It’s been a disappointing 16 months for community organizers and transit advocates along West Seventh Street, where a potential streetcar was taken off the table in September 2024, a new trash truck maintenance facility opened around April 1 over neighborhood objections, long-sought road improvements failed to gain funding in October, and the Keg and Case market at the Schmidt Brewery gradually lost all major tenants amidst bankruptcy proceedings.

Could 2026 bring some badly-needed planning energy back to the corridor?

Officials with the Minnesota Department of Transportation suggested as much in a letter to key elected officials earlier this week, followed by a written release on Tuesday announcing they have “some exciting news to share … in partnership with Ramsey County, the city of St. Paul and Metro Transit” who have all “reached an agreement on a shared commitment to advance needed repairs and improvements on Hwy 5/West Seventh Street.”

Details remain sparse. A project website describes, in general terms, the aim of making a “generational investment” toward those goals.

With the new four-way agreement in place, according to MnDOT’s written release, the partnership will “now work collaboratively to identify and pursue additional funding” to invest in a “longer-term repair” of West Seventh between Wabasha Street in downtown St. Paul and Munster Avenue, which is located by the Mississippi River near Fort Snelling.

The end game, according to MnDOT, is to boost safety, traffic, sidewalks, accessibility, transit and stormwater drainage on all sections of West Seventh within those limits. The improvements likely would make West Seventh ripe for a future bus rapid transit corridor from downtown St. Paul to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, according to MnDOT.

“This broader commitment to investment in West Seventh Street will allow Metro Transit to recommend this corridor for arterial Bus Rapid Transit (aBRT) to the Metropolitan Council in January 2026,” reads the letter from a MnDOT district engineer to key lawmakers.

Both the letter and the public announcement are otherwise short on specifics, but they promise future updates.

Potential West Seventh bus corridor scores in top three

Meanwhile, Metro Transit has released its public scorecard evaluating 11 potential bus rapid transit corridors, and so far, a West Seventh route lands in the top three based on quantifiable metrics such as potential ridership, costs, “equity” and land use. A spokesperson for Metro Transit noted this month that the scoring isn’t the final word on what routes will be funded, as other considerations will be taken into account by transit planners and the Met Council, the metro’s regional planning agency, which will begin reviewing the three recommendations on Jan. 21.

The 17-member Met Council may choose to adopt or reject the three bus rapid transit recommendations in February or March, and one of several variables that the Met Council is likely to take into account is the timing of future roadwork. The lines would roll out between 2030-2035, according to Metro Transit’s website.

With their latest written releases, MnDOT has not publicly committed to — or rejected — a full reconstruction of West Seventh, and Metro Transit has not officially declared that the business corridor will soon host a bus rapid transit service akin to the A Line or the B Line, which traverse St. Paul with pay-before-boarding fare options at heated bus shelters, among other amenities. A spokesperson for Ramsey County on Tuesday referred all questions back to the state.

Still, MnDOT’s project website notes that if funding comes together, construction of the still unspecified improvements along West Seventh Street could begin in 2029. The site invites members of the public to sign up for project email updates.

A MnDOT spokesperson was not available for comment earlier this week, but the letter dated Dec. 29 from Khani Sahebjam, a MnDOT metro district engineer, to Ramsey County Board Chair Rafael Ortega, St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker, House and Senate lawmakers representing the corridor and other elected officials spells out some of the general parameters behind the new collaboration.

“The extent of project improvements will continue to evolve; however, all agencies will have a stake in the near-term and long-term vision for the corridor,” reads the letter. “The city of St. Paul will update and improve underground city utilities in targeted areas, and Ramsey County will contribute to multimodal improvements on West Seventh Street. Infrastructure ownership is a part of this partnership conversation.”

The partners will collaborate, according to MnDOT, to identify potential funding sources, such as state and federal grants, bonding, state general fund appropriations “and other opportunities.”

