The Metropolitan Council is pleased to announce that the METRO Gold Line BRT project is included in President Biden’s 2022 budget request. Following Congress’s approval, this means that the Gold Line project would receive its first federal funding installment to the project in 2022.
Gold Line project staff are working with the Federal Transit Administration to update the project schedule and budget that includes construction beginning in 2022 and opening day in 2025, and a slightly lowered overall project cost. We expect to share the updated project schedule, cost, and 90% design this fall.
After collecting community feedback on the METRO Gold Line stations for the last three years, project staff are finalizing the station designs. This series will show you what the Gold Line stations will look like!
Keep an eye out for upcoming newsletters, and on Twitter @GoldLineBRT as we take a closer look at each station along Gold Line with the Station Spotlight Series. In each Station Spotlight, you will learn:
• Snapshot of the community near the station area
• What businesses, activity centers, parks, and trails are nearby
• Why community members and businesses in the station area are excited for Gold Line
Subscribe to the Gold Line email updates and follow us on Twitter @GoldLineBRT so you don’t miss your station!
Location: St. Paul’s Conway neighborhood; intersection of Pedersen Street and Old Hudson Road
Population near station: 6,500 people live within half a mile; 12.5% of households in the station area rely on transit.
Sun Ray Station will provide Gold Line customers connections to many nearby retail businesses, restaurants, trails, parks, recreation, and community services:
• 2,280 jobs within half mile of the station
• Major destinations include Sun Ray Shopping Center, Sun Ray Public Library, and Conway Park and Community Center
• Sun Ray Transit Center and additional local and express bus service, including Routes 63, 70, 74, 80, 219, and 323
• Existing bike trail network and Battle Creek Regional Park trails
• A new walking, rolling, and biking trail that will be built between Hazel Street Station and Woodbury 494 Park & Ride Station, which will run past Sun Ray Station
All Gold Line stations will have enhanced station amenities to provide a comfortable place to wait for the bus.
Here is what the future Sun Ray Station and Park & Ride will look like. For more station site plans, visit the project website.
Sun Ray Station Site Plan
Sun Ray Station Park & Ride Site Plan
Illustration of stations outside of downtown St. Paul
For the past six years, Dr. Tracine Asberry has served as the executive director of St. Paul Youth Services (SPYS). The community organization seeks to “unapologetically reimagine a world where Black youth feel loved, safe and free” by uplifting the voices and experiences of youth and working to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. Visit the SPYS.org to learn more about the organization.
SPYS is located on Wilson Avenue near the existing Sun Ray Transit Center and we recently spoke to Dr. Asberry about Gold Line coming to the Sun Ray area and the importance of access to transit for youth.
What makes the Sun Ray area great?
The Sun Ray area is great for its diverse communities, great public library, inclusive park, churches, schools, and organizations committed to being the very definition of community, and specifically, the leadership & mission of St. Paul Youth Services to improve our community's collective ability to engage and support Black youth by pioneering practices, creating tools, and sharing resources across the state, the country, and the world.
How do you expect Gold Line to impact SPYS?
In the past, limited transportation service has prevented our community from accessing opportunities such as cultural events, work opportunities, and enrichment endeavors. SPYS relied on other forms of public transportation such as bus transit, taxicabs, and ride sharing services to remove barriers for the youth and their families to engage in SPYS programming, activities, and events. SPYS looks forward to Gold Line being an accessible and improved form of public transportation in the Sun Ray area. SPYS Board of Directors and Executive Director engaged with the project and City early on to ensure racial equity AND environmental equity were centered as these are intersectional topics that impact neighbors in the Sun Ray area and surrounding communities and we look forward to seeing evidence that these topics are prioritized throughout this project as well as once the Gold Line is fully operational.
How is access to transit important to the youth you work with?
Transportation is one of the top three barriers for in-person engagement in most areas – school, work, and enrichment. Consequently, access to transit is important to youth and their families as transit can provide a quality, affordable, and efficient resource to explore our communities that is inclusive of everyone in our community.
For SPYS this means that youth and their families engaged in our programs have transportation options for a variety of things, including accessing healthy and/or alternative food options outside of the neighborhood, enjoying arts and culture opportunities in other places in the city, pursuing job opportunities and entrepreneurial endeavors to build wealth and increase wellness, composing a comprehensive perspective of Sun Ray and surrounding areas to engage with diverse people and neighborhoods to ensure improvements and innovation is embedded in the design and infrastructure to be inclusive across neighborhoods and communities.
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Due to planned construction on Wabasha Street in 2022, the community is asked to provide feedback about relocating service from Wabasha to either Minnesota Street or Robert Street. Currently, Routes 62, 67, 75 operate on Wabasha. The project is led by the City of Saint Paul.
Customers may to fill out a survey or email comments to douglas.cook@metrotransit.org.
The survey runs from September 7 to September 17, 2021.
In case you missed it, Washington Post published an article in July about how many cities around the country are turning to bus rapid transit (BRT) to offer cost-effective and high quality transit service in their communities. The article also highlights Gold Line as a BRT project that is receiving federal funding to begin construction next year!
Connect with Gold Line staff
If you have any questions for comments, reach out to Liz Jones, Community Outreach Coordinator, at 651-602-1977 or elizabeth.jones@metrotransit.org
Liz is working remotely. Please leave a voicemail and your call will be returned as soon as possible.
Follow us on social media
Get the latest Gold Line BRT updates by following us on Twitter @GoldLineBRT and Facebook @MetroTransitMN.
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