Metro Transit's proposed Orange Line bus rapid transit line from downtown Minneapolis to Burnsville via Interstate 35W isn't forecast to open until 2019, but already opposition is emerging about key planning decisions.
One such decision that will have a big impact on the entire 16-mile project is how it will connect with American Boulevard in Bloomington — a stop that will serve the city's Penn American redevelopment district, where city officials have had success attracting new housing, hotel and retail projects in an area once dominated by vacant car dealerships.
An alternative that has gained traction with planners as the best way to serve bus rapid transit (BRT) riders, however, has drawn the ire of a major commercial real estate player in the district — Kraus-Anderson Realty Co., owner of the Southtown Shopping Center.
Ken Vinje, director of properties and redevelopment for Kraus-Anderson Realty, says emerging plans could hamper the company's long-sought goal of redeveloping the easternmost portion of the Southtown property.
The decision on how to route the line is complicated by the fact that it is linked with two other major planning efforts: the eventual rebuilding of the I-35W/I-494 interchange and the city of Bloomington's vision for the Penn American district.
For years, it was assumed that an American Boulevard stop would likely be placed in the median of I-35W where the boulevard crosses over the freeway, much like at 46th Street in Minneapolis. But those assumptions proved to be erroneous, said District 5 Metropolitan Council Member Steve Elkins.
"It turned out there wasn't sufficient horizontal clearance under the bridge," he said.
To address that problem, an alternative was drawn up in which BRT buses would exit the freeway at 82nd Street, and enter the Penn American district on Knox Avenue, which is now a private road through Southtown maintained by Kraus-Anderson that dead-ends at I-494.