“With this clear path forward, we will continue working together to refine the project scope and costs,” the letter reads. “All partners will have financial contributions to the various project elements; however, there is an expected gap in funding that partners will work to close.”

Road work on hold

Noecker and other advocates for West Seventh Street have long chafed at how basic road improvements — including the replacement of ash trees removed during the city’s Emerald Ash Borer crisis — have been put on hold for years while waiting to be scheduled around the $2 billion Riverview Corridor streetcar project and its associated road reconstruction, which never came together.

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Metro Transit, for instance, had once envisioned rolling out a bus rapid transit corridor along West Seventh by 2016. That, too, was put on hold in favor of Riverview Corridor planning.

Facing opposition over mode and alignment, Ramsey County announced in September 2024 that after more than a decade of serious effort, it would no longer coordinate planning for the proposed streetcar from downtown St. Paul to MSP. In June, the Ramsey County Board voted to redirect $730 million in future county funding from the project to other roadwork, most of it not associated with the corridor.

Today is Thursday, Jan. 1, the first day of 2026. There are 364 days left in the year. This is New Year’s Day.

Today in history:

On Jan. 1, 1892, the Ellis Island Immigration Station in New York formally opened, processing nearly 700 immigrants on its first day; nearly 12 million immigrants would ultimately pass through the station before its closure in 1954.

Also on this date:

In 1804, Haiti declared itself independent from France, becoming the world’s first Black-majority republic.

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In 1808, the federal law prohibiting the importation of enslaved people to the United States took effect.

In 1818, Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” was first published in London, when Shelley was 20 years old.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War, declaring that all enslaved people in rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”

In 1959, Fulgencio Batista resigned as Cuban president and fled the country, marking victory for Fidel Castro’s rebel troops and the Cuban Revolution.

In 2000, an anxious world held its breath as computers silently switched to the year 2000, but the dreaded “Y2K bug” caused few serious issues.

In 2013, thousands were trampled leaving a New Year’s fireworks display at a stadium in Ivory Coast, leaving at least 64 people dead amid the chaos.

In 2024, an earthquake rocked the west coast of Japan, collapsing homes, killing at least 260 people and forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 others.

In 2025, a man driving a pickup truck that bore the flag of the Islamic State group slammed into revelers during New Orleans’ raucous New Year’s celebration, killing 15 people. The man was shot dead by police and the attack was subsequently investigated by the FBI as an act of terrorism.

Today’s Birthdays:

Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman is 96.
Actor Frank Langella is 88.
Musician Country Joe McDonald is 84.
Actor-comedian Don Novello is 83.
DJ Grandmaster Flash is 68.
Actor Dedee Pfeiffer is 62.
Actor Morris Chestnut is 57.
Olympic gold medalist ice dancer Meryl Davis is 39.
Rapper Ice Spice is 26.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Keionte Scott returned an interception 72 yards for a touchdown, Carson Beck had a TD pass and No. 10 Miami shocked defending champion Ohio State 24-14 on Wednesday night at the Cotton Bowl in the first College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

The Hurricanes (12-2, CFP No. 10 seed) have won two playoff games to get into football’s final four after needing an at-large berth to make the 12-team field, after not even without playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. One more win and they will get to play for a national championship in their home stadium.

Next for Miami in coach Mario Cristobal’s fourth season is a CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 against No. 3 seed Georgia or No. 6 seed Ole Miss, the SEC teams in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday night.

There hasn’t been a national title for “The U” since 2001, when Cristobal was an offensive tackle for the Hurricanes and part of his second championship there. The Hurricanes were denied a repeat the following season with a double-overtime loss in the Fiesta Bowl to Ohio State, the only other time the teams met in a bowl — and the last they played in that game.

“It’s not about me. It’s about all these guys up here, the guys that came before them,” Cristobal said. “This is a joint team effort and a family. … We’re progressing, we’re getting better and better.”

