Gold Line buses due to roll in March 2025

Metro Transit will debut the downtown St. Paul-to-Woodbury “Gold Line” — the state’s first bus rapid transit line to operate primarily within bus-only lanes — on March 22, 2025, according to an announcement from project leaders.

The Gold Line is one of three new BRT lines that Metro Transit will roll out next year, bringing the transit system’s total to eight BRT lines. The B Line, which will largely replace the Route 21 between Uptown, Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul, will launch on June 14, 2025.

The Metro E Line, which will largely replace Route 6 between Edina and the University of Minnesota East Bank campus, is scheduled to begin service in December of next year.

Construction of the Gold Line and a new bridge connecting Oakdale and Woodbury began in late 2022 and is currently more than 40% complete. Also under construction is a three-level, 500-space Park & Ride near the intersection of Woodlane Drive and Guider Drive in Woodbury.

When completed, buses will travel in dedicated lanes for about 70% of the 10-mile route, serving stops in St. Paul, Maplewood, Landfall, Oakdale and Woodbury. The $505.3 million project is largely funded by the Federal Transit Administration and Ramsey and Washington counties.

— Frederick Melo

3 finalists named for city administrator

The Lake Elmo City Council has selected three finalists for the position of city administrator.

The three finalists are Renae Fry, former city administrator in North Branch, and former administrative coordinator in Sauk County, Wis.; Nicole Miller, assistant to the city manager at the City of St. Anthony Village; and John Young, tribal administrator of the Lac du Flambeau Tribe in Lac du Flambeau, Wis.

Final interviews for the position will be on April 9, said Clark Schroeder, the city’s interim city administrator.

A total of 25 applicants applied for the job. The advertised salary range is: $145,000-$165,000.

Kevin Brunner, the president of Public Administration Associates in Whitewater, Wis., is overseeing the search; the city is paying PAA $15,600 for their services.

Former Lake Elmo City Administrator Kristina Handt was let go in November. Handt is now interim administrator in Forest Lake.

— Mary Divine

Police investigate man’s death along roadway

Officials are investigating after the death of a man who was found on a sidewalk next to a road Thursday morning in Mahtomedi.

Just after 7 a.m., deputies from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office received several 911 calls about a man lying on the sidewalk in the 900 block of Woodland Drive.

Law enforcement arrived and located a 51-year-old Mahtomedi man “deceased with blood near his body,” according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff’s office investigators and the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office are still working to determine the exact cause of death. Preliminary information does not indicate any obvious signs of trauma or foul play, according to the news release.

— Mary Divine