Highway 55 Transit Study
For the past few years, regional partners have been working with Metro Transit to plan the future of bus service along the Highway 55 corridor in the west metro. The study was led by Metro Transit, and included participation from MnDOT, Hennepin County, and west metro city partners. The current results and recommendations will be available shortly.
Overall, the study has found that a limited-stop Route 757 would effectively improve transit options and help build overall corridor ridership.
What is this project?
The Highway 55 corridor connects downtown Minneapolis to suburban communities and job centers in the west metro including Medina, Plymouth, and Golden Valley. The goal is to determine what kind of bus improvements would best serve people who live, work, study, and travel in this part of the region – now and in the future.
What did the study look at?
The team compared five possible bus service alternatives:
- No build: Today’s bus network plus long-range transit plans for 2050 (without adding new service in this study)
- Bus rapid transit from Minneapolis to Medina
- Bus rapid transit from Minneapolis to Plymouth
- Limited-stop Route 757 (a faster bus option developed as part of the Network Now project but not yet launched)
- Bus rapid transit from the University of Minnesota to Medina (added later as a community suggestion, reviewed for ridership and cost only)
How were the options evaluated?
A set of goals, approved by the Policy Advisory Committee, guided the review. Each bus option was measured equally (no single goal was ranked higher than another). Key focus areas included, improving access to important places, consideration of people in the community that would most benefit from transit, and evaluating how the system would perform in terms of ridership and cost.
The full set of goals includes:
1. Improve transit access to activity centers and destinations
2. Improve transit access to jobs and residences between downtown Minneapolis and suburban communities
3. Improve suburb-to-suburb transit access
4. Identify improvements that benefit people who rely on transit
5. Improve access to the regional transit network
6. Provide reverse commute service from downtown Minneapolis to suburbs and jobs
7. Leverage existing/planned economic development and areas of opportunity for transit-oriented development
8. Leverage other infrastructure projects and studies to advance transit
What did the study find?
Based on the results, the study recommends that:
- Alternative 4: Limited-stop Route 757 be launched by 2027 by Metro Transit. Ridership will be monitored, and more service could be added over time.
To help ensure that transit is successful, Metro Transit and corridor partners will collaborate on potential infrastructure improvements, such as:
- Better bus shelters and pedestrian crossings incorporated into upcoming Highway 55 road projects by MnDOT and corridor cities
- Bus-priority features like signal timing, queue jumps, and shoulders/lanes where delays are high
- Sidewalk and trail connections to neighborhoods and destinations
- West metro cities should continue planning for transit-supportive development, making it easier for future growth to support high-quality bus service.
What comes next and what does this means for riders and communities
The Route 757 option offers a faster, more affordable way to improve bus travel in the corridor right now – while creating a foundation for future improvements. The bus route would begin to operate in 2027, significantly increasing transit options for the west metro. We will continue to work with the west metro community to improve infrastructure and encourage supportive development.