The Metropolitan Council released the 2022 Regional Solicitation on February 23 and will accept applications for federal transportation funding until April 14 at 4 p.m. After technical experts from across the region rank and score the projects, the Transportation Advisory Board will select projects for funding in late 2022. About $180 million in federal transportation funds will be available for allocation in 2026 and 2027. 

Met Council services are essential to this region’s economic vitality. Throughout the pandemic, the majority of our employees worked on site — on buses and trains, at maintenance garages, wastewater treatment plants, and down in the sewers. These workers put themselves at risk to make sure our essential services could be delivered. Meet a few of these workers on video.

With affordable housing in short supply in the Twin Cities region, the Metropolitan Council has approved $8 million in Livable Communities grant awards to 10 affordable housing developments. The grants will fill project funding gaps and help create 557 new affordable homes and preserve another 113 affordable housing units. See the projects that will move forward with these grants.

The Met Council has launched Growing Shade, a new tool for city foresters, planners, and anyone interested in how to preserve and enhance the region's tree canopy. Trees are key to human survival and thriving, and can help address some of our region's interconnected challenges – like climate change and racial disparities. Growing Shade combines local stories with an interactive mapping tool.

COVID-19 upended the way we work, interact, and even move around. As we collectively tried to manage the impacts of the devastating virus by minimizing contact with others, transit ridership dropped precipitously. But as stay-at-home orders relaxed, businesses reopened, and social gatherings returned in limited capacities, ridership in 2021 began to rebound. Learn more about 2021 ridership trends.

A nonprofit developer seeking a site to build affordable apartments for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities knew they had struck gold, as in the future METRO Gold Line, when the city of Oakdale pointed them to a location at one of the planned bus rapid transit stops. Both AbleLight Cornerstone Village and the Gold Line, which recently completed design work, will be under construction later this year.

Applications are due on Monday, Feb. 28 for Met Council paid summer internships, the Urban Scholars Program, and our first Ability Program designed for students with disabilities. Learn more about the programs, watch the info session recording, and apply on our website.