Buses would get priority in downsized plan for I-35W-Lake Street

Minneapolis officials moved Tuesday toward scaling back plans for transportation improvements on Interstate 35W near Lake Street to try to give the project a boost.

Last update: November 6, 2007 - 7:54 PM

Minneapolis officials moved Tuesday toward scaling back plans for transportation improvements on Interstate 35W near Lake Street to try to give the project a boost.

A resolution approved by a council committee gives highest priority to adding an inside-lane station at Lake Street for buses running on bus-only lanes, and for improved connections to the Midtown Greenway.

But it also eliminates, for now, any ramp changes other than those connecting 35W north to Lake Street and the vicinity. That defers proposals to shift the 35th-36th Street ramps to 38th Street, beef up westbound Interstate 94 lanes and make improvements to the 5th Avenue S. entrance ramp.

Some of the changes have been made because the project's $153 million cost has mushroomed to $480 million in the past five years, and it is decades away on the state's list of priorities.

Council Member Elizabeth Glidden proposed the changes, arguing that the city needs to build a Lake Street station to serve bus transit lanes that are to be built with help from a $133 million federal grant. Lake Street buses now run on shoulders, but the bus lanes and a new station at 46th Street will use inside lanes.

Mayor R.T. Rybak supports the new priorities. Marthand Nookala, an assistant Hennepin County administrator, said the county generally supports the proposal as long as Lake Street access remains.

STEVE BRANDT

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