I-94 freeway rebuild could affect express bus routes

Since 1974, a Metro Transit bus route has used Interstate 94 to ferry thousands of riders between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. Many use it to get to and from work. A couple of weeks ago, DeMarco Martin, a West St. Paul resident, used it to drop off baking supplies in North Minneapolis. 

“It’s a quicker way to get to Minneapolis,” said Martin, indicating what he liked about Metro Transit’s Route 94. Averaging more than 700 daily boardings between mid-March and early June, it is Metro Transit’s busiest express route. However, that could all change in the next decade. 

The 55-year-old freeway that Route 94 operates on, Interstate 94, is on its last legs and due for a rebuild. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is looking at 10 options that could keep the freeway in place, widen it by adding an extra toll or general traffic lane, narrow it, or replace it with a boulevard. 

Whatever MnDOT ends up doing would affect Metro Transit’s Route 94, as well as Routes 353, 355, and 363 express routes that connect downtown Minneapolis with downtown St. Paul and the eastern St. Paul suburbs of Woodbury and Cottage Grove. 

If MnDOT chooses to keep the freeway, Metro Transit could continue operating the 94 as it does today or keep the same route but eliminate the stop on Snelling Avenue. Route 94’s stop on Snelling Avenue was restored in December 2021, as Metro Transit had to contend with a shortage of drivers to operate the Green Line, which parallels I-94 to the north. 

Metro Transit could also convert Route 94 into a route like the Orange Line, which opened in December 2021, and operates on toll lanes on I-35W, making stops in stations on the middle of the freeway in Minneapolis and on the side of the freeway in Richfield, Bloomington and Burnsville. The converted Route 94, which would continue to run between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul could operate on toll lanes or highway shoulders and could stop at a station in the middle of the freeway or adjacent to an on-ramp. It could just stop at Snelling Avenue or stop somewhere near Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood and St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood in addition to Snelling. 

The idea of adding stops to Route 94 is unpopular with some current riders, who use the service to commute between the two downtown centers quickly. “I don’t think [the bus] should have more stops. It has more than enough stops. Maybe one more? People get on the 94 trying to get from downtown Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul as quickly as possible,” said JT Concepcion as he rode the 94 one afternoon to get to a North Minneapolis brewery. 

However, if MnDOT decides to remove the freeway and replace it with a boulevard, Metro Transit’s Route 94 bus would operate on dedicated lanes on that boulevard, similar to how the C and D Lines run on red transit lanes on 7th Street in downtown Minneapolis. The bus route could also run similarly to the Gold Line, a bus line that will run on dedicated transit lanes—being built immediately north of I-94 on the east side of St. Paul that will connect downtown St. Paul with the 3M office building in Maplewood, as well as Woodbury—when it opens in 2025. 

Tyesha Graham likes the idea. “I think that would be good. That way buses won’t have to wait for traffic,” said Graham as she rode the Route 94 bus with her wife Natalie from a meeting in St. Paul. “I didn’t think of it like that,” added Natalie, a Southside native. 

Buses running on dedicated lanes in a boulevard conversion saves commuters an average of two minutes per trip while providing the greatest increase in ridership, according to a study commissioned by MnDOT and conducted by a Houston, Texas transportation planning company called The Goodman Corporation. In addition, the study found that a boulevard conversion could increase ridership on the Blue and Green Lines, as well as a streetcar line being proposed to operate on West 7th Street. Planners believe converting the freeway into a boulevard and providing buses running on dedicated lanes would incentivize riders to take transit as they change how they commute without a freeway.

However, the alternative that would convert the Route 94 bus to something similar to the Orange Line with stations in Seward, Rondo, and at Snelling Avenue increases access to jobs, medical facilities, groceries, educational opportunities and businesses. 

The study did not consider when the buses would run, but assumed the buses would run every 10 minutes during rush hour and every 15 minutes outside of rush hour. Some riders like Concepcion wish it would run later. “There’s been a couple times when I would like it to run later.”

Even if Metro Transit retools I-94 transit service to accommodate whatever MnDOT ends up doing, some people won’t ride it for fear of their own safety. 

Carol Thomas, a downtown Minneapolis resident, finds it hard to be herself and feel safe on transit. “I’m a person [who wears] jewelry a lot. And for me jewelry is significant because of my culture,” said Thomas while sitting with a friend at the Taste of Rondo block party. 

“And so now, when I have to go on the bus, I have to take [my jewelry] off because people will snatch it. They will try to rob you and do all kinds of stuff. I’ve been robbed many times.” She thinks more police or security personnel—which Metro Transit is working on and plans to deliver an update on their progress to the Met Council on August 2 — would make her feel more comfortable.

MnDOT does not know how much each of their options will cost. They expect the boulevard conversion to be the most expensive because of how much they would have to spend to fill in the trench where I-94 runs. 

Some expressed disappointment that the agency decided not to study building any form of rail on the I-94 corridor, citing the potential to draw riders and to lower the costs of building such a route. Although a light rail line would double potential ridership compared to the dedicated bus lane that would operate on a converted boulevard, planners from The Goodman Corporation say those projects would be overkill for what the corridor is trying to serve. However, supporters point out that the study did not consider the rail projects’ potential to connect to other rail routes being planned, such as an intercity rail route to Eau Claire. 

Darion Warr, a Minneapolis resident, thinks MnDOT should build some form of rail line on I-94, similar to the L in Warr’s hometown of Chicago. “I think it’s just the convenience of space. [Building a rail line on 94] wouldn’t be in the way of businesses. Look at University—they hurt a lot of businesses because they didn’t wanna be copycats. Metro Transit [doesn’t] want to be like cities with the L train in the middle of a highway,” said Warr on his way home from work. 

MnDOT will discuss these options in more detail with Reconnect Rondo, as they also present updates on their land bridge project, on August 17, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Wilder Foundation’s headquarters, 451 N. Lexington Pkwy. at University in St. Paul. They hope to select several options to evaluate sometime next year as part of federally required environmental studies. 

Visit bit.ly/rethinkI94survey to take MnDOT’s survey on the choices they could choose to rebuild I-94.