Red Rock Corridor Station Planning Begins

We've all heard of the Central Corridor Light Rail project - it has been the center of the city's transportation attention for several years now. And we can all agree that it has and will continue to have a huge impact on the city in the coming years.

But there has also been transportation planning going on for our neck of the East Metro that has gotten much less press. This is the planning for the Red Rock Corridor - or a commuter rail corridor that follows Highway 61 from Hastings to our district and then along the river to the Union Depot. This has never been thought of as a light rail line, but as a commuter rail line - using existing tracks.

When the planners did a study of potential ridership for a commuter rail line, they found that currently there is not the ridership to support even this more cost-effective train. But projections are that the ridership will be there in the not-so-distant future, and anyone driving into St. Paul from the east knows that there is a current automobile congestion problem in the morning and a complementary problem going the other way in the evening.

So the current plan is to put in place a new commuter bus service along the future rail line in order to build ridership. As a part of that process, the affected communities have formed a Station Area Planning group to look at the stations along the route. As you can see on the map, the current park-and-ride lot at Lower Afton and Highway 61 is our proposed station.

The District 1 Community Council is representing St. Paul is this planning process and will be active in getting neighbors together to talk about what this station will be and how it will affect the surrounding area. Look for notice of upcoming community meetings about this project SOON!