Minnesota Department of Transportation

511 Travel Info

Highway 3/Robert Street

St. Paul and West St. Paul

You're invited to join us at an upcoming public meeting on Tue, April 16, to review Robert St. improvement ideas and share your input. For more information, visit the meetings webpage.

About this project

Hwy 3/Robert Street in St. Paul project location map

Robert St. in St. Paul project area map

View full-size map

We are planning significant improvements to Robert St. between Annapolis St. and Fillmore Ave. Construction will likely start in 2027. The project will repair or replace the roadway pavement, replace sidewalks, improve safety, and will be coordinated with other infrastructure work planned along the corridor such as utility replacement and transit improvements. In addition, we are working with the City of St. Paul to seek additional funding to make more improvements along Robert St.

In the meantime, we have made several repairs along Robert St., including pedestrian improvements and minor repairs of the Robert St. Bridge over the Mississippi River in St. Paul in 2020 and repairs to the Robert St./George St. viaduct and the bridge over the Union Pacific railroad in 2022.

Any future work along Robert St. will be completed in coordination with other public entities, including the City of St. Paul and the Metropolitan Council, to limit construction disruptions for residents, businesses and property owners.

Summary of work

  • Began fall 2020: Test temporary curb extensions at the intersections of Baker St. and Robert St. and Isabel St. and Robert St.
  • 2026-2028: Construction of corridor improvements
  • Complete: Repaired the George St. bridge and the viaduct between Cesar Chavez and King St. East, and repaired and resurfaced the Robert St. bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks
  • Complete: Micro-surface and restripe Robert St. between Annapolis St. (south of the Mississippi River) and 11th St. in downtown St. Paul (just south of I-94)
  • Complete: Repair Robert St. Bridge over the Mississippi River

Community engagement for the future of Robert St.

We are planning significant improvements to Robert St. between Annapolis St. and Fillmore Ave. Construction will begin in 2027. As a part of this planning process, we are engaging the community to gather input on various topics, including safety improvements, accessibility and street design features.

In summer 2023, we distributed an online survey asking for people’s input to help prioritize future improvements on Robert St. Results of this survey will influence design options for future road improvements on Robert St. More engagement is coming this fall. For more information about past engagement on this project, including common themes we've heard from the community on future improvements, visit the engagement webpage.

Viaduct engagement

As part of the planning process, we are seeking federal grant funding to fully replace the viaduct between King. St. and Cesar Chavez St. Replacement is dependent upon federal funding and is not guaranteed to happen.

The viaduct is currently safe and poses no risk to neighboring homes or travelers. Repairs completed in 2022 extended the life of the viaduct, but it will need to be replaced in the future due to age and wear.

Right now, we are doing additional viaduct research and reaching out to neighbors right along the viaduct to help better understand potential impacts. We plan to share more about the viaduct options later this year.

Pedestrian safety pilot project

Curb extensions at Robert St. and Baker St. intersection
Curb extensions at Robert St. and Baker St. intersection

We installed temporary safety features at the intersections of Baker St. and Robert St. and Isabel St. and Robert St. in October 2020.

These temporary safety features, called curb extensions (or bump-outs or bulb-outs), visually and physically narrow the roadway. This creates shorter crossings for pedestrians and increases visibility for people walking and driving. Curb extensions will not take any parking away or affect access to driveways, but may make parking near the corner more difficult.

The goal of this project is to test the curb extensions before committing to them as a long-term design improvement at the intersection. While the curb extensions are in place, we are evaluating pedestrian and driver behavior and determining the impact they have on traffic, such as pedestrian usage and vehicle speeds.

There is currently no specific date for the removal of the extensions, but they will be maintained by MnDOT for the foreseeable future.

Share your thoughts on these temporary curb extensions by completing our feedback form.

Re-envisioning Robert St.

Traffic impacts

All traffic impacts are tentative and weather dependent.

Upcoming

Information about upcoming traffic impacts will be posted as details become available.