Nearly every day, Kalyaisha and Larita Maddox use the Lake Street/Midtown Blue Line light rail station.

Their reviews are less than glowing. The Maddoxes describe regular drug use, a consistent smell of urine and rarely operating escalators.

“Every day coming up here, I gotta go through the same [stuff],” Larita said, descriptively.

So when the duo heard recent news of a yearlong – at least – delay to the long-planned renovation of the busiest stop on the Blue Line between downtown and the airport, they were dismayed. “They shouldn’t wait that long,” Kalyaisha said.

Related: Metro Transit will rebuild old Blue Line while pondering its extension

Construction on a complete renovation of the troubled station was expected to begin in 2025. Metro Transit planners now anticipate a 2027 start after approving $5.8 million to design the rebuild.

There’s no shortage of need for the refresh, said Christina Morrison, a principal project coordinator at Metro Transit, at a January meeting of the Metropolitan Council’s transportation committee.

The station is exceptionally hard to clean, Morrison said, for reasons ranging from its design to the size of its maintenance closets. Her presentation also described significant loitering and “non-transit use” of the station’s lobbies. 

As for getting to the platform itself, “The escalators perhaps spend more time out of service than they do in service,” Morrison said.

Planned renovations include replacing both of the station’s elevator towers and upgrading everything on the platform – benches, shelters, a new canopy to better protect passengers from the elements. More office space will be added to maintain higher staffing levels, enhancing security.

That’s all exciting news, said Matt Kazinka, the senior strategic initiatives manager at Lake Street Council, a nonprofit that supports small businesses in the Lake Street corridor.

Kazinka said the intersection had been “transformed” by the initial construction of the Blue Line station, and that the area benefited from its multiple public transportation hubs.

“Lake Street is home to so many people who use transit, and a destination for so many people that use transit,” he said.

While the eventual closure of the station for construction – expected to last about 18 months – will be “a huge bummer,” Kazinka said that Metro Transit has been communicative with groups who could be affected, like the Midtown Farmers Market, which operates nearby and often directly under the light rail track.

“Our hope is that it would mean more people are comfortable using the light rail,” Kazinka said.

‘That’s all the transportation we got.’

Construction is now expected to run through 2028, Morrison said, aligning more closely with aspects of the broader renovation of the Blue Line’s track and signals referred to as “Renew The Blue.”

The delay comes largely because when the project was advertised for bids from construction firms in September 2025, none was received – an unusual outcome, Morrison said. She added that those who did view the plans offered constructive feedback for the next advertisement, planned for this spring.

Related: Six things you need to know about the Blue Line Extension’s expected environmental impacts

The design contract, originally pegged at $3.4 million, has increased by $2.4 million in the last seven months, first to cover “numerous unforeseen bridge and utility conditions” and more recently to circumvent a storm sewer after the Minnesota Department of Transportation declined “a number of different engineering solutions.”

On the bright side, Morrison told officials that the added cost to avoid the sewer would reduce overall risk on costs and scheduling.

That’s assuming, of course, that a bid for construction comes in. Until then, the Maddoxes will have to get by.

“That’s all the transportation we got,” Larita said. “So you got to deal with what you get.”

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