Bottineau Boulevard Transitway

Bottineau Boulevard Transitway
Overview
Type	Light rail or Bus Rapid Transit
System	Metro Transit
Status	Proposed
Locale	Hennepin County, Minnesota
Termini	Maple Grove, Minnesota or Brooklyn Park, Minnesota Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Stations	10
Daily ridership	19,500 est. (2030)
Operation
Opened	2017 (projected)
Character	Surface
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Electrification	Overhead lines
Route map Legend Alignment alternatives for Bottineau Transitway Route map Legend park & rideHemlock Lane 97th Avenue park & rideZachary Lane 93rd Avenuepark & ride Boone Avenue 85th Avenue 71st Avenue Brooklyn Boulevard 63rd Avenuepark & ride Bass Lake Road Robbinsdale Transit Centerpark & ride Golden Valley Road North Memorial Penn Avenue Broadway/Penn Penn/Plymouth Van White Boulevard Southwest Corridor Target Fieldto Northstar Line Hiawatha (open) and Central (future) lines

The Northwest - Bottineau Boulevard Transitway is a transit corridor in the Minneapolis – Saint Paul Metro area that runs from downtown Minneapolis roughly along County Road 81 to Osseo / Rogers. It could become the fourth light rail corridor in the Twin Cities region after the Blue Line (Hiawatha Line) (opened in 2004), the Green Line (Central Corridor) (under construction; projected to open in 2014), and the Green Line Extension (Southwest Transitway) (approved; projected to open in 2015 or 2016). The Bottineau line could be the next Transitway built in the Twin Cities, if so it could open a few years after the Southwest line - as soon as 2017. However the Metropolitan Council has not yet designated which corridor will be built after Southwest.

Alignment alternatives

The Bottineau Transitway Alternative Analysis Study, released in 2009, outlined several different alternatives for both the northern and southern ends of the corridor. In 2010, the final AA report recommended the A-D1 light rail alignment as the best option, but also suggested B-D1, A-D2, and B-D2 should continue to be studied. A-D1 and B-D1 were also recommended for continued study as possible bus rapid transit alignments.

Northern alternatives

There are two northern alternatives:

Alternative A begins in Maple Grove, Minnesota and runs along Arbor Lakes Parkway and 77th Avenue from Hemlock Lane to the railroad tracks of BNSF Railway's Monticello Subdivision. The potential stations are Hemlock Lane, Zachary Lane, Boone Avenue, and 71st Avenue.

Alternative B begins in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota near Target North Corporate Campus and runs south along West Broadway to the BNSF railroad tracks. The potential stations are 97th Avenue, 93rd Avenue, 85th Avenue, and Brooklyn Boulevard. 71st Avenue Station, though it would run along this alignment's right-of-way, would not be built if this alternative was selected.

Middle segment

Through the middle portion of the corridor, the study has selected a single alternative. This alternative follows the BNSF right-of-way, paralleling County Road 81, from Interstate 694 to 36th Avenue. The proposed stations are 63rd Avenue, Bass Lake Road, and Robbinsdale Transit Center. This alignment is known as Alternative C.

Southern alternatives

The southern part of the corridor has four potential alignments. Three could be used for light rail or bus rapid transit, and one would be strictly for bus rapid transit. Every alternative would still terminate at Target Field station.

Alternative D1 would continue to follow the BNSF right of way all the way south to Olson Memorial Highway (Minnesota State Highway 55) and would follow Olson Memorial Highway all the way into downtown. Stations would be located at Golden Valley Road, Penn Avenue, and Van White Boulevard.

Alternative D2 would run entirely along streets, instead of partially along railroad right-of-way. It would follow West Broadway to Penn Avenue, and Penn Avenue to Olson Memorial Highway into downtown. Stations would be located at North Memorial Medical Center, West Broadway at Penn Ave, Penn Ave at Plymouth Ave, and Olson Memorial Highway at Van White Boulevard.

Two additional alternatives, D3 and D4, were essentially eliminated in the 2010 report.

Transit mode

The Northwest Corridor was proposed as a Tier I transitway, for rapid development, in the Metropolitan Council's 2030 Transportation Policy Plan, published in 2004. In a region with no operational light rail lines, ridership numbers appeared too low to justify the expense of light rail in this corridor. The line was fast-tracked for development into a busway, and much of the work was completed to receive federal funding for construction of a busway.

Though this corridor was advanced by the Metropolitan Council for development as a Busway, the success of the Blue Line and lobbying by Hennepin County commissioner Mike Opat forced the mode choice to be re-evaluated. In March 2007, the Bottineau Partnership resolved to conduct an alternatives analysis rather than simply building the busway. Hennepin County has now commissioned a full Alternatives Analysis, which should be complete by mid-2009.

The recent creation of the Counties Transit Improvement Board, which controls a new dedicated transit tax for the Twin Cities region, has created a strong new push for light rail corridor development. According to the legislation enacting the Counties Transit Improvement Board, in order for a project to receive CTIB funding, it must be part of the Metropolitan Council's long-term transit plan; new planning documents released April 11, 2008 by the Metropolitan Council indicate that the Bottineau Corridor is a strong prospect for LRT, with numbers supporting LRT development. Ridership predictions for the corridor, though lower than those for either the Central or Southwest corridors, are much higher than estimates before the opening of the Hiawatha Line.

Alignment alternatives study results

The alternative analysis study concluded that the best alignment for the Bottineau Corridor would be light rail transit service using Alternatives A and D1. The line scored well overall for the three categories of Corridor Benefits, Development Opportunities, and Environmental Impacts. The Cost/Benefit Analysis pushed this corridor to the highest position of the potential corridors. This corridor would serve and estimated 19,500 daily riders by 2030. It would take 26 minutes to travel from Maple Grove to Downtown, just a couple minutes more than average express bus service. The construction cost estimate for the corridor is $885 million, in 2016 dollars. Though bus rapid transit would have cost significantly less, estimated at $464 million, it is also estimated that there would have been 6,000 fewer riders per daily.

External links

• Bottineau Partnership
• Metro Transit
• Metropolitan Council Website
• Bottineau Transitway Alternatives Analysis Study
• Alignment Alternatives map