D Line: Centering racial equity and improving people's lives

The president of Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Ann Madden Rice, joined elected officials and community leaders on April 3 to highlight the importance of D Line bus rapid transit (BRT) to businesses and employees, hospital patients and visitors, residents and more.

D Line: Improving people’s lives

“Transportation is foundational to access health care, and this D Line is another important step forward in serving the needs of our patients and the residents of our neighborhood,” Madden Rice said. “Not only will it ease congestion in the area, it will provide more of our employees a reliable option to get to and from work.”

Governor Walz’s bonding proposal includes the remaining $20 million for the D Line project, which would bring BRT to the Route 5 corridor, traveling 18 miles from Brooklyn Center, through Minneapolis and Richfield, to Bloomington. The current bus route is the region’s single busiest bus route, carrying about 16,000 customers each weekday. The D Line would offer a 20% faster ride, with more reliability, allowing it to serve thousands more each day. Construction could begin in 2020 if full funding is secured. 
 

Centering racial equity

“This is a route that goes through two of the poorest neighborhoods in Minneapolis, in both north and south Minneapolis, and it’s a main connector to downtown,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Angela Conley. “We have an opportunity to bring something called mobility justice into neighborhoods who often don’t have the same access to transportation that other folks do. So it’s about time and it’s overtime that we have bus rapid transit along the 5 corridor.”

 “We know that the D Line is a critical piece in the future of transit system here in Minnesota, which is why our administration included funding for it in our bonding proposal,” said Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan. “I’m excited for this line, and the tangible improvements it will bring to people’s lives if we get this done and if we do it right.”

“The D Line could be the first of 10 new BRT lines over the next 10 years,” said Metropolitan Council Chair Nora Slawik. “More local bus service. More amenities, better technology and customer information. More electric buses are part of the package, too. This type of transit system is what we need for our region.”