Rider reaction to off-freeway stop has made fixing it a priority sooner than expected.
By Laurie Blake laurie.blake@startribune.com
Just six months after the opening of the Red Line BRT on Cedar Avenue, riders' irritation about a slow, circuitous stop in Eagan is putting pressure on officials to fix it.
Riders of the metro area's first limited-stop bus rapid transit (BRT) service, between Apple Valley and the Mall of America, have been dismayed to find themselves leaving the freeway at Diffley Road and trundling along local streets to make a stop at the Cedar Grove Station in Eagan, adding several minutes to their trip.
Three-fourths of the bus line's riders are taking the bus all the way from Apple Valley to the Mall of America and back again, and the off-freeway stop in Eagan requires a mile of travel on local streets and tedious backtracking to get back on the freeway.
Officials knew the Eagan stop would have to be fixed and had planned to address it in a second phase of development of the $112 million Red Line, but rider reaction has made it "a higher priority much sooner than anticipated," said Kristine Elwood, transit engineer for Dakota County.
The question now is whether it's more important to make the 11-mile ride as fast as possible or to minimize walking for riders getting on or off at the Eagan stop.
Because Eagan is on the stretch of Cedar that is the Hwy. 77 freeway, improving access to the stop will require changes to the freeway.