Do you take light rail’s Blue Line in Sacramento? Your travel could be disrupted
A light rail closure between North Sacramento and downtown will send Blue Line riders onto a bus bridge between Nov. 1 and Nov. 15 to accommodate construction of the new Dos Rios station in the River District.
Sacramento Regional Transit District shuttle buses will run between the Marconi/Arcade station in the Hagginwood neighborhood and the Cathedral Square station at 10th and K streets for the 15-day closure. In between the Marconi/Arcade station and the station at 10th and K streets, the train has six more stops. It will have a seventh stop when the new station at Richards Boulevard and North 12th Street opens.
Regular Blue Line service is expected to resume Nov. 16.
RT said in a news release that the closure was unavoidable: In order to build the new Dos Rios station, workers must move two critical infrastructure components to a new location, including the “overhead catenary system,” the system of hanging electrical cables that deliver power to the trains. The track itself also has to be rerouted.
The station will serve residents in the Mirasol Village housing development. City leaders have worked with developers to revitalize the neighborhood, which contains the Dos Rios Triangle, a longtime industrial area.
The budget for the new station was over $40 million, largely funded by grants. RT got $12.5 million in grants from Senate Bill 125, a 2023 law that directed a multi-year, $5.1 billion state investment in transit and rail; $1 million came from a federal pot tapped into by Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento; $9.5 million came from the U.S. Department of Transportation; and $17.6 million from California’s Transformative Climate Communities program.
Public transit is a key component of the state’s strategy to address climate change. In California, transportation — dominated by personal vehicles and freight trucks — contributes the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. The California Air Resources Board says transportation is responsible for 39% of total emissions. The industrial sector, which has the second-highest share of emissions, contributed 23%.
As KCRA reported last year, plans for the Dos Rios station were almost scrapped in 2023. That November, the RT board voted against the proposed station because the costs had gone up. After lobbying from local politicians, including State Sen. Angelique Ashby and then-City Councilmember and RT board member Katie Valenzuela, the board reversed course.
