Title
Transmitting the City's support for the Bronze Line Locally Preferred Alternative to the Metropolitan Council and Ramsey County.
Body
WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Council (“Council”) and Ramsey County (“County”) are jointly funding and leading the design and construction of the METRO Bronze Line Bus Rapid Transit (“BRT”) Project (“Project”) in partnership with Metro Transit (an operating division of the Council), the cities of Saint Paul and Maplewood (“Municipalities”), and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (“MnDOT”); and
WHEREAS, the project would provide high-level transit service in the same general corridor as the former Purple Line project, effectively replacing and reimagining that project; and
WHEREAS, community outreach and engagement has been and is anticipated to be a major focus as the Project progresses through the preliminary engineering, environmental review, final design, and construction phases; and
WHEREAS, the Council has completed a Route Modification Study ("Study”) to identify a new northern terminus (Phase 1) and evaluate an alternate alignment north of Maryland Avenue (Phase 2) for the Project in response to actions taken by the White Bear Lake and Maplewood City Councils with regard to the Purple Line; and
WHEREAS, on December 11, 2025, the Project’s Corridor Management Committee recommended to the Council and County a revised Locally Preferred Alternative (“LPA”) for the Project; and
WHEREAS, the overall revised LPA, shown in Figure 1, consists of a 10-mile route between Union Depot in downtown Saint Paul and the Maplewood Mall Transit Center with 22 stations; and
WHEREAS, the revised LPA between Union Depot in downtown Saint Paul and Maryland Avenue on Saint Paul’s East Side is generally consistent with 1) the original LPA, which was supported by the Saint Paul City Council (RES PH 17-204), 2) the preliminary 15% design plans, which were supported by the Saint Paul City Council (RES PH 20-165), and 3) the environmental assessment. The project definition in this area includes: 13 stations, including the Arcade Street station and associated busway bridge located just west of Arcade Street and south of Neid Lane, a full roadway reconstruction of Pennsylvania Avenue from Rice Street to Mississippi Street and a mill-and-overlay of Phalen Boulevard from Mississippi Street to Payne Avenue to accommodate semi-exclusive, side-running bus lanes between Jackson Street and Payne Avenue, a full reconstruction of the Bruce Vento Regional Trail between Arcade Avenue and Maryland Avenue to accommodate 1.5 miles of exclusive bus lanes, and a busway/trail bridge over Johnson Parkway; and
WHEREAS, the revised LPA between Maryland Avenue and Larpenteur Avenue on Saint Paul’s East Side is consistent with the Study, in which the City of Saint Paul was an active participant. The project definition in this area includes: 5 new stations, and a full reconstruction of Maryland Avenue from Johnson Parkway to White Bear Avenue and of White Bear Avenue from Maryland Avenue to Larpenteur Avenue, to accommodate 2.0 miles of side running, semi-exclusive bus lanes through lane conversion; and
WHEREAS, the proposed revised Bronze Line LPA is consistent with the Saint Paul Comprehensive Plan; and
WHEREAS, the Transportation Committee of the Planning Commission recommended approval of the revised Bronze Line LPA on February 2, 2026; and
WHEREAS, the Planning Commission, upon receiving recommendation from its Transportation Committee, recommended approval of the revised Bronze Line LPA on February 20, 2026.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Saint Paul supports adoption of the revised Locally Preferred Alternative recommendation for the METRO Bronze Line BRT Project into the Imagine 2050 Transportation Policy Plan, the region’s long-range transportation plan; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Saint Paul supports the implementation of the stations, bus lanes, and bridges in the planned locations in Saint Paul; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Saint Paul requests that the project endeavor to design the area near Earl Street to not preclude a potential future addition of another Bronze Line station and associated infrastructure; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Saint Paul commits to working collaboratively with the Metropolitan Council and Ramsey County to resolve technical issues through the engineering and design process; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution adopted by the City of Saint Paul be forwarded to the Metropolitan Council and Ramsey County for their consideration.
Figure 1: METRO Bronze Line Project Map (December 2025)