A Ramsey County proposal to build a streetcar on West 7th Street in St. Paul is inching toward a milestone.
In the works since 1989, local officials convened by Ramsey County will decide later this year how to move forward with the project, dubbed the Riverview Corridor.
Some West 7th corridor users are balking at the concept, which would cost $2 billion to build. It would be in service by 2033 with a projected weekday ridership of 11,000 by 2040. It would also be at least two minutes slower than the bus route it would replace, the Route 54, which runs between Maplewood and the Mall of America via West 7th Street. As a result, planners are studying a $121 million option to convert the 54 into a rapid electric bus line instead and on Thursday will present details on the plan.
The history of transit on West 7th
West 7th, also known as Fort Road, has been an important transportation, commerce, and cultural corridor even before Minnesota became a state. Public transit, however, came later, in the form of a horse car in the 1880s. The route was converted into a streetcar that connected St. Paul’s East Side with Fort Snelling in 1890. It was replaced by several bus routes beginning in 1952.
Ramsey County first identified West 7th as a light rail corridor in a 1989 planning process. They studied running light rail on West 7th in the late 1990s. However, they recommended upgrading the West 7th bus line instead, with rail to come later, because of the lack of available funds and political will at the time, according to reporting from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
The bus line proposal involved the 2004 realigning of Route 54, which was created in 1992 to connect downtown St. Paul, the airport and the Mall of America. As of 2022, Route 54 is the third-busiest St. Paul transit route by ridership, with just under 4,000 weekday boardings.
In 2012, Metro Transit recommended that the 54 be converted into the region’s second arterial bus rapid transit route in the region and received $30 million in state and federal funds to do so. However, Ramsey County and the city of St. Paul asked Metro Transit to halt the project, as they wanted to study a streetcar line for West 7th. The agency obliged and returned some of the funds, reinvesting the rest to extend the 54 to St. Paul’s East Side and Maplewood Mall in 2018.
The current streetcar proposal, which Ramsey County decided on in 2018, would run between the Mall of America and St. Paul’s Union Depot. From Union Depot, the streetcar would use Kellogg and West 7th before crossing the river on a new double-deck bridge and follow Highway 62 to the Fort Snelling Blue Line station. From there, the streetcar would share tracks with the Blue Line to the Mall of America, serving both airport terminals along the way.
Some West 7th merchants and residents, such as Soliman Soliman, believe the streetcar can benefit their community. “It can bring some type of exposure to not just our business, but also neighboring businesses,” said Soliman, a West 7th resident who runs Nubian Lab, a barber shop nestled in Sibley Plaza, the strip mall located at the western edge of West 7th Street.
Parking, traffic affect streetcar proposal
Closer to and within downtown St. Paul, the streetcar would share lanes with private vehicle traffic, starting at either Grand Avenue or Victoria Street.
The county developed the Victoria alternative to preserve as much parking as possible, in response to business concerns about losing parking. A 2019 study by the city of St. Paul found about 60% of street parking spaces across up to 14 blocks adjacent West 7th between Grand and St. Clair were occupied regardless of whether or not Xcel Energy Center was hosting an event. The Grand option calls for keeping 35 parking spaces, while the Victoria option keeps 400.
Chong Ku, who owns Thai restaurant Phi Chay, believes a streetcar could address West 7th’s parking problems. “Because we have no parking, they can park far down and ride the trolley up,” Ku said.
However, other businesses such as Bennett’s Chop and Railhouse say they rely on street parking to serve their customers, who visit from as far as Wisconsin. “I’m in the process of planning the expansion that will go out into my parking lot because I need a new kitchen. If I lose the parking on the street, I’m not sure if I will do my expansion,” said owner Joe Bennett, shortly after cooking in his kitchen one Monday evening.
Preserving parking comes with a tradeoff: Streetcars running in mixed traffic could encounter delays, as demonstrated in other cities that have them. But West 7th streetcars traveling to the mall would also have to wait for Blue Line trains going in the same direction to pass before they can continue, exacerbating delays.
It’s why some people like Shannon Joyce, who owns 7th Street Tattoo, think a bus is better. “If [Metro Transit] could make [the] bus show up on time with more frequency it would be a better use of money,” Joyce said.
It’s also why Katie Nicholson, a Highland Park resident, wants the streetcar project to be a full-on light rail project. “If the West 7th corridor is to be considered a future backbone of our transit system … we need to address capacity and travel time from the start. And the best way to do this is by having fully dedicated light rail,” Nicholson told Riverview Corridor policymakers at a January meeting.
It’s unlikely the streetcar proposal will be transformed into a full-on light rail project, as St. Paul currently supports the Victoria streetcar option. “We believe that the additional stops and side-running condition in [the Victoria option] would make [it] easier to cross the street … and [provide] more opportunity for some on-street parking to continue to serve area businesses,” said St. Paul’s Chief Resilience Officer Russ Stark, adding they want to hear from the community before drawing any firm conclusions.
Of course, people aren’t confident in the Met Council’s ability to deliver the project on-budget, considering a project they are building now, the Southwest Light Rail project, is millions over budget and faced numerous delays. Met Council members and others have blamed counties for setting them up for failure.
Impacts to existing service unclear
It’s important to note that this project isn’t yet being led by the Met Council. Generally, counties decide what transit projects should be built, turning them over to the Met Council for construction consideration once they finalize environmental review.
The Met Council deferred comment to Ramsey County on how Route 54 service would be affected if a streetcar or rapid bus line were built. Ramsey County anticipates the 54 being replaced by the streetcar. Jennifer Jordan, a senior transportation planner for Ramsey County, said the county would need to “discuss next steps” if planners and policymakers identify rapid bus as the best route moving forward, which includes whether to extend the proposed Purple or under-construction Gold Lines to serve West 7th.
Transit rider Alex Cruz likes the 54 as it is today. “You can get on at Maplewood and it takes you straight [to the Mall of America] versus having to get off somewhere at West 7th [to transfer],” Cruz said as he took his daughter to the Mall of America one Wednesday afternoon.
Other riders are worried that the streetcar would become rife with fare evasion, crime, and drug use, much like what is plaguing the Blue and Green Lines. But Metro Transit is working on solutions to address the problems on light rail, and transit planners would come up with safety plans if the streetcar concept moves forward.
What about construction impacts?
Some residents and businesses are also concerned about impacts streetcar construction may have on their livelihoods. They referenced the closures that befell businesses on University Avenue during Green Line construction.
Ramsey County Commissioner Rafael Ortega has an idea on how to support businesses through streetcar construction. “One of the lessons we learned in the Green Line was we had, in essence, four companies working on different schedules, unrolling their work at different times. We got together with foundations and the private sector to make sure that there was good signage, that there was support for businesses in terms of marketing,” Ortega said. Jordan, the Ramsey County transportation planner, said the county is open to working with the Met Council on an anti-displacement initiative similar to Hennepin County’s efforts on the Blue Line Extension.
Bennett wants a loan or a grant so he can support his workers during construction, if it happens. “My biggest worry is my employees. If they leave, because they’re not making money, because no one’s coming in because of the construction, then all of a sudden, I’m in a world of hurt,” Bennett said.
