural consequence of putting MnDot in the driver's seat.