Metro area leaders on Tuesday announced that the former Purple Line will now be an estimated $375 million project renamed the Bronze Line.

The Bronze Line will operate along a 10-mile route connecting St. Paul’s Union Depot with the Maplewood Transit Center, according to Robin Hutcheson, Met Council chair, at the announcement at St. Paul’s Union Depot.

The line will serve 22 stations and feature five miles of dedicated bus lanes and two new bridges. It also will integrate Metro micro around Maplewood Mall, a shared minibus ride service that offers pick-ups and drop-offs anywhere in a service area.

“This project strengthens those connections between the East Side and downtown, making it easier for residents to get to jobs, to get to schools, healthcare, and shopping,” said Mayor Melvin Carter at Tuesday’s announcement. “It shows our commitment to investing in transit equity and building opportunities across the city, and it helps us to be able to close all of those opportunity gaps that we talk about in Minnesota far too often.”

The project is in its early stages with construction possible as early as 2029 and the line expected to be in operation in the early 2030s, according to Metro Transit project manager Craig Lamothe.

“For a long time, residents in this area of the East Metro have needed robust, reliable transportation options that match the quality of service in other areas and the Bronze Line answers that need,” said Hutcheson.

Ramsey County will cover around 90% of the costs of the project, providing design flexibility that fits best with communities, said Mai Chong Xiong, county commissioner for District 6, where the majority of the Bronze Line will run.

The Purple Line project proposed a bus rapid transit line from downtown St. Paul into the northeastern suburbs at a cost of approximately $450 million. The White Bear Lake City Council in 2022 passed a resolution requesting that the line not enter their city. The Maplewood City Council later withdrew support for the project last year, leaving its future up in the air.

Maplewood city council members at the time cited concerns with ridership numbers and disruption for businesses in the area. County commissioners had indicated that they were still in discussions with the Met Council on the future of the project.

Having a bus rapid transit project like the Purple Line would have created a dedicated bus lane, rather than having buses moving through traffic, said Maplewood Mayor Marylee Abrams on Tuesday. The Bronze Line is a hybrid, she noted.

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“When the Bronze Line reaches Maplewood, it will be an arterial bus line, it will run right through traffic,” Abrams said. “One of the projections that we saw was that White Bear Avenue has approximately 27,000 cars that travel on White Bear Avenue every single day. Having a BRT did not make sense there, but having a bus that runs in transit makes perfect sense. Less disruptive, it certainly is less costly. It does not require the full build out that a BRT would. So, this really is, I think, a win-win situation for Maplewood.”