If it seems like a transit boondoggle gets nominated for the Golden Turkey Award every year, that’s because it’s true, and 2025 is no exception. This year, the Gold Line Bus Rapid Transit project makes the list with federal, state and local governments spending $500 million for a ten-mile stretch of dedicated bus lanes fronting Highway 94 from St. Paul to Woodbury. The Gold Line project received more nominations from the public than any other project this year, even beating out perennial winner “Tim Walz.” Walz isn’t qualified for the Golden Turkey per se because we award it to projects, not people. But up until this year, he has garnered the most nominations by far.
The Gold Line joins past Golden Turkey nominees like Newport’s empty transit station (2021), the opulent Goose Creek Rest Stop (2021) and the Northern Lights Express bus to Duluth (2023). And we can’t forget the Southwest Light Rail project, which received our first lifetime achievement award in 2022. That project continues to bleed money with no grand opening date anywhere on the horizon.
The problem is always the same with these boondoggle transit projects: overinflated promises of daily ridership never materialize.
According to their 2019 application for federal funds, the Gold Line was projected to achieve 5,900 “daily linked trips.” After six months of operation, they are at 25% of that projection. As with other transit boondoggles, the politicians and urban planners were full of optimism about the line attracting commuters and spurring “transit-oriented development.” One of the most celebrated stops along the Gold Line is at 3M headquarters. Investigative reporters at KSTP reported zero people got on or off the bus at the 3M stop during their month-long observation, noting that sometimes the bus drivers didn’t even bother to stop.
Gov. Tim Walz was very excited to applaud federal funding for the new line in an April 2023 press release:
“I am grateful to Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith and all our federal partners for ensuring this important project becomes a reality,” said Governor Walz. “The Gold Line will connect tens of thousands of Minnesotans to nearly 100,000 jobs, educational opportunities, friends, and family. Investments in transportation are investments in Minnesota’s economy, workforce, and future.”
It always sounds so good in the press release, but Walz, Klobuchar, Smith and all the other politicians pushing these transit projects ignore one thing: The Twin Cities metro area is spread across 3,000 square miles in seven different counties, and Minnesotans like to drive cars. Transit boondoggles like the Gold Line are always justified on the basis of “If you build it, they will come,” but they never do.
Woodbury Mayor Burt defended the project recently in a KSTP TV story saying, “When you think about building a transit system, you’re not building it for today, but you’re building it for really a century down the road.” Since the current members of the committee won’t be around in 100 years, the Gold Line Bus Rapid Transit project will be judged by today’s standards, and is hereby nominated for the 2025 Golden Turkey Award.
