Get Ready For the Big Dig in Saint Paul!

Posted by scottf

March 11, 2010

No, we are not going to recreate the multi-billion dollar tunneling project that took a decade to do in Boston. At least I hope not! The Met Council finally announced its construction schedules for the Central Corridor light-rail line on Wednesday. Here is what you can expect:

Downtown Saint Paul will experience road closures, street demo and construction starting this spring and continue through 2012. Streets and sidewalks will be installed, new drainage systems will replace some that have been in the ground since 1900 and new trees will be planted.
Areas near the Capital and I-94 will have detours and road closures also throughout the project starting in 2011 and continuing until late 2012. The most prolonged work in any single area announced Wednesday will be along Cedar Street. The work from I-94 to Fifth Street is scheduled from April 2011 to November 2012.
Parts of the East Bank of the U of M will have upgraded roads and repairs this spring and summer (if agreements can be reached with the U of M over the route and easements).

The Saint Paul part of the project is estimated to cost $231 million. This 11 mile expansion of the Twin Cities light rail system will cost an estimated $957 million and will take until 2014 to complete. There will be 14 stations in the Saint Paul section from near Emerald Street on the edge of Saint Paul to the recently renovated Union Depot downtown.

Despite lawsuits from businesses, minority groups and Saint Paul Homes owners, the bids for this section were published last week. They are due this spring with the award of the contracts expected this summer. Businesses along University Avenue are upset because many blocks in front of businesses could be closed for days or months, hurting merchants that are already affected by the economy. The Met Council assured business owners that University will not be torn apart all at once. Bus operations will continue and no detours are planned through the adjoining neighborhoods. Additionally, no single stretch of University will be closed for more than 5 months with no section of sidewalk closed for more than 15 days.