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Expanded west metro park-and-ride reopens June 2

Added parking spaces reduce pressure on busy I-394

West metro commuters soon will have another option to park their cars and take a Metro Transit bus for trips to downtown Minneapolis or the University of Minnesota.

A new three-level park-and-ride ramp will open Saturday, June 2, on the southwest corner of I-394 and County Road 73 in Minnetonka. The added structure will help take pressure off a travel corridor with the one of the highest unmet demands — projected through 2025 — for park-and-ride spaces for commuters traveling to downtown Minneapolis.

The structure will replace a 188-car surface lot, which has been closed for about a year during construction. The new ramp features 750 free parking spaces and will be served by three express routes — 652, 673 and 675. Route 673 alone drew 10 percent more riders last year than the year before.

Long-term outlook: corridor needs 4,300 parking spaces

The added spaces from this project will bring the I-394 travel corridor’s parking capacity to 2,100, said Craig Lamothe, manager of facilities planning for Metro Transit. The need for additional spaces will continue to climb, according to Metro Transit projections.

Metro Transit’s long-range park-and-ride plan anticipates that 2,200 additional parking spaces will be needed in the corridor by 2025 based on population forecasts and other factors. The corridor lies in an area from Highway 55 in the north to Highway 7 in the south, and from the western edge of downtown Minneapolis to the Hennepin County border.

“There is high demand from commuters coming throughout that corridor,” Lamothe said. “Highways 100 and 169 and I-494 feed into I-394, which creates a funneling effect and puts heavy demand on the system."

By 2015, planners estimate that demand will outpace current capacity in the corridor because of population growth, increased congestion, and downtown parking pricing. Much of the population growth is expected west of I-494.

To help keep pace with demand along I-394 in the long term, Metro Transit is scouting locations for a 500-space surface lot near I-494 and a 150-space surface lot in west Orono, just off Highway 12.