> News+Events > Features > Transit

Southbridge Crossings is Scott County’s first transit station

Regional collaboration results in new transit facility

“This is one of the best examples in the state of regional coordination on a transit project,” Metropolitan Council Chair Peter Bell told the crowd at the October grand opening of the Southbridge Crossings Transit Station in Shakopee.

“The level of collaboration and teamwork is unprecedented,” he said.

It was out of a spirit of cooperation between federal, state and local officials that the new transit station was born, opening for business in July with the capacity to accommodate 500 vehicles. The station is accompanied by enhanced bus service and more transportation alternatives for commuters.

Southbridge Crossings is Scott County’s first transit station, and is located near the intersection of Highway 169 and County Road 18. Transit service in the area is operated by Shakopee Transit, Prior Lake’s Laker Lines and Scott County Transit.

Studies led to integrated transit service

The way it used to work, according to Metropolitan Council Transportation Planner Carol Becker, is that Shakopee, Prior Lake and Scott County all provided their own separate transit service.

“Following a couple local studies, the Council in 2005 also conducted a study, which helped to confirm the unmet need for transit facilities in the Hwy. 169-south area,” said Becker. “Given the growth in this part of the region, we collectively came to the conclusion that we needed a better plan and more service, and that we could work collaboratively to make it happen.”

 

Partners in the collaboration spent a total of about $4.4 million for design and construction of the Southbridge Transit Station. The Metropolitan Council obtained an additional federal grant of nearly $2 million, and provided a 20% regional match to the grant, for the purchase of five coach buses to expand express bus service from Scott County.

“Everyone pitched in financially, and otherwise,” said Scott County Commissioner Jon Ulrich. “Scott County now operates the dial-a-ride for the whole county. Shakopee partners with Prior Lake to provide morning and evening express service, the BlueXpress, between Shakopee and Minneapolis. And, we have a brand new transit station. Really, the benefit is greater than the sum of all its parts.”

“Forty years after the creation of the Metro Council, people still ask me what it does,” said Bell. “This is what we do. We work with communities to help them address issues and objectives that are burdensome for any one community to assume on its own.

“For those efforts, we achieve some regional objectives as well,” Bell said. “In this case, we’re helping to accommodate growth, providing congestion relief, promoting problem solving and collaboration, and introducing more and more people to the benefit of public transportation. It’s a very proud day for all of us.”