Feds Give Final Approval For Rochester’s Link Bus Rapid Transit

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - The City of Rochester has won final approval for the federal funding to develop the Link Bus Rapid Transit system.

The Federal Transit Administration today announced it has awarded nearly $85 million in funding to support the construction of the 2.8 mile public transit system through downtown Rochester as part of the Destination Medical Center Initiative. The overall budget for the huge construction project is more than $143 million.

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The remainder of the funding needed for the project will come from $35 million in state transit aid that was included in the original Destination Medical Center legislation and $15.7 million in Olmsted County transit aid. The majority of the local dollars have been generated through a county-wide .25% sales tax that was also authorized through the DMC legislation.

Patrick Seeb, the executive director of the DMC Economic Development Agency, says the Rochester City Council is expected to begin advertising for construction bids in the near future and could award the contracts by the end of the year. He says orders will also be placed soon for the 60-foot long articulated battery powered buses that will be used for the BRT system.

Construction work along the transit corridor is scheduled to begin next spring and the new transit system is scheduled to become operational in 2026.

Seeb says the work will be disruptive and notes that it will also coincide with significant construction associated with Mayo Clinic's $5 billion Bold. Forward. Unbound. expansion project in downtown Rochester. In addition to the construction of 11 transit stations along and at the ends of the route of the Link BRT, Seeb says the project will require tearing up sections of 2nd Street Southwest.

He says one of the most notable disruptions will occur near St. Mary's Hospital. Seeb says the transit system will include an underground pedestrian tunnel under 2nd Street to bring Mayo Clinic employees, patients, and visitors to and from a transit station that will be built along the north side of the busy roadway.

Seeb says that will require the excavation of a large hole across the entire road that will keep 2nd Street SW closed to traffic for a considerable amount of time. He notes that there is an entire team of people dedicated to managing the construction schedules for the transit system and Mayo Clinic's massive expansion to minimize the disruptions as much as possible.