The Apple Valley Planning Commission at its Wednesday meeting is set to review plans to expand the transit stations at 155th Street West and Cedar Avenue, to accommodate increased ridership and plan for more types of buses coming through as bus rapid transit develops along the corridor.

Minnesota Valley Transit Authority Director Beverley Miller said at a February planning commission meeting that modifications will add to comfort, convenience and aesthetics.

"It’s pretty tight in there in the mornings when we have peak numbers of people riding the express buses," Miller said.

The southbound platform would receive an extended uncovered platform area, incorporated into the pedestrian walkway there.

On the northbound platform, the covered passenger section would be enclosed with glass, and the platform will be extended to the south with a new covered loading area for passengers to board express buses. There will also be a new uncovered loading platform, which also will be used for express bus traffic.

The additions would allow more people to wait for their buses indoors, Miller said.

“We need people to be comfortable and have a place to wait," she said.

Bill Hickey, with the station architects Collaborative Design Group, told the commission in February that with the plan for the different types of buses, the schedules and estimates for how many people would be using the stations, these expansions would handle the capacity for "the foreseeable future on this site."

Apple Valley Community Development Director Bruce Nordquist told the planning commission in February that the extension of platforms adheres to the conditions of the Cedar Avenue construction designs approved over the past couple years, and wouldn't take any space or right of way from the businesses that surround the stations.

An aesthetic change already has been made to the plans. The city council saw initial plans during a work session in February, and a few members commented that putting a flat roof on the new addition, in contrast to the swooped roof design of the rest of the station, would take away from the design.

Though the swooped roof would be more expensive, Mayor Mary Hamann-Roland said the bus rapid transit system already is less expensive than a light rail transit system would have been. The guiding principle of the projects, she said, is comfort.

"Us getting the right enhancements to make this BRT work is critically important," she said at the Feb. 24 city council meeting. "And we have to set the tone for that.”

If the commission gives its approval, the plans would go to the Apple Valley City Council. MVTA last week submitted its permit application, Apple Valley City Planner Maggie Dykes said, and construction likely would begin this spring if the improvements pass.