What's Happening on Rush Line

Task Force to Meet on Sept. 18

The Rush Line Corridor Task Force will meet at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at White Bear Lake City Hall, 4701 Highway 61 North (map/directions). Click here for the agenda.

Rush Line Corridor Open Houses

As part of an ongoing Alternatives Analysis, the Rush Line Corridor Task Force will hold a series of public meetings over the next year to discuss transit along the 80-mile corridor from downtown St. Paul to Hinckley. Several bus rapid transit, light rail transit, and commuter rail options will be open for community discussion at a pair of open houses this fall:

October 2: 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Maplewood Community Center, 2100 White Bear Avenue, with presentations at 6 and 7 p.m. Click here for a map to the open house.
October 7: 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the North Branch Library, 6355 379th Street, with presentations at 6 and 7 p.m. Click here for a map to the open house.

An Alternatives Analysis is a necessary step in the federal process to secure transit funding for a bus rapid transit, light rail transit, or commuter rail project. Different alignments and modes are studied to try to solve the transportation problems of a corridor. The following modes were considered for the Rush Line Corridor:

Bus, both conventional and electric Trolley Bus
Bus Rapid Transit, conventional and guided bus
Light Rail Transit
Modern Streetcar
Magnetic Levitation
Heavy Rail
Commuter Rail, both conventional and diesel multiple unit
Automated Guideway Transit

The Alternatives Analysis study will conclude in mid-2009. At that time, the counties, cities and townships along the Rush Line Corridor will recommend a next step, which could be anything from pursuing a “build” mode (BRT, light rail or commuter rail) to continuing to advocate for additional bus service in the corridor.

For more information, call Tim Mayasich at (651) 266-2762.

Rush Line Corridor Meeting Location Change

UPDATED: The July 17th Rush Line Corridor Task Force meeting will again be held at the Washington County Headwaters Service Center in Forest Lake, located at 19955 Forest Road North. The meeting will begin at 3:30 p.m. Note: This location is a change from the usual Task Force meeting location.

Click here for meeting agenda. New
Click here for a map to the meeting site
Click here for transit serving the meeting site
Click here to see a map of the corridor

Ramsey County Approves Preliminary LRT Plans

The Ramsey County Board of Commissioners approved preliminary design plans for the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit project at its June 24 meeting. The board acted after a monthlong public comment period that included five public hearings in Ramsey and Hennepin counties. Click here for the "municipal consent" resolution approved June 24. To read the Public Comment Record published by Ramsey County, click here.

Regional Rail Authority to Meet

The Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority board will meet on Tuesday, June 24, in council chambers on the third floor of the County Court House in St. Paul. Click here for the agenda.

Task Force Calls Special Meeting June 19

UPDATE The Rush Line Corridor Task Force has scheduled a special meeting at 3:30 p.m. June 19 at the Headwaters Service Center of Washington County and Forest Lake, 19955 Forest Road North, Forest Lake. Note: This location is a change from the usual Task Force meeting location. Click here for the meeting agenda. .

Click here for a map to the meeting site
Click here for transit serving the meeting site
Click here to see a map of the corridor

Task Force to Meet on May 29

The Rush Line Corridor Task Force will meet at 3:30 p.m. May 29 at White Bear Lake City Hall, 4701 Highway 61 North. Click here for the agenda.

May Task Force Meeting Rescheduled

The May Rush Line Corridor Task Force meeting date has been changed to May 29 at 3:30 p.m. at the White Bear Lake City Hall, 4701 Highway 61 North. A meeting agenda will be posted here the week before the meeting.

Task Force to Meet

The Rush Line Corridor Task Force will meet April 24 at 4 p.m. (NOTE new time) at White Bear Lake City Hall, 4701 Highway 61 North. Click here for the meeting agenda. Also note that the regular May 15 Task Force meeting has been rescheduled to May 29 (NOTE date change) at 3:30 p.m. at White Bear Lake City Hall due to the scheduled May 19 adjournment of the Legislature.

Task Force Meeting Schedule Changes

UPDATE Given the timing of the legislative session, the March 20 Rush Line Corridor Task Force meeting has been canceled, and a meeting has been added for April 24 at 4 p.m. (NOTE new time) at White Bear Lake City Hall, 4701 Highway 61 North. In addition, the May 15 Task Force meeting has been rescheduled to May 22 at 3:30 p.m. at White Bear Lake City Hall due to the scheduled May 19 adjournment of the Legislature.

LOCATE Task Force to Meet

The LOCATE Task Force will meet March 17 at 9 a.m. at the Association Of Minnesota Counties Main Conference Room, 125 Charles St., St. Paul. Click here for the agenda (Revised March 5, 2008). In 2002, the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority formed the LOCATE Task Force, made up of business and civic leaders, to identify a site for a potential multi-modal transit center in downtown St. Paul. The group evaluated locations for the transit center, Minnesota's Union Depot, and assessed which transit modes might be suitable for the facility. The Task Force continues to advise the Rail Authority on the purchase and development of the Union Depot.

Central Corridor Supplemental
Draft Environmental Impact Statement Planned

The Federal Transit Administration, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Council, the local lead agency, will be preparing a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Central Corridor Light Rail Transit project between St. Paul and Minneapolis. Click here for a copy of the notice of intent to publish an SDEIS as published in the Federal Register. The SDEIS will focus on potential changes to the locally preferred alternative based on comments received in response to the initial DEIS and subsequent preliminary engineering. The Supplemental DEIS will evaluate the following key project elements: the Hiawatha LRT and Central Corridor connection in the city of Minneapolis; University of Minnesota East Bank alignment (tunnel vs. at-grade and stations); potential stations at Hamline Avenue, Western Avenue or Victoria Street in St. Paul; alignment and stations in the Capitol Area; downtown St. Paul alignment and station modifications; requirements for 3-car train operations; the general locations of traction power substations; potential locations for a Central Corridor light-rail vehicle maintenance facility; Washington Avenue Bridge improvements; and other key project elements determined through the on-going decision-making process to have potential significant impacts to human and natural environments. A June 2008 publication of the SDEIS is anticipated. Comments on the proposed scope of the Central Corridor LRT SDEIS are being accepted through March 26, 2008.

Comments should be directed to:
Kathryn L. O’Brien, AICP, Project Manager
Central Corridor Project Office
540 Fairview Ave. North, Suite 200S
St. Paul, MN 55104
Phone: 651-602-1927
E-mail

All Aboard!

Want to know the best way to get from Point A to Point B using our local transit system? Check out the enhanced version of Metro Transit’s web-based, interactive trip planner.

The trip planner includes both both and light rail routes, as well as walking directions to the closest transit stop and an easy way to find the five closest park-and-ride lots.

Click here and give it a try.

Met Council Moves Central Corridor Forward

The Central Corridor Management Committee and the Met Council voted on Feb. 27 to move the Central Corridor light rail project forward, while deciding several “scoping” issues that had been up to this point unresolved. The council vote largely followed the framework of an agreement reached between the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority, city of St. Paul and the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce earlier in the month. The framework of that agreement:
* Maintain the Locally Preferred Alternative alignment through downtown St. Paul to the front of Union Depot, with the addition of the 4th and Cedar Street Diagonal Option (as outlined by project staff). The connection to Union Depot is considered vital by Ramsey County, which is in the middle of a project to renovate the depot into a multimodal transit hub.
* Connect the line to the Fourth Street side of Union Depot in St. Paul and build a light rail maintenance facility on currently held public land that would complement a planned future expansion of the line to the concourse level of the Union Depot.
* Build infrastructure now that creates long-term cost savings and allows additional stations at Hamline, Victoria, and Western to be built at a future date. The CCMC and Met Council Chairman Peter Bell, at the urging of Ramsey County commissioners Rafael Ortega and Toni Carter, agreed to make the addition of at least one of those stations the top project priority should the budget or federal funding rules allow.
The CCMC and council also decided to run the light rail line at grade, rather than in a tunnel, at the University of Minnesota and to work with project partners and the U to figure out a traffic mitigation plan. The council will submit an application to secure federal funding and to enter final design on the $909 million project this fall. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2010, with operation scheduled for 2014.

Regional Rail Authority to Meet

The Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority board will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 26, in council chambers on the third floor of the County Court House in St. Paul. Click here for the agenda.

For archived news items about the Rush Line Corridor and Ramsey County Regional Rail, click on the links below.