Call it a sign of the times. The lowest bid to construct station platforms for Metro Transit's "A Line," a bus rapid-transit service along Snelling Avenue and Ford Parkway in St. Paul, has come in at $11.5 million -- 45 percent above initial projections.
The original estimate was $8.2 million, said Katie Roth, project manager with Metro Transit's Bus Rapid Transit Small Starts program, which received only two bids.