Progress might be slow, but transit station is coming to Rosemount

Talk about it

The Minnesota Valley Transit Authority has taken the first steps toward bringing a transit station to downtown Rosemount.

At its meeting last week the MVTA board hired a designer to work on plans for the facility, which will be located on property across 145th Street from city hall. Mayor Bill Droste, a member of the MVTA board, said the location will work well for commuters and as parking for special events like Leprechaun Days.

The transit facility itself will not likely be anything remarkable — just a parking lot with what Droste described as “a very basic shelter.” But Droste said it is important to give Rosemount residents a clearly identified place to catch the bus each morning. The current MVTA bus stop in Rosemount, located at the Rosemount Community Center, is hard to find, Droste said, and not well used.

“Once you have a park and ride you can establish better service,” Droste said. “Even today if you go to the community center it’s hard to find.”

As part of a deal struck when the city made noise about pulling out of the metropolitan transit district the MVTA agreed to install better signs at the community center. But that is only a temporary measure until the new transit station is built.

Droste said construction of the new transit station might take a while. He’d like to have the facility in place by the end of 2009, but with state funding in question he called that goal “very optimistic.”

“It will probably be May or June before we’ll have some good numbers,” Droste said.

Tags: news, rosemount, mvta, station