CREATING VIBRANT, TRANSIT-ORIENTED PLACES
Transit knits communities together by creating places that stimulate community life and providing access to all kinds of opportunities — particularly if development plans respond to local needs.
What's At Issue?
Light rail transit is not just about moving trains; it’s about how the trains connect people to places and the opportunities they offer. The transit-oriented places we want to encourage include a mix of important ingredients.
- Transit-oriented districts should include destinations we need or want to visit — university campuses, downtowns and other shopping and employment centers.
- Easy connections with other modes of travel, whether via bus, bicycle, or sidewalk, are animated by pedestrian traffic and create sites attractive for development.
- Unique destinations — commercial districts, streets, parks and public squares — can evoke distinctive heritage and culture, serving as part of the vital social fabric that helps retain current residents and draws new residents and visitors.
What We Want To Achieve
- Establish vital transit-oriented districts at stations and streets that provide convenient access to a variety of opportunities
- Create destinations that evoke a unique sense of place, celebrate local diversity and attract investment
- Promote designs and development patterns that embody sustainability and create opportunities for healthier and more active lifestyles
- Make the Central Corridor safe for all users, including pedestrians and bicyclists, residents and visitors, young and old
WHO’S WORKING ON THIS ISSUE?
Projects we support:
Financial Feasibility Study — We provided a matching investment to the Center for Transit-Oriented Development to learn about the financial feasibility of transit-oriented development at various sites along the corridor.
Station Area Plans — We supported the City of St. Paul in creating station area plans for three stations not included in initial designs, plus related design and outreach work.
World Cultural Heritage District — Frogtown Rondo Action Network is developing a plan to create and promote a unique destination that expresses its community identity.
WHAT WE’VE LEARNED SO FAR
Baltimore stakeholders have successfully used a Community Compact as a way to jointly agree and commit to Corridor-wide goals around their PROPOSED light rail transit line.
LEARN MORE
- Central Corridor Development Strategy: Financial Feasibility of Development Analysis
- Minneapolis Station Area Plans
- Saint Paul Central Corridor Development Strategy, Station Area Plans, Zoning, Bike Walk Central Corridor Action Plan, and Parking report
- World Cultural Heritage District
Center for Transit Oriented Development Reports:
- Making The Twin Cities More Walkable
- Transit-Oriented Development: National Examples and Best Practices
- Transit-Oriented Development: Factors and Elements of Success
These groups look how transit and transportation systems influence the quality of places and the fabric of communities.
- Central Corridor Community Agreements Coordinating Committee
- National Complete Streets Coalition
- Bike Walk Twin Cities
- Metropolitan Council
- Transit for Livable Communities
- Twin Cities Streets for People
- Transportation Alliance
- St. Paul Smart Trips
- Project for Public Spaces: The Role of Transit in Creating Livable Metropolitan Communities