Now it’s third-ranked Ohio State (12-2, CFP No. 2 seed), which went into the game as a 9 1/2-point favorite according to BetMGM Sportsbook, that can’t win back-to-back national titles for the first time in program history.

The Buckeyes hadn’t played since a 13-10 loss to now-No. 1 Indiana in a Big Ten championship game matchup of undefeated teams on Dec. 6. They still got a first-round bye, then lost just like all four teams that went directly to the quarterfinal round in the inaugural 12-team playoff last season.

Scott’s second pick-six this season came when he jumped a quick screen pass to the left thrown by Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin, then had a wide-open field to sprint untouched to the end zone for a 14-0 lead with 11:49 left in the first half.

That came only 1:42 after Beck’s quick pass to Mark Fletcher Jr. coming out of the backfield for a 9-yard score.

Beck, who was part of Georgia’s national titles in 2021 and 2022 when Stetson Bennett was the starter, completed 19 of 26 passes for 138 yards.

When asked what stood out to him about Miami, Beck said, “Just the way that this team has responded to adversity. We knew coming into today that it wasn’t going to be easy. … That’s a damn good football team on the other side.”

The TD throw to Fletcher, who also ran 19 times for 90 yards and was the game’s offensive MVP, was the seventh of 13 consecutive completions for Beck. That set a record in the Cotton Bowl, which was played for the 90th time.

Sayin, a freshman backup behind Will Howard for Ohio State’s championship run last season, was 22 of 35 for 287 yards with two interceptions and a TD to Jeremiah Smith. Sayin was sacked five times.

AP All-America receiver Smith, the Miami native, caught seven of those passes for 157 yards, including a 14-yard TD on a fourth down in the fourth quarter.

Carter Davis added a 49-yard field goal in the third quarter and ChaMar Brown ran for a 5-yard TD in the game’s final minute for the Hurricanes, whose 24 points were the most Ohio State gave up this season.

Takeaways

Miami: The Hurricanes have won six games in a row since an overtime loss Nov. 1 at SMU, less than 25 miles from AT&T Stadium, where the Cotton Bowl is played. They also made their CFP debut in the Lone Star State, winning 10-3 at No. 7 Texas A&M in the first round on Dec. 20.

Ohio State: All-America safety Caleb Downs, who started in the CFP for the third season in a row, became the first player to force two fumbles in a CFP game. … The Buckeyes had gone four consecutive quarters — the equivalent of a full game — until Bo Jackson’s 1-yard TD run to cap its opening drive of the second half.

Up next

Miami waits to see who it will play in the Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State is scheduled to open the the 2026 season at home against Ball State on Sept. 5.

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With two of its best players out injured and a 17-year old goaltender making his World Junior Championship debut, the United States lost 6-3 to Sweden on Wednesday night at Grand Casino Arena.

A loud, announced crowd of 18,618 saw the Americans finish second in Group A pool play at 3-1, while Sweden won the group at 4-0.

The U.S. plays either Finland or Czechia, whichever winds up as Group B’s third-place team, in a 5 p.m. quarterfinal Friday at Grand Casino Arena. A loss would eliminate the hosts, who have won the last two WJC titles. The Americans beat the Swedes for the 2024 WJC crown.

“It’s never fun to lose when you have that many people supporting you,” said USA winger and Woodbury product Will Zellers, who scored his fifth goal of the tournament. “I feel we shot ourselves in the foot at times with some unlucky turnovers against a team that’s going to produce with little to no space.

“This changes our mindset a little bit because it’s do or die now. We have to flush it and learn from it.”

After older goaltenders Nick Kempf and Caleb Heil split time during previous games, Team USA coach Bob Motzko on Wednesday turned to Brady Knowling, a Boston University commit and projected NHL first-round draft pick, who was added to the American roster two weeks ago. The Chicago resident stopped 23 shots and didn’t shine, but his teammates also played spotty defense and committed too many turnovers.

