Eighty senior citizens living at a St. Paul cooperative near Lake Phalen are asking the Metropolitan Council to scrap a planned bridge that would carry Bronze Line buses within 50 to 60 feet of their windows, warning it could bring constant noise, glaring lights, and a collapse in their home values. The bridge would carry buses and trail users over Johnson Parkway, letting Bronze Line service bypass the busy intersection of Johnson Parkway and Phalen Boulevard, but residents of the Realife Cooperative say the design puts their community's western edge directly in the path of roughly 240 bus trips a day.
The Realife Cooperative of Phalen Village sits at 1355 Phalen Blvd near Johnson Parkway, a 59-unit senior housing cooperative for independent adults 62 and older that opened in 2003, according to Paramark Real Estate Services. As reported by the Minnesota Star Tribune, buses on the proposed bridge would pass within 20 yards of 15 homes on the cooperative's west side, and residents fear the bridge and buses will bring noise and lights outside their windows while reducing their overall quality of life.
Resident Dick Lesicko told the Star Tribune the bridge would be incredibly disruptive to the cooperative, even though he said he supports Metro Transit's broader efforts to bring rapid service to the east metro. Lesicko, who has never driven a car in his life, argued buses could simply remain on the road instead of traveling next to the building, and said he believes rapid transit could operate without a bridge at all. Fellow resident Sharon Markham was more blunt, describing the bridge as unnecessary and over-budgeted and saying the Bronze Line, or at least the bridge, should be bulldozed.
Residents Rally as Committee Hears Concerns
The pushback has moved beyond written complaints. Residents have rallied outside Metro Transit headquarters and spoke during a Metropolitan Council transportation committee meeting, according to the same account. Michael Dorsher, another resident cited in the report, said the bridge would cost tens of millions of dollars and warned the design could turn 80 senior citizens out of their homes and take their life savings, since residents fear the structure will severely devalue their properties and make them unsellable. Dorsher separately suggested improving or controlling traffic-light timing at the intersection instead of building the bridge.
Metro Transit's own project page describes the bridge solution as cost-effective and minimally impactful, per the project page cited in the Star Tribune's reporting. Craig Lamothe, the Bronze Line project manager, said in July that many questions and issues remain about the Johnson Parkway bridge, and he has said determining the engineering feasibility of moving the bridge farther from the building is a top priority. Lamothe has told the newspaper he plans to study realigning the bridge farther from the cooperative in the fall.
This is not the first time the design has shifted in response to the same residents. During earlier environmental reviews, Metro Transit modified the proposed Johnson Parkway bridge from a single-span structure to a three-span design specifically to reduce visual impact and address concerns from Realife Cooperative residents. Whether a further realignment can satisfy both the residents and the project's speed and cost targets remains an open question heading into this fall's study.
A Project Renamed and Rerouted More Than Once
The corridor now known as the Bronze Line has changed identity and shape repeatedly. It began as the Rush Line, was later renamed the Purple Line, and underwent route redesigns after White Bear Lake opted out in 2022 and the Maplewood City Council voted in September 2024 against dedicated bus lanes along White Bear Avenue, according to background compiled from the City of Maplewood. Hoodline previously reported that in December 2025, Ramsey County and the Metropolitan Council rebranded the corridor as the locally funded Bronze Line, shifting the project to 100% local funding with Ramsey County covering roughly 90% of costs.
The Bronze Line will primarily follow White Bear Avenue north of Maryland Avenue, then Phalen Boulevard and Jackson Street south of Maryland Avenue, connecting downtown St. Paul with the Maplewood Mall Transit Center. As of April 2026, Ramsey County, the City of Saint Paul, and the City of Maplewood have all passed formal Resolutions of Support for the Bronze Line's Locally Preferred Alternative route, per Metro Transit. The full 9.8-mile alignment includes 22 planned stations and 4.9 miles of side-running bus lanes within St. Paul, while buses in Maplewood will run in general traffic lanes north of Larpenteur Avenue, according to the East Isles Neighborhood Association.
Public Comment Window Closes This Month
The Metropolitan Council is currently accepting public comments on the Bronze Line project, with the window closing on August 24. Comments can be submitted by voicemail at 651-602-1500, by mail to 390 Robert Street, St. Paul, Minn. 55101, or by email to [email protected]. The comment period concerns an amendment the council is considering to its 2050 Transportation Policy Plan, formally known as Amendment #3, which updates regional planning documents to replace the Purple Line with the Bronze Line, according to the East Isles Neighborhood Association.
The Bronze Line carries a projected cost of $375 million and is planned as a rapid bus line set to open in 2032, with construction on the line scheduled to begin in April 2030 according to the City of Maplewood. Ahead of that launch, Metro Transit plans to roll out Metro micro, an on-demand shared-ride service anchored at the Maplewood Mall Transit Center, in September, giving suburban riders an earlier connection years before full bus rapid transit service begins. Once operational, the Bronze Line will link downtown St. Paul's Union Depot with five other regional transit lines, including direct connections to the Green, Gold, B, G, and H lines, per Metro Transit.
