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Metro Blue Line (Minnesota)
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Metro Blue Line (Minnesota)
The Metro Blue Line is a 12-mile (19.3 km) light rail line in Hennepin County, Minnesota, that is part of the Metro network. It travels from downtown Minneapolis to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and the southern suburb of Bloomington. Formerly the Hiawatha Line (Route 55) prior to May 2013, the line was originally named after the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha passenger train and Hiawatha Avenue, reusing infrastructure from the former and running parallel to the latter for a portion of the route. The line opened June 26, 2004, and was the first light rail service in Minnesota. An extension, Bottineau LRT, is planned to open in 2030.
The Blue Line is operated by Metro Transit, the primary bus and train operator in the Twin Cities. As of December 2022, the service operates from approximately 3:19 am to 12:50 am with 15‑minute headways most of the day. The route averaged 32,928 daily riders in 2019, representing 13 percent of Metro Transit's ridership. The line carried 10.6 million riders in 2015.
In South Minneapolis, several bus routes converge at transit centers along the line, offering connections to other Metro lines and frequent bus routes. The line has two park and ride stations, the Fort Snelling and 30th Avenue stations, with a combined capacity of 2,569 vehicles. Major destinations along the corridor include downtown Minneapolis, Lake Street, Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, and the Mall of America. At the airport, the Blue Line provides free, 24/7 service between Lindbergh and Humphrey terminals. A night owl shuttle train, the Airport Shuttle, runs between terminals during times when no Blue Line service is scheduled.
The Minneapolis–St. Paul area once had an extensive network of streetcars (operated for many years by Twin City Rapid Transit, a precursor of Metro Transit), but the tracks were removed and services were eliminated in the 1950s.
Over the years since the last trolley ran in 1954, many people have pushed for the reintroduction of rail transport in the Twin Cities. Proposals for a modern streetcar or light rail along the Hiawatha Avenue corridor appeared in the pages of the Minneapolis Star as early as 1974. The primary reason is that traffic congestion has grown considerably since the streetcar system ceased operation: a 2003 report by the Texas Transportation Institute indicated that the area was the 17th most congested area in the country, with the second fastest congestion growth.
Rail projects struggled to gain political support until the 1990s, when several factors combined to make the idea more palatable. Governor Jesse Ventura and Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg heavily promoted the idea of rail transport, and significant amounts of money became available from the federal government. Previous governors had advocated light rail, but had not been able to get legislation passed. Governor Tim Pawlenty had campaigned on a promise to fight the expansion of light rail, but altered his opinions after taking office. He also initially opposed the Northstar Line commuter rail project, which is a rail corridor north of Minneapolis, but changed his mind about that project in January 2004 when a scaled-back version was shown to have good potential.
For many,[who?] the Hiawatha Avenue corridor was not the top choice for a new project. Popular other options included connecting Minneapolis with the western suburbs, though probably the most-desired option has been the Central Corridor connecting the Twin Cities themselves (Minneapolis and St. Paul) with a route down the middle of Interstate 94 or University Avenue. However, much of the land had already been acquired by the state in the 1960s to build a sunken radial expressway into downtown that was never built. In addition to the available land, the desire to connect to the airport and at least reach the vicinity of the Mall of America proved to be the bigger draw for decision-makers.
The idea of running a rail line down Hiawatha Avenue had already been around for at least a decade by the time the decision was made to go forward. In 1985, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) had produced an Environmental Impact Statement that concluded that light rail was the best alternative for the corridor. In 1996, the document was examined again as Mn/DOT looked at the possibility of adding bus rapid transit along the road, but money for light rail became available soon after, leading to the current layout.
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Metro Blue Line (Minnesota)
The Metro Blue Line is a 12-mile (19.3 km) light rail line in Hennepin County, Minnesota, that is part of the Metro network. It travels from downtown Minneapolis to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and the southern suburb of Bloomington. Formerly the Hiawatha Line (Route 55) prior to May 2013, the line was originally named after the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha passenger train and Hiawatha Avenue, reusing infrastructure from the former and running parallel to the latter for a portion of the route. The line opened June 26, 2004, and was the first light rail service in Minnesota. An extension, Bottineau LRT, is planned to open in 2030.
The Blue Line is operated by Metro Transit, the primary bus and train operator in the Twin Cities. As of December 2022, the service operates from approximately 3:19 am to 12:50 am with 15‑minute headways most of the day. The route averaged 32,928 daily riders in 2019, representing 13 percent of Metro Transit's ridership. The line carried 10.6 million riders in 2015.
In South Minneapolis, several bus routes converge at transit centers along the line, offering connections to other Metro lines and frequent bus routes. The line has two park and ride stations, the Fort Snelling and 30th Avenue stations, with a combined capacity of 2,569 vehicles. Major destinations along the corridor include downtown Minneapolis, Lake Street, Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, and the Mall of America. At the airport, the Blue Line provides free, 24/7 service between Lindbergh and Humphrey terminals. A night owl shuttle train, the Airport Shuttle, runs between terminals during times when no Blue Line service is scheduled.
The Minneapolis–St. Paul area once had an extensive network of streetcars (operated for many years by Twin City Rapid Transit, a precursor of Metro Transit), but the tracks were removed and services were eliminated in the 1950s.
Over the years since the last trolley ran in 1954, many people have pushed for the reintroduction of rail transport in the Twin Cities. Proposals for a modern streetcar or light rail along the Hiawatha Avenue corridor appeared in the pages of the Minneapolis Star as early as 1974. The primary reason is that traffic congestion has grown considerably since the streetcar system ceased operation: a 2003 report by the Texas Transportation Institute indicated that the area was the 17th most congested area in the country, with the second fastest congestion growth.
Rail projects struggled to gain political support until the 1990s, when several factors combined to make the idea more palatable. Governor Jesse Ventura and Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg heavily promoted the idea of rail transport, and significant amounts of money became available from the federal government. Previous governors had advocated light rail, but had not been able to get legislation passed. Governor Tim Pawlenty had campaigned on a promise to fight the expansion of light rail, but altered his opinions after taking office. He also initially opposed the Northstar Line commuter rail project, which is a rail corridor north of Minneapolis, but changed his mind about that project in January 2004 when a scaled-back version was shown to have good potential.
For many,[who?] the Hiawatha Avenue corridor was not the top choice for a new project. Popular other options included connecting Minneapolis with the western suburbs, though probably the most-desired option has been the Central Corridor connecting the Twin Cities themselves (Minneapolis and St. Paul) with a route down the middle of Interstate 94 or University Avenue. However, much of the land had already been acquired by the state in the 1960s to build a sunken radial expressway into downtown that was never built. In addition to the available land, the desire to connect to the airport and at least reach the vicinity of the Mall of America proved to be the bigger draw for decision-makers.
The idea of running a rail line down Hiawatha Avenue had already been around for at least a decade by the time the decision was made to go forward. In 1985, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) had produced an Environmental Impact Statement that concluded that light rail was the best alternative for the corridor. In 1996, the document was examined again as Mn/DOT looked at the possibility of adding bus rapid transit along the road, but money for light rail became available soon after, leading to the current layout.
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