Ramsey County unveils preferred design for Pennsylvania Avenue that keeps Jackson Street bridge and adds bus lanes and roundabouts

Ramsey County presented a preferred preliminary design for the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor that preserves the Jackson Street Bridge, adds dedicated bus lanes and an eastbound bus rapid transit (BRT) ramp, and replaces several signalized intersections with roundabouts to improve safety and transit reliability. Alan Maxwell, Ramsey County project manager, opened the presentation and summarized the project limits, prior outreach, and coordination with other nearby projects.

Angie Bolstead, consultant project manager with KJ Engineering, described how the project team evaluated four design concepts using safety for all users, transit operations, traffic flow, and cost as the primary criteria. Concept 1 would have kept the existing Jackson Street ramps and made modest improvements but yielded only limited safety benefits. Concept 2 proposed removing the bridge and building a single large at-grade roundabout at Jackson Street, which would have eliminated a grade-separated crossing that benefits pedestrians and bicyclists. Concept 3 retained the bridge and added a dedicated two-way transitway, giving strong transit priority but complicating the intersection geometry and reducing pedestrian connectivity on the south side.

The project team selected Concept 4 as the preferred alternative. Under that concept the Jackson Street Bridge remains in place, the interchange is redesigned to redirect some traffic through roundabouts at Empire Drive and Jackson Street, the former on-ramp is repurposed as an eastbound bus ramp, and westbound buses operate in a dedicated lane along Pennsylvania Avenue. The corridor would function as a two-lane median-divided roadway with sidewalks on both sides; roundabouts at Laurian Street and Mississippi Street are included to slow vehicle speeds and reduce conflict points, which the consultant said improves safety for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.

Bolstead told viewers that Concept 4 provided the best overall balance of safety improvements, transit reliability and traffic operations, and that the estimated cost for this option was similar to the other alternatives evaluated, so the team prioritized safety and mobility benefits. The presenters emphasized the layout is preliminary and will be refined in subsequent design phases.

Presenters said the preliminary design phase is ending and the next steps include an environmental review, coordination with utility providers, continued alignment with the Bronze Line bus rapid transit project, and a final study report. The presentation gave multiple schedule references: presenters noted the preliminary design work would conclude this year, referenced final design windows between 2027 and 2029, and at different points mentioned construction timing stretching into 2030–2032; presenters cautioned that timelines are preliminary and subject to change as the larger transit project moves forward.

Ramsey County encouraged continued public engagement, pointed viewers to the project and Bronze Line websites for updates, and directed questions to Alan Maxwell, Ramsey County project manager. The team noted related nearby work, including the Jackson Street Bridge reconstruction over the BNSF railway and broader improvements on Rice Street and adjacent corridors.