| Public Safety | No |
| Housing | No |
| Economic Development | No |
| Public Services | No |
| Environmental Justice | No |
| Built Environment & Transportation | Yes |
| Public Health | No |
| Arts & Culture | No |
| Workforce | No |
| Spending | No |
| Data | No |
| Community Engagement | Yes |
The partner agencies will be working together to promote design for the built environment that is dynamic and durable, reflects the diversity of Minneapolis residents, and contributes to a sense of place and community identity. The City together with the partner agencies will also proactively improve the public realm, including streets, sidewalks, parks and open spaces between buildings, to ensure that public spaces and private development are thoughtfully connected.
Achieving this goal also requires changes to the transportation system that make it easier to walk, bike or use transit to access daily needs. The city with partner agencies will proactively improve the pedestrian environment and continue to build and maintain a network of bikeways, while working with Metro Transit to increase the frequency, speed and reliability of the public transit system.
Adam Smith, Senior Planner, Bus Rapid Transit Projects, Metro Transit
E Line is proposed to operate along University Avenue SE/4th Street SE, Hennepin Ave., Richfield Road, Sheridan Avenue, and West 44th Street in the city of Minneapolis, in addition to operating along France Avenue, the border between Minneapolis and the City of Edina. These roads are major thoroughfares for Minneapolis and connect 14 diverse neighborhoods across six wards in the City, while also serving as a critical link to the adjoining cities of Edina and Saint Paul.
- The project travels through an ACP-50 area.
- 24% of population within ½ mile of the route are people of color, while 18% of the population within ½ mile of the route are low income.
- 19% of the population along the corridor are zero car households.
- Among other measures of equity within ½ mile of the corridor are:
- Number of jobs paying less than $40k/year: 71,613
- People speaking English “less than well”: 4,341* (4%) *Less than very well
- (36** (2.4%**) **6 riders speaking English less than well from 2016 Travel Behavior Inventory. Less than well data is not included in Council’s ACS data).
- Population with any disability: 9,470 (9%)
- Population over 65: 11,303 (11%)
- Population under 16: 10,645 (9.5%)
- More than 8,000 average weekday rides (pre-pandemic), one of the highest ridership bus routes
- Carries 45% of people in vehicles while making up less than 3% of vehicles in portions of route on Hennepin Avenue segment in peak periods
- Based on the 2016 Travel Behavior Inventory On-Board Survey prepared by the Metropolitan Council, 36.4% of Route 6 riders identified as BIPOC, including 18.2% of riders who identified as Black/African American.
More recent information about ridership demographics is unavailable. The pandemic may have affected the demographics of transit ridership.
Comments submitted to Metro Transit on the E Line are not identified by race or ethnicity.
| Inform | Yes |
| Consult | Yes |
| Involve | Yes |
| Collaborate | No |
| Empower | No |
This recommended corridor plan is being circulated for public review and comment following the draft corridor plan which was released for public comment in September 2021. Following the public comment period, Metro Transit will report back to the community with revisions and bring a final plan to the Metropolitan Council for approval in 2022.
In 2021 the proposed station areas were discussed in public forums and significant feedback was gathered. See Appendix A (page 134) in the Recommended Corridor Plan for a summary of the feedback received. Modifications to the draft corridor plan have been made due to public feedback in this Recommended Corridor Plan.
Project impacts will be measured against project goals, including transit travel times and reliability following E Line implementation, along with change in transit ridership as a reflection of the success of the service.
Future surveys of transit users will also help to measure satisfaction with the speed and reliability goals of the project, as well as the impact of upgraded transit waiting facilities and vehicles.