Minneapolis-St. Paul Southwest LRT Project Faces Delays
Minnesota’s Metropolitan Council (Met Council) and Hennepin County report that the Southwest LRT project in Minneapolis-St. Paul will not open on schedule in 2023.
Minnesota’s Metropolitan Council (Met Council) and Hennepin County report that the Southwest LRT project in Minneapolis-St. Paul will not open on schedule in 2023.
The Metropolitan Council and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015, announced a resolution, or at least a truce, over a proposed light rail transit (LRT) line in Minneapolis and nearby communities.
New York-based Titan has been awarded a five-year contract, with two additional one-year options, for all advertising rights on Metro Transit trains, light rail transit, and buses serving Minnesota’s Twin Cities.
Minnesota’s Metropolitan Council, overseeing public transit expansion in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and nearby suburbs, has awarded $117 million contract to Los Angeles-based AECOM to complete the remaining engineering of the Southwest Light Rail Transit line from Minneapolis to Eden Prairie.
In Minnesota, Metropolitan Council has awarded Cary, N.C.-based Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. an engineering contract to advance the 13-mile Bottineau Light Rail Transit line (Blue Line extension).
Despite publicly stated misgivings, the Minneapolis City Council has voted to approve a compromise package advancing the Twin Cities Southwest Light Rail Transit line, linking Minneapolis with Eden Prairie, Minn.
The Federal Transit Administration has given its approval for a fourth light rail transit line to move ahead, which would serve Minnesota’s Twin Cities. The approval adds to a busy LRT year for the region.
Light rail transit ridership on the new Green Line (Central Corridor) in St. Paul has been strong, exceeding some projections, in its first weeks of operation, even as complaints about trip times have surfaced.
Opponents continue to snipe at the proposed Southwest Corridor Light Rail Project, sought by the Metropolitan Council as the third LRT line to serve Minneapolis/St. Paul and surrounding municipalities.
Amidst ongoing light rail transit expansion plans in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Minneapolis also is advancing a prospective route of a different flavor: a 3.4-mile, $230 million initial streetcar line on Nicollet Avenue. In response, the Public Works, Energy and Environment Committee of Hennepin County’s Board of Directors was scheduled to weigh a proposed resolution for the project Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014, ideally to provide a firm status update of the proposal.