METRO B Line Arterial BRT: Enhancing Connectivity Across the Twin Cities

Urban Constraints

Constructed more than two dozen Bus Rapid Transit stations in a bustling urban environment while managing the impact to local businesses and residents

Stakeholder Coordination

Effectively collaborated with the Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Hennepin County, Ramsey County, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and other key community partners to keep them updated and make sure their needs were met

Unique Funding

Served as a trusted advisor to Metro Transit and Hennepin County to help incorporate $25 million of additional funding into the scope of the project and navigate the complexities accompanying that funding

Kimley-Horn is leading the design and construction administration services for the METRO B Line Arterial Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the second highest ridership local bus route for Metro Transit in the Twin Cities—Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. Historically home to underserved populations and households who rely on transit, the METRO B Line corridor has been vehicle-centric, congested, and difficult to cross for people walking and biking.

When constructed, the METRO B Line, a 12.6-mile arterial BRT project with 33 stations, will improve transit amenities, travel time, and reliability. The corridor improvements will additionally improve accessibility and safety for all users of the street.

Multi-Disciplinary Transit Design and Oversight

Kimley-Horn completed final design for the METRO B Line Arterial BRT and is currently overseeing its construction administration. These services included:

Project management
Station site design
ADA and pedestrian safety improvements
Utility design
Arterial BRT systems and communication design
Transit signal priority
Construction engineering

In carrying out these services, our team worked closely with project stakeholders for the METRO B Line, including Hennepin and Ramsey counties, the Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. We maintained constant communication with those stakeholders throughout the final design process and into construction administration, from reviewing plans and concept designs to working through technical issues, to ensure their respective needs were being met and represented. In parallel with METRO B Line, Kimley-Horn designed the Lake Street Improvements project for Hennepin County to further enhance pedestrian mobility, safety, and transit operations on Lake Street. The scope of this design includes ADA improvements, curb bump-outs to shorten crossings, a four-lane to three-lane conversion to improve safety, the creation of a transit lane to improve transit speed and reliability, and mill/overlay of the asphalt pavement.

Utilizing Unique Funding Resources

Kimley-Horn worked with Metro Transit and Hennepin County to secure additional funding needed to bolster the Lake Street Improvements project. Kimley-Horn prepared the application for a RAISE grant on behalf of Hennepin County, successfully securing the funding. Bringing in supplementary funding resulted in additional needed processes, such as supplementary environmental review and agreements with the US Department of Transportation. This required a transit consultant to deftly navigate the Federal Highway Administration to meet their requirements and deliver additional scope, all while staying on schedule. Although intricate, this process ultimately led to a better result for the agency partners and the users of the corridor.

Kimley-Horn served as a resource to Hennepin County and Metro Transit, guiding them through the process with our expertise. We outlined the additional steps that were needed, such as reviewing historic properties and the authorization needed to get started, then executed them.

Enhancing BRT Station Access with ADA Improvements

Kimley-Horn used its team of ADA experts to provide expertise, guidance, and support to meet the guidelines of Public Right-of-Way Accessibility (PROWAG)—the rules that govern ADA-requirements. The final PROWAG rule was published in August 2023, and to make sure the METRO B Line was compliant with these updated requirements, our ADA experts completed accessible design at more than 50 intersections next to the BRT stations and along the corridor.

We also evolved Metro Transit’s existing documentation and best practices to document pedestrian access routes and show the accessibility requirements were clearly being met from design all the way through construction.

Incorporating BRT into the Twin Cites Community

With engineering on the METRO B Line complete and about half of the stations built as of July 2024, BRT operations are projected to begin in June 2025. When constructed, the METRO B Line will provide frequent daily service throughout a diverse mix of neighborhoods, provide access to destinations like Uptown Minneapolis and downtown Saint Paul, and make transit connections to METRO Green Line, METRO Blue Line, METRO A Line, METRO D Line, METRO E Line, and the future METRO Gold Line.

In addition to our work on the METRO B Line, Kimley-Horn is additionally working on the METRO E Line as a subconsultant and the METRO F Line as the prime consultant, further displaying our commitment to enhancing connectivity and bettering transit experience across the Twin Cities.