The way for 2025 will hopefully feel like a short one for residents of the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. For at that time, if all goes according to plan, ground will be broken on the Riverview Corridor transit project, a streetcar service line connecting downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
According to a plan approved this week, streetcars will run partly amid traffic and partly in dedicated space along West 7th Street from downtown’s Union Depot to the Mississippi River before crossing the river on a new bridge built near the Highway 5 crossing. It would then tunnel beneath Fort Snelling before connecting to the Blue Line tracks near the Fort Snelling Station.
The entire line would comprise 11.7 miles, punctuated by 20 stations. Preliminary estimates believe that 20,400 passengers will ride on the average weekday by 2040. Construction costs, in 2025 dollars, will range from $1.4 to $2 billion, with funding to be shared by the Federal Transit Administration and Ramsey County via a recently approved transportation sales tax.
