Purple Line BRT Project

Public Engagement

We want your feedback!  

Project staff have spent the last several months developing and evaluating potential layouts that show roadway design and transit station locations for White Bear Avenue route options.  

Join us at upcoming in-person and virtual community meetings to learn more about the potential opportunities and impacts that these design options could have for residents and businesses. 

Your feedback will inform the selection of the best option for the White Bear Avenue route. 

Can’t make the meetings?  

Here are the boards for our current comment period community meetings: Community Meeting Boards

Click the text below to review the same meeting materials being shared at the community meetings and provide your feedback now through April 12, 2024.  

Learn about and provide input on the design options for the White Bear Avenue Corridor

View the engineering drawings in each section of the White Bear Ave Corridor through the links below. These are conceptual and intended to provide a frame of reference for community members to see how the Purple Line could fit in their neighborhood.

White Bear Avenue Corridor Animations - Click Here for Video (Vimeo)

Meetings and Events

Sign up for email updates to be notified about future opportunities to engage with the METRO Purple Line project. If you would like Purple Line project staff to come to your event or meeting, contact us at [email protected]

Upcoming events

  • 5/1/2024 - Met Council TAAC Meeting - St. Paul, MN

Past Events

METRO Purple Line BRT Project staff were at the following events and locations.​

  • 4/17/2024 - Ramsey County Service Center - St. Paul, MN | 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
  • 4/16/2024 - North Saint Paul High School - North Saint Paul, MN | 10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
  • 4/5/2024 - Maplewood Mall Food Court Pop-Up - Maplewood, MN | 10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
  • 4/5/2024 - Health Partners Clinic - Maplewood - Maplewood, MN | 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
  • 4/2/2024 - Ames Lake Community Room Community Meeting - 1144 Barclay Street, Saint Paul, MN, 55106 | 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. 
  • 4/1/2024 - Ramsey County Service Center - Maplewood Mall - Maplewood, MN | 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
  • 3/30/2024 - Hmong Village Tabling - St. Paul, MN | 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Past Community Meetings

Earlier this summer, project staff conducted three community meetings, virtual and in-person, to share project updates and collect feedback on station locations of the METRO Purple Line on the Maryland and White Bear Avenues. 

  • Tuesday, July 25, 2023 - 5 - 7:30 p.m. (in-person, Hayden Heights Library: 1456 White Bear Avenue North, St. Paul, MN)
  • Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023 - Noon - 1:30 p.m. (virtual)
  • Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023 - 6 - 8 p.m. (in-person, Maplewood Community Center: 2100 White Bear Avenue North, Maplewood, MN)

We engaged over 100 people who live, work, and travel along the corridor.

Arcade Street Station Update

Since fall 2022, the METRO Purple Line project team explored three options for Arcade Street Station in St. Paul to find a location that provides the best pedestrian access for the surrounding neighborhoods. Those options included: 

  • Option A: an Arcade St. station at Neid Lane with a pedestrian bridge to Phalen Blvd. 
  • Option B: an option with a station on Phalen Blvd. below Arcade St. 
  • Option C: a station at Wells St.

Map showing 3 location options for the Arcade Street Station. Option A shows the station west of Arcade Street on Neid Lane, with a pedestrian and Phalen Boulevard shift. Option B shows the station west of Arcade Street on Payne Avenue, with pedestrian connection. Option C shows the station east of Arcade Street on Phalen Boulevard at Wells Street, called Wells Street Station. 

The community and stakeholder feedback indicated Option A was the preferred. The project team modified the community-preferred option A to blend community preferences, cost effectiveness, and design considerations. The Purple Line Corridor Management Committee concurred with this recommendation to advance the modified Arcade Option A at their April 6, 2023 meeting.  

The benefits of this preferred station option include:  

  • Closest to the preferred option from community engagement 
  • Improves upon travel time 
  • Limits changes to existing traffic pattern 
  • Maintains opportunity for Phalen Creek daylighting 
  • Minimal impact to planned stormwater pond 
  • New pedestrian connection to Neid from Bruce Vento Trail 

Image shows the Arcade station location that is advancing - Option A2

Engagement Summary Report

Summer 2023 Engagement Summary Report

About Us

A well-informed and engaged public strengthens the project and helps create a more useful transit system for all. The Metropolitan Council, Metro Transit, and the project’s local funding partner, Ramsey County, understand the need to engage corridor stakeholders in the development of project details and in fostering broad support for the project as a necessary investment to improve access and mobility to employment, educational and economic opportunities within the corridor and beyond.

Purple Line project staff will seek to engage corridor residents, businesses, organizations, and transit customers in the project planning process to solicit their input and address their needs and concerns. Concerted effort will also be given to communities that have been traditionally underrepresented in transit planning processes: people of color, low-income communities, people with limited English proficiency (LEP), people with disabilities, and other historically marginalized groups.

Contact:
Liz Jones, Community Outreach & Engagement Lead
[email protected] or 651-602-1977

Colin Owens, Community Outreach & Engagement
colin.owens@metrotransit.org or 612-618-0495