Location & Transportation

Strategic Midwest Location

Located on the eastern border of Minnesota, the 11-county Metro MSP region straddles the Mississippi River and two other navigable rivers – the Minnesota and the St. Croix.

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Extensive Road System

The region’s extensive network of interstates and highways connects businesses to customers and vendors throughout North America. I-35 runs from Canada to Mexico. I-94 links to interstates that connect both coasts. Metro MSP’s strategic location – midway between both coasts – makes it a natural base for companies needing access to national markets.

While Minnesota ranks 14th in size, its road system is the fifth largest. Products shipped by highway can reach most U.S. markets within three days. More than 33,000 interstate carriers operate in Minnesota. Some of the nation's largest trucking fleets call the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” home. About 3,500 intrastate carriers are authorized to operate in Minnesota. 

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Expanding Transit System

The Metro MSP region is served by a growing regional transit system. Metro Transit operates three major transitways: Hiawatha light rail line, Northstar commuter rail, and the Bus Rapid Transit along I-35W and Cedar Avenue. There are also two High Occupancy Tollways located along I-394 and I-35W.

• In 2009, transit ridership reached 88.8 million rides, up 13.3% over the past decade.

• The Hiawatha LRT links downtown Minneapolis, the MSP International Airport and the Mall of America. It generated more than 10 million rides in 2008 – an average of 30,500 per weekday, exceeding pre-construction estimates for the year 2020.

• The Northstar commuter rail line opened in fall 2009, serving the communities in the northwestern metro area between Minneapolis and Big Lake. Planning is underway to extend Northstar from Big Lake to St. Cloud.

• Bus Rapid Transit along the I-35W and Cedar Avenue corridors began operation in 2009. It provides service between Lakeville (I-35W) and Apple Valley (Cedar Avenue) in the south, to the Mall of America and downtown Minneapolis.

Building on this success, the Metropolitan Council is developing two additional light rail lines. It plans to develop three more transitways by 2020.

• Construction on a light rail transit line in the Central Corridor along University Avenue between downtown Saint Paul and downtown Minneapolis began in 2010.

• Preliminary engineering on the Southwest Corridor light rail line between downtown Minneapolis and communities in the southwest began in 2010.

• Planning is underway in the Bottineau Boulevard Corridor (County Road 81) from Minneapolis to Osseo, Dayton and Rogers in the northwest metro.

• The Rush Line is in the early stages of the federal planning process. The corridor will extend north from Union Depot in Saint Paul through Forest Lake to Hinckley.

• Planning is underway along the Red Rock Corridor, which will extend southeast from Saint Paul to Hastings.

Regionally, two high-speed passenger rail lines (110 mph) have received support from federal funds and state bonding.

• The Midwest Regional Rail Initiative is proposed to run six times a day between the Twin Cities and Chicago in five and a half hours.

• The proposed Northern Lights Express is designed to provide two-hour service between Minneapolis and Duluth. With top speeds of 110 mph, it would stop in Coon Rapids, Cambridge and Hinkley.

MSProspector identifies many of the station areas in the established corridors. Use it to prepare customized demographic, workforce, and consumer expenditure reports; and to identify businesses located near the stations.

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Top-Rated Air Service

Named for the region’s top-rated MSP International Airport, the Metro MSP region is the national hub for Sun County Airlines. Thirteen passenger airlines operate out of two customer-friendly terminals.

MSP is the 12th busiest airport in the U.S., serving nearly 35 million passengers in 2007. It offers non-stop flights to 131 markets – 116 domestic and 14 international. Only Denver serves more non-stop markets per capita. MSP Airport supports 14 cargo airlines. Competitive freight air service and Foreign Trade Zone incentives are available.

A network of regional reliever airports makes it easy for companies to stay close to Midwest customers. In fact, half of all registered aircraft in Minnesota is based at reliever airports. They provide a valuable alternative to MSP Airport for private and corporate flights. (Metropolitan Airport Commission) Corporate plane traffic is highest out of both Flying Cloud and Downtown Saint Paul airports.

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Vital Mississippi River Port

The Mississippi is the third largest river in the world, running thousands of miles through the nation’s heartlands before reaching the Gulf of Mexico. A priceless natural resource and source of harnessed electricity, it also serves as a vital transportation artery for hauling coal, grain and other products. The Mississippi River system covers 222 miles in Minnesota. It supports five port areas (three in the Metro MSP region, which transported a total of 12.1 million tons in 2007.

• Saint Paul handled the most tonnage  – just over 5.1 tons.

• Savage in the south metro area was the second busiest, moving 3.2 tons.

• Minneapolis, the fifth busiest port, moved almost 800,000 tons.

These three ports have 32 active freight terminals. They serve the Mississippi River and the state’s other navigable river, the Minnesota.

Agricultural products – namely soybeans and wheat – are Minnesota’s largest river tonnage commodities. More than 60% of the state’s agricultural exports are shipped down the Mississippi each year. In addition to agricultural products, Minnesota’s river ports handle dry cargo products such as coal, fertilizer, minerals, salt, cement, steel products and scrap. Liquid products include petroleum, caustic soda, vegetable oils and molasses.

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North American Rail Network

Minnesota is one of the nation's railroad hubs, with over 4,600 miles of rail line. BNSF, Union Pacific, -->Canadian Pacific Rail System -->, and Twin Cities & Western railroads all serve the transportation needs of Minnesota businesses.

• From its humble beginnings on a 10-mile stretch of track between Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) has grown into one of the largest railroad networks in North America. Its 5,000 locomotives and 90,000 freight cars travel across 28 states and two Canadian provinces.  BNSF hauls enough coal to generate nearly 10% of the nation’s electricity. It’s the largest rail transporter of grain, aluminum, aircraft parts and beer in the United States.

• Union Pacific Railroad is the largest railroad in North America, covering two-thirds of the United States. It serves 23 states, including key north/south corridors. Union Pacific interchanges with the Canadian rail systems and is the only railroad to serve all six major gateways to Mexico. The railroad has one of the most diversified commodity mixes in the industry including chemicals, coal, food products, forest products, grain products, intermodal, metals and minerals, and automobiles and parts.

• Based in Calgary, Alberta, Canadian Pacific is a Class 1 North American railway. It transports freight over a 14,000-mile, high-density network in Canada and the U.S. It serves every sector and ships commodities like grain, coal, lumber and potash. It also transports cars, agricultural equipment, home electronics, food and furniture.

• Twin Cities & Western Railroad is a regional railroad which operates 224 miles of track through some of the most productive agricultural counties in Minnesota and South Dakota. It interchanges with all Class I railroads in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul terminal area.

Amtrak's Empire Builder passenger train between Chicago and Seattle stops daily in each direction at the Midway Station in Saint Paul.

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