“We’d made the decision to get him in at some point and tonight was the night,” Motzko said. “We don’t fault him for the mistakes we made against a team with an enormous amount of talent.”

Minnesota-Duluth forward Max Plante and Boston University defenseman Cole Hutson were out hurt; the latter, considered by some as the tournament’s best rearguard, for a second consecutive game. Both are WJC veterans and, while Motzko said Plante isn’t likely to return soon, he said a Hutson appearance in the quarterfinals looks likely.

Team USA had several prime scoring chances during the opening 12 minutes but surrendered the first period’s lone goal on an unfortunate deflection. Casper Juustovaara’s attempted cross-crease pass towards an open Milton Gastrin at the right post instead deflected off the skate of American defenseman Logan Hensler and past Knowling.

“They come on us right from the beginning and a couple of our players have never been in this kind of building and with this kind of crowd,” said Swedish coach Magnus Havelid, whose team returned three players from last year’s competition. “We were lucky when we got the first goal, and it gave us confidence and we grew to have a very good second period.”

Sweden pushed its lead to 3-0 during the second period’s first six minutes. Eddie Genborg beat Knowling from the bottom of the left circle on a power play set up by a goaltender interference call on Ryker Lee. Three minutes later, an onrushing Lucas Pettersson ripped a shot from the right circle and inside the far post.

The U.S. brought the building alive with a man-advantage tally of its own three minutes later. Defenseman Chase Reid, whose WJC performance thus far could boost him near the top of the 2026 NHL draft, skated in through the right circle to put home a rebound after Swedish goaltender Love Harenstam made a stellar save while on the seat of his pants.

The potential American comeback gained steam when Harenstam was whistled for diving after a collision with Zellers atop his crease. Instead, a glaring U.S. giveaway at its offensive blue line led to another Swedish rush, a shorthanded goal for Pettersson and a 4-1 lead with seven minutes remaining in the second.

The Swedes went up 5-1 with another power-play strike before the U.S pulled within 5-2 with five minutes remaining in the middle stanza. Zellers put in the rebound of a Brodie Ziemer shot off a wide left rush.

Kempf relieved Knowling for the third.

Team USA’s L.J. Mooney soon passed off the left wall to Teddy Stiga in the low slot, from where he deflected in the feed to make the score 5-3 early in the third.

Anger swirled through the arena when American defenseman Luke Osburn was penalized for delay of game after chipping the puck over the glass in his own zone. Osburn was clearly boarded by an unpenalized Genborg a split second later, and when A.J. Spellacy was soon after sent off for a high hit that Pettersson seemed to embellish, the crowd booed lustily.

By the time NHL prospect Ivar Stenberg popped in a rebound that Kempf dropped in the crease during Sweden’s 5-on-3 power play, resignation had set in.

“We want to dump pucks in and see the other team’s (back) numbers,” Zellers said when asked what aspect of the U.S. game most needs to be stressed. “Getting them behind their defense, and finishing our hits and wearing them down. But we have to back check and make sure they don’t get those odd-man rushes.

“It ramps up our intensity, knowing it’s do or die now. The last thing we want is not to win the gold. That’s our only goal. This loss motivates us a little more and it’s fuel to our fire.”

Motzko said earlier in the tournament that he wasn’t insistent his team win its group so much as it enter the knockout round playing its best. The Americans don’t appear to have quite reached that goal but a bigger one looms ahead.

“We fumbled the ball and they ran it in the end zone,” Motzko said. “But our play, especially at the start of the game was how we want to play. We have to (forget), because now the tournament truly starts.”

Briefly

Sweden has won two gold medals, 12 silver and seven bronze since the World Juniors officially debuted in 1977. The U.S. clocks in at 7-2-7… The tournament’s last-place team is relegated to the world junior “B” pool for next year’s tournament, while Norway, winner of that level this year, has earned promotion to the “A” pool.

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