Dakota County officials have signed off on a bus station compromise with Apple Valley, moving a stalled portion of the Cedar Avenue busway project forward.
Briefs: Dakota County ratifies BRT skyway compromise for Apple Valley
The city, concerned about bus station design and its effects on ridership and safety, had balked at plans to build the "walk-up" station at 147th Street without a skyway. Walk-up stations are essentially fancy bus stops, without any attached parking lots.
Officials with the county and the Metropolitan Council have said the ridership at that station would not necessitate a skyway until 2030.
The compromise calls for the skyway to be designed and put out to bid this summer with the rest of the station, which will be built by the Metropolitan Council. Once the bids are returned, the city will decide whether it wants to pay the upfront costs of the skyway construction. If it turns out that ridership meets the numbers expected in 2030 before that date, the county would reimburse the city for some or all of the costs.
Estimates place the skyway cost at about $2 million. The bus rapid transit system, to be named the Red Line, was originally planned to launch this fall. The start has since been pushed back to spring 2013.
DAKOTA COUNTY
Volunteer at Dakota village during fair Show off woodcarving, embroidering, knitting and weaving skills as a volunteer demonstrator at Dakota City Heritage Village during the Dakota County Fair.
The village -- a collection of buildings at the fairgrounds meant to show life in the county in the 1900s -- is open for tours during the fair Aug. 6 to Aug. 12.
For more information about volunteering for 1900s craft demonstrations at Dakota City, call 651-460-8050.
DAKOTA COUNTY/EAGAN
Students to discuss cultural exchange Come hear high school and college students' impressions of the United States and China during a cultural exchange at Wescott Library on Thursday.
Students from Shandong Polytechnic University, Macalester College and Eagan High School will discuss "Two Sides of the Mirror: Mutual Reflections of China and the U.S." from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the library, at 1340 Wescott Road in Eagan. They will discuss being Chinese-American in the United States, studying Chinese language and culture, and answer audience questions.
Yanmei Jiang, co-founder of the nonprofit Building Bridges Cultural Exchange, will moderate the panel. The students from Shandong Polytechnic University are visiting Minnesota for the 2012 Cultural Immersion Camp.
For more information on the free event, go to www.dakotacounty.us/library or call 651-450-2908.
KATIE HUMPHREY