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

[DanPatchToget]

Have there been any recent studies or discussion on an Orange Line Extension? IIRC there were some open houses in 2019 about an extension to Burnsville Center with buses operating on I-35W between Burnsville Parkway and County Road 42, and the exact alignment into the Burnsville Center area was up in the air. I think at that time it was predicted sooner or later Burnsville Center would be demolished and the whole area completely redeveloped, and the Orange Line Extension would be built with that. Of course that was pre-pandemic, and I think there's been interest in revitalizing the existing Burnsville Center.

With all those changes, what are the prospects for the Orange Line Extension? Will the plan to have it quickly hop on and off I-35W still be pushed, or will other options be looked at like running on Nicollet Avenue so Burnsville's City Hall and Fairview Ridges can get direct BRT service? I personally favor the latter. The Orange Link is and will remain important for reaching local destinations, but especially with Fairview Ridges and Burnsville Center it's good to have a one-seat ride instead of having to transfer to a local route that will soon be reduced to hourly frequency. MVTA could always increase the frequency, but they've made odd choices in the past of where to put resources, so I wouldn't want to depend on them to keep the Orange Link dependable.

[Tcmetro]

Previously, the city of Burnsville identified opportunity for a transit station in a redevelopment of the mall. With the roadway revisions happening at 35W & 42 I would hope that extending the Orange Line is considered.

I recall that the study said an extension to Lakeville wouldn't generate a lot of ridership so I don't think they'd bother extending it that far.

[Korh]

Out of curiosity does anyone have ridership numbers for the old 535 and 465/460 pre orange line?
The former is arguable what the line replaced and I remember some packed buses when I used to go to Normandale, although I'm not sure how low it got when the pandemic hit. The later while I wounding say directly competes, kind of has some overlap as they have a similar route end to end and shares a few stops with the orange line (yes I'm counting the dumb heart of the city/burnsvile transit as the same station)

[twincitizen]

I do think that cutting out the 535's direct service to Normandale has hurt the Orange Line more than Metro Transit expected. College ridership is much more resilient than rush hour downtown commuter ridership has been in the remote work era.

I didn't develop this contrarian thought until really late in the Orange Line's construction stage, but having it go to Burnsville is regrettable. There's no good reason that 35W & 98th Station couldn't serve as a major transfer point from MVTA routes to the Orange Line. The Orange Line wouldn't be spending all those service hours going across the bridge. It's not like Burnsville Heart of the City is just the next station on down the road...it's over 3 miles and 8 minutes of service added each way, every single trip. That adds up to a ton of service hours that could be used more efficiently on other routes. Or maybe just equally wastefully, but on less-frequent local connector routes. And concentrating many more transfers at 35W&98th would be a good thing for that area's redevelopment & urbanization too, I think.

As for solutions, I do think Bloomington should give up it's insistence on an American Blvd aBRT and instead try to get one on Old Shakopee/98th from MOA to Normandale.

[Korh]

I'm just surprised that the college didn't at least try and petition a shuttle too and from 98th station since it is still a major transfer point even without the orange line, But no only the U gets fancy stuff like that.
I no longer go there but I recall hearing that the schedule for the 539 and 546 was modified to cover most transfers but its still not ideal.
As for Burnsville that's kind why I want to know the 465 ridership. iirc its one of only two routes that regularly cross the river and the only one that stops at 98th, it would be on MVTA to create new routes to transfer to the station, which probably would result in another red line situation but worse. I complain about it but I think heart of the city is on the better side of 13 (Its MVTA that should consider moving) and I don't think Burnsville is a lost cause, it can develop in some areas (although IMO talk of turning center into something like southdale is probably a pipe dream at this point).

[mattaudio]

instead try to get one on Old Shakopee/98th from MOA to Normandale.

to Normandale Lakes to a Green Line stop.