Transportation

Light rail transit represents a tremendous opportunity for new investment along University Avenue. The City of Saint Paul welcomes existing business and property owners, and others looking for new opportunities to consider investing in the Central Corridor. The purpose of the Saint Paul Transit-Oriented Development Guidebook is to help you find the information you need to make the most of these opportunities. The Guidebook is a reference that includes key business tips, guiding plans, and design development principles for the Central Corridor in Saint Paul.

All retailers along the Central Corridor are invited to participate in a coupon book that will be printed in early January 2012 and 50,000 copies will be distributed at no charge at events and venues through June 2012.   All interested participants must be willing to supply an "introductory offer" that is equal to, or more significant, than a "Buy One/Get One half off" type of offer. Any lesser offer will not be accepted.   Businesses who offer a "Buy One/Get One Free" in the previous coupon book had significantly more redemptions than other offers. If you are looking to drive traffic to your business, the Discover Central Corridor team recommends a "Buy One/Get One Free" offer, or a "Buy One/Get One for $1" offer.

As a part of the implementation of Central Corridor LRT in 2012, Metro Transit will be conducting a transit service study to investigate the best ways to integrate bus and LRT transit service in the corridor. In order to do this, strong community input is needed so transit planners can better understand the ways Central Corridor community members use transit and how they would like to use it if given the opportunity to connect.

The City of St. Paul is doing a study to review of current and future transportation needs of the northwest quadrant of St. Paul  based on planned redevelopment, neighborhood goals, local and regional needs. The goal is to develop a balanced area transportation plan.

The area covered by the study runs from Larpenteur to 94, and the Minneapolis border (just west of 280) to Snelling.  Representatives from St. Anthony Park, Union Park, Hamline Midway, and the business community will be meeting monthly with City of St. Paul staff and a consultant hired to plan, model and engineer to complete the study.

See below for the agenda from the first meeting that occurred on November 17 as well as the RFP submitted that provides a detailed description of the plan for the study. A link to the City's page on the study will be added as soon as it goes live

In light of parking needs expressed by several business owners along the Raymond Avenue corridor, we hope to convene a group to assess the parking situation and discuss possible solutions for parking in St. Anthony Park. Since any change to Raymond Avenue will not occur until 2013, we will be initiating these meetings beginning in spring of 2012. If you are interested in being part of these meetings, please email Lauren Fulner-Erickson.

Documents from the many workshops and the two LCDA applications the City of St. Paul has previously done to work toward parking solutions at Raymond and University can be found below.

From The Link, the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability's E-News:
As transitways are developed in the Twin Cities region, it is easy to get lost in the complexity of how these projects are planned. The Alliance developed these resources to help community members figure out the planning processes that each transitway must go through, which agencies have authority over which stages, and the current status of the seven Corridors of Opportunity transitways.

Twin Cities Regional Transitway Decision-Making Overview

Metro Transit will hold public meetings Oct. 11-13 on a study of 11 urban corridors. These areas have high-ridership bus routes that connect major destinations and are candidates for implementation of "rapid bus" service.
The concept would improve travel speed, increase reliability, enhance the ride and create faster connections. Making these things a reality requires eliminating delays: from cutting the time it takes to board, reducing the time buses wait at traffic lights and lessening time spent in traffic congestion.
A "rapid bus" system would have vehicles that feature low floors and allow boarding from either door. Fares would be paid before boarding – just as on light rail – so more time is spent moving rather than at stops. Trips would be frequent with fewer stops per mile. Stations would have enhanced information displays and better lighting and climate control.

Discover the many tastes along the Central Corridor, the future path of the light rail line connecting St. Paul and Minneapolis. Book a themed-tour now, hosted by Mpls.St.Paul Magazine's editors. Choose from four tours that wind through trendy Lowertown, along historic University Avenue, to bustling Stadium Village.

Check out the tour stops and book your tickets here.  The 'World Flavors' and 'Classic Corridor' tours have stops at St. Anthony Park restaurants!

The St. Anthony Park Community Council is using the ranked choice voting system to help shape a recommendation to Met Council for the two station names in our neighborhood.

Results for Raymond Station vote here.

Results for Westgate Station vote here.

The City of Saint Paul will be hosting three public open houses in September in order to gather public input on the Citywide Bicycle Plan.  The Citywide Bicycle Plan will provide bicycle infrastructure recommendations regarding bikeways, end-trip facilities, and priority implementation projects.  In order to make that plan as relevant as possible, the City needs input from the public on where they'd like to get by bike and what barriers exist today that keep them from doing so.  These open houses, located across the City, will provide an opportunity for the public to share their thoughts on these points.  The open houses will take place from 4:00-7:00pm at the following dates and locations:

Be sure to visit the Ready for Rail website for the most up to the minute info on this program.

City of Saint Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority in partnership with the City of Minneapolis, Metropolitan Council & Central Corridor Funders Collaborative are providing foregivable loans to small businesses that show a loss in sales due to the construction of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Line.  The forgivable loan may be used for basic business expenses, including payroll, inventory, rent/mortgage, utilities, taxes, marketing, and insurance.

LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) in coordination with St. Paul and Minneapolis has planned three community forums to discuss a unified housing strategy for the Central Corridor.  This is an important opportunity for residents, business owners, and other stakeholders along the corridor to converse about their vision for future housing development. 

The forums have completed, but the District Councils Collaborative is planning followup subarea meetings to discuss how the Big Picture Project helps further housing plans in neighborhoods along the Central Corridor and how they might be strengthened to more effectively integrate neighborhood visions with corridor-wide goals.

The Metropolitan Council is holding public meetings next week, July 6 and 7, to discuss the implications of a potential reduction in state funding for transit operations, and take public comment on the principles that will be used to put together a final proposal for fare and service adjustments that may be necessary. The presentation at the public meetings will explain the transit operations funding challenge that the Council is facing and describe how this challenge could be met.  Budget solutions could include a fare increase of up to 50 cents and a reduction of up to 25 percent of bus service, resulting in elimination or reductions on more than 130 of the Council’s 146 bus routes, and the loss of 500 jobs.  Learn more at the Met Council's website.

Meetings will be held:

The Neighborhood Development Center will be offering informational sessions for St. Paul small business loan applicants. All sessions will be held at the Central Corridor Resource Center, 1080 University Avenue W, in St. Paul at the following times: