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Southwest Station will become the Southwest LRT’s westernmost stop, eliminating Mitchell Road Station, and Town Center Station will be deferred as part of $250 million in cost reductions approved July 8 by the Metropolitan Council.
The Council adopted a July 1 Southwest Corridor Management Committee resolution recommending these changes and committing corridor cities, Hennepin County and other project partners to assist with paying for them, as the new cost estimate of about $1.744 billion exceeds the previously approved $1.653 billion cost estimate.
“Today’s vote demonstrates the momentum behind this project. The corridor cities and Hennepin County really pulled together to deliver a plan to scale back the project, while preserving its ability to serve the region,” said Council Chair Adam Duininck. “I think that [Hennepin County] Commissioner Jan Callison summed it up best when she said we’ve moved from ‘shared sacrifice to shared investment.’”
The decision makes good sense from a regional transit perspective.
“Making Southwest Station the westernmost stop maintains an important element of the project by connecting the light rail to an existing transit hub, connecting people with jobs throughout the corridor,” Duininck said.
 Map of the revised scope for the Southwest LRT Project.
View/download a PDF map showing the revised alignment.
The formerly 15.8-mile line with 17 stations was set to open in 2019. The METRO Green Line Extension will now open in 2020 with 14.4 miles and 15 stations at a revised cost estimate of about $1.744 billion, down from the $1.994 billion estimate in April when costs rose due to delays and test results that showed poor ground conditions and soil contamination. The project’s forecasted average weekday ridership in 2040 is approximately 34,000, which is needed to retain an overall medium-high rating in the competition for federal matching funds.
Next steps
The project currently has over $675 million in local funding commitments, including:
- $496 million from the Counties Transit Improvement Board
- $165 million from Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority
- Over $14 million in state funds
Additional funding commitments are necessary. On July 7, Hennepin County approved $5 million for soil cleanup and Hopkins approved $500,000. The cities of Eden Prairie, Minnetonka and St. Louis Park are anticipated to make commitments.
Municipal consent to be sought again in light of changes
In light of reducing approximately $250 million in project scope throughout the corridor, the Council is choosing to seek municipal consent from Hennepin County and the five cities. The Council will vote on initiating municipal consent at its July 22 meeting. The first round of municipal consent hearings was held last summer on the preliminary engineering plans before the recent scope reductions and other changes.
What was deferred, reduced or eliminated corridor-wide:
Mitchell Road Station and its park-and-ride facility were eliminated.
Town Center Station and its park-and-ride facility were deferred, meaning only the foundation and underground infrastructure for the future station platform will be built.
Off-platform station furnishings throughout the corridor, including bike racks, trash cans and seating, were cut by 50 percent. Station platforms will still have seating.
Station art was eliminated throughout the corridor.
The landscaping allowance for trees, sod, plantings/mulch, seed, mulch and topsoil at stations, the operations and maintenance facility and throughout the corridor was cut by 75 percent. This does not affect the plans for Kenilworth landscaping.
The total number of park-and-ride stalls was reduced from 3,834 to 2,487. All park-and-rides were reduced to surface parking lots with the exception of the park-and-ride structures at Southwest Station and Downtown Hopkins Station. The capacity of most park-and-rides was reduced to opening day forecasts. Details on each park-and-ride.
The light-rail vehicle fleet was reduced by five vehicles; the project will now have 27 vehicles.
The size of the operations and maintenance facility was reduced.
The opportunity for joint development was deleted at Blake Station but retained at Beltline Station.
The trail bridge at Beltline Station is still included, but other trail structures were eliminated, including:
- The trail underpass beneath freight tracks at Louisiana Station, which will be replaced with a reroute of pedestrians to the platform via the existing trail access at Louisiana Avenue.
- The North Cedar Lake Trail bridge at Penn Station, which will be replaced with an at-grade crossing west of the station platform.
- Two pedestrian underpasses at Opus Station under Bren Road East and Bren Road West, which will be replaced with a relocated bus stop on Bren Road West to Bren Road East where patrons can utilize an existing crosswalk to access the station platform.
About the project:
The planned Southwest Light Rail Transit (LRT) Project
(METRO Green Line Extension) will operate from downtown Minneapolis through the
communities of St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie, passing
in close proximity to the city of Edina. The line will connect major activity
centers in the region including downtown Minneapolis, Methodist Hospital in St.
Louis Park, downtown Hopkins and the Opus/Golden Triