This month, the Orange Line BRT project submitted its final Small Starts Grant Agreement (SSGA) application to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). This application is the official request for the federal portion of the funding for the project.

Metro Transit is seeking $74.1 million from the FTA. The grant is the only outstanding piece of the $150.7 million project budget; all other funding is already secured. This funding would allow Orange Line to start construction on the Knox Avenue Transitway in the spring of 2019, with station construction occurring in Richfield, Bloomington and Burnsville in 2020.

The City of Bloomington will host a meeting to present preliminary station area plan recommendations for the neighborhood around South Bloomington Transit Center, the future home of the Orange Line’s I-35W & 98th Street Station.

98th Street Station Area Plan Open House
Nativity of Mary, 9900 Lyndale Avenue, Bloomington
Monday, October 1, 2018
5 - 7 p.m.

This event will have an open format with display boards. There is no formal presentation. The City will be asking for feedback on:

• Enhancing the public realm to create a sense of place;
• Promoting development patterns that support transit; and
• Improving access to the station for all users.

Plans were partly based on previous feedback collected by the City. View a summary of survey results here.

Looking west toward Central Lutheran Church, workers constructed beams in preparation for pouring the concrete bridge deck.

Construction of the Orange Line’s 12th Street Ramp began in spring 2018. This transit-only ramp will connect downtown stations and the MnPASS lanes on I-35W via a new contraflow lane on 12th Street. This infrastructure will provide the Orange Line, and all other I-35W express buses, with a fast and congestion-free connection to downtown Minneapolis.

The bridge deck of the new transit ramp is progressing quickly. This fall, the southbound I-35W ramp will reopen only to buses, while remaining closed to other traffic, while MnDOT construction in the area continues through 2021. Sign up to receive Rider Alerts to stay in the know as construction continues.

The first delivery has arrived! Steel for the construction of the Lake Street Station has been manufactured and recently arrived at a staging area. One of the defining features of the Lake Street Station will be the sweeping curve of the freeway-level structure, already visible in its deconstructed state.

On site, the Lake Street bridge abutments are being constructed. With the progress so far, the plaza level space is starting to take shape. Traveling through the area you can see the space that the new transit station will occupy. While the completion of this station is still a few years away, progress is now visible.

 

American-made steel purchased for Lake Street Station resting at a staging area until it is needed for construction activities.