Skip to main content

Hi-Lake Project

A renovation of the Lake Street/Midtown Station is coming soon!

Located at West Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue, the METRO Blue Line's Lake Street/Midtown Station is one of the region's busiest boarding locations, with around 1,800 light rail boardings each weekday. Bus stops served by Route 21, and in the future by the METRO B Line, are located immediately adjacent to the station. 

After 20 years of use, a full renovation of the station is being pursued to ensure it remains in a state of good repair and continues to be a space that invites people to use transit. 

Station renovations will complement improvements to the Hiawatha-Lake intersection that are being led by Hennepin County and scheduled to begin in 2024.

View a project fact sheet (English) (Spanish) (Somali) (Hmong)


Station renovation goals

  • Providing more consistent and reliable access for all users by adding a pedestrian ramp from the street level to the station on the south side of Lake Street, along with new, larger elevators that will be closer to Lake Street bus stops, and wider stairways (escalators will be removed).  
  • Making the station easier to maintain over time by providing facilities staff more functional spaces to work out of and limiting the use of glass (for instance, existing glass platform shelters will be replaced by a larger overhead canopy). 
  • Reorienting station entrances to more directly face Lake Street.  

Recent engagement

Metro Transit recently engaged more than 280 station users and community members to gather feedback on station amenities, potential ramp usage and importance, staircase layout, and more! This feedback is crucial as we continue through the design phase of this renovation project. There will be more opportunities for community, stakeholders, and station users to provide feedback through the design phase. 


Timeline

2022-2023: Planning

2024-2025: Design and Engineering 

2026-2027: Station Construction


Stay connected

To receive more information regarding this project, sign up to receive our newsletter