New Maple Grove park-and-ride station would add commuter options

Maple Grove is set to approve a second transit station that initially will offer nearly 500, and ultimately more than 900, additional parking spaces for commuters headed from the northwest suburb into Minneapolis.

If the City Council approves the project on June 15 as expected, the $8.8 million station could open by the fall of 2010 on Maple Grove Parkway near the new Maple Grove Hospital, just off Interstate 94.

Without the new station, the Metropolitan Council has predicted that in 20 years the northwest I-94 corridor would have the biggest park-and-ride parking shortage of all metro commuter routes.

That has positioned Maple Grove to receive an $8.4 million federal grant to buy land and build the station at no cost to the city. The Met Council would pay the required 20 percent local share.

The station location was chosen to attract new bus riders from the still developing northwest quadrant of Maple Grove and from communities along I-94 to the north, including Albertville, Rogers, Monticello and St. Michael.

The city also hopes to bring reverse commuters from downtown Minneapolis to jobs at the new hospital, which is set to open in December, and to the surrounding commercial district.

The station could handle a 10 to 15 percent ridership increase for the next three years before a parking deck is needed, said Maple Grove Transit Administrator Mike Opatz. The deck would bring the station's total parking spaces available to 930.

Ryan Companies, which originally planned to build office buildings on the seven-acre site chosen for the station, has agreed to sell the land for about $5.6 million.

Maple Grove started its own transit service in 1990 to give residents better commuter service than they were getting from Metro Transit. It picks up passengers at four park-and-ride lots and at an Arbor Lakes station opened in December 2003. Last year its ridership totaled 807,437, up 20 percent from 2007.

The council's expected vote June 15 follows last week's 5-2 endorsement of the project by the city Planning Commission, which discussed at length the station's design, parking capacity and location.

Chairman Larry Colson cast one of the two no votes, saying it was no reflection on the quality of the project. He explained that he was simply "tired of subsidizing transit."

With council approval, the city would close on the land purchase in August, complete the design and take construction bids over the winter, and start construction in July 2010, Opatz said.

The new station could be expected to ease parking at the existing Arbor Lakes station because some riders would find the new location more convenient, Opatz said.

Before the economic slump, the Arbor Lakes station ramp regularly filled up and forced about 100 commuters a day to "hide and ride" using surrounding parking lots, Opatz said. This year ridership has leveled off, leaving about 20 spaces open every day. But Opatz said he expects ridership to grow again when the economy recovers.

License plate counts at the current station indicate that about 30 percent of the riders parking there are not Maple Grove residents.

Planning commissioners asked why the station could not be located farther north on I-94 to keep traffic from other communities from coming to Maple Grove in the first place.

Opatz said the other communities are not in the metro area's transit taxing district and are not eligible for a station.