I-35W and Lake Street station

The I-35W and Lake Street station is a planned centerline bus rapid transit station along the METRO Orange Line in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It will replace an inconvenient pair of on-highway bus stops along the outside lanes of I-35W at Lake Street. The station and associated road construction is expected to cost between $50 million and $80 million. The new station will be located on the Lake Street bridge/overpass with a plaza (on northbound and southbound Lake Street) and will have a landscaped ramp connecting it to the Midtown Greenway. The old bus stops were not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) since stairways were the only way pedestrians were able to access the overpass/freeway stops to and from Lake Street below and have since been removed. The new station will be ADA-compliant as elevators (along with ramps & stairs for other persons) will be installed in the station center on/in the middle of the overpass. In 2012, the existing bus stops (particularly for northbound trips) were sometimes operated as flag stops for drop-offs only. After the opening of the 46th Street/Kingfield station in 2010, it was observed that bus drivers had difficulty maneuvering from the high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes along the center of the freeway, particularly during rush-hour traffic. Originally some express bus service was reduced to the Lake Street stops in the interim period, however, in 2018 the station was closed permanently and will be rebuilt in 2020, with a reopening date sometime between the fall of 2020 and winter 2021. The station was closed due to the I-35W Crosstown to I-94 project and is expected to reopen prior to the launch of the BRT Line.