How do you reach a bus station in the middle of the freeway?

Metro Transit riders can find out Dec. 4, when a $5 million bus station opens in the median of Interstate 35W at 46th Street in south Minneapolis.

The quick-stop station, designed to make buses faster and more train-like in their reliability, is a first-of-its-kind for Minnesota.

Passengers will walk, bike or go by bus to the station, then take stairs or an elevator down to freeway-level platforms. Freeway buses will raise the station gate with remote controls.

A chute along the stairs will let bicyclists walk bikes down to the freeway level, said Bob Gibbons, Metro Transit director of customer service.

The "on-line" freeway station is an element of bus rapid transit service set to start on 35W in late 2012. Similar stations are planned for 82nd Street and 98th Avenue in Bloomington, and special buses are on order, Gibbons said.

Initially only Metro Transit will use the new station. Minnesota Valley Transit and SouthWest Transit are considering whether to stop there for reverse commuters. Walls separate the station from freeway traffic. The station has separate platforms for northbound and southbound buses, each with space for a couple hundred people. There is room for two buses going the same direction at each platform.

Buses heading north will go directly to either downtown Minneapolis or the University of Minnesota, said Cyndi Harper, Metro Transit's manager of route planning. Southbound buses will serve Normandale Community College and key employers in Bloomington, Edina and Richfield.

LAURIE BLAKE