Repair and Revitalize Robert Street!

The West Side Community Organization supports the use of State and Federal funds to repair Robert Street and replace the Robert St viaduct.

What we need

The West Side is one of Saint Paul’s most diverse and vibrant neighborhoods, but with the least investment. That’s why it’s no surprise that one of the West Side’s most important thoroughfares, Robert Street, is currently rated by MnDOT as one of the most deteriorated roads in the metro area. With the right funding, we can redesign Robert Street for increased safety and accessibility, and rebuild the crumbling Robert Street viaduct.

 WSCO continues to partner with MnDOT and our Federal, State and City representatives to seek additional grant funding.

Our vision is to make Robert Street a destination. We are working the U of M’s Design Center to engage in a community centered discussion of using the transportation project as a place building opportunity. Check the Events page for new project events.

Click here to view a PDF with more information about Robert Street revitalization

Click here for MnDOT's April 2024 Project Presentation

The Robert Street Viaduct

The Robert Street viaduct, constructed in 1930, exceeded its 50-year designed life in 1980. It shows significant wear and does not meet current MNDot construction standards. 

The viaduct consists of a 2-lane asphalt paved road with steep concrete retaining walls that rise to an elevation more than one hundred feet at the George Street bridge. 

The north and south points of the viaduct have limited visibility for pedestrians and drivers, leading to high accident rates in our community.

Why now?

MnDOT is planning limited resurfacing work on Robert Street in 2026 and 2027. Currently, the funded work does not include the more extensive repair and redesign needed. Additional funds would allow MNDOT to repair or replace the viaduct along the same timeline as the planned resurfacing project, saving money overall while minimizing traffic and disruption to our local businesses.

Take action

Please join us at the next Land Use Action Circle Event.

Contact us at [email protected] to learn how you can take action together with your neighbors to make positive changes! Click here to learn more about our Land Use Action Circle

Learn more

"Robert Street is the only 'High Injury Corridor' in the West Side neighborhood, which is why we think safety must be a priority for any upcoming MnDOT project" – Christopher Bower, North Area Engineer, MN Department of Transportation

• The Safe Streets for All: 2023 Saint Paul Transportation Safety Action Plan highlights Robert Street as an area with many accidents and injuries
• West Side Safe Routes to School Plan identifies the need for a number of safety improvements on Robert Street (see pages 27-30).
• Click here to learn more about MNDOT's work on Robert Street

On July 1^st Chris Bower of MnDOT reported the following project updates:

“The Met Council has posted draft scores for the Regional Solicitation – and Robert St. was the #1 scoring project out of 17 on the list for the “Roadway Modernization” category. Regional Solicitation awards won’t become official until August, but as the top scoring project Robert Street would receive the full $7 million in any of the proposed funding scenarios. We’re grateful for Saint Paul Public Works for submitting the application on the behalf of MnDOT!

 Unfortunately, we also learned this week that the project did not get a federal RAISE grant this year. Thank you very much for your support for the application and the project. RAISE is an extremely competitive program that considers many factors when awarding projects, and MnDOT only has a historic 1 in 3 win rate for the grant program. We’ll look to debrief with the U.S. Department of Transportation to see if we can make improvements to the application if we decide to re-apply for RAISE in the future. 

Here’s what this means for Robert St. going forward:

• Roadway reconstruction should be fully funded with the Regional Solicitation, and is moving forward in 2027 and 2028 (with the potential for some early utility construction in 2026). All roadway construction within G Line BRT limits should be complete by the end of 2028, and we’ll continue to partner with Saint Paul Sewers and Saint Paul Regional Water on utility improvements along the corridor, including lead water service replacement.
• We’ll continue to move ahead with design for viaduct replacement, and continue to explore alternative funding sources. The idea is to have “shovel-ready” plans so we can jump at any future funding opportunities.
• Depending on funding, viaduct construction could happen as soon as 2027 or begin at a later date. We will need to determine how we separate the viaduct work from the overall roadway project. We want to keep impacts to the community and the traveling public to a minimum if the viaduct work happens on a separate schedule from the roadway reconstruction project.
• MnDOT will continue to make repairs to the viaduct on an as-needed basis until it can be replaced. 

Again, I want to thank you all for your support of the project. Even though we were not awarded a RAISE grant, the Regional Solicitation scoring proves that Robert St. is a strong contender for other grant opportunities. We’ll continue to aggressively pursue additional funding opportunities for the project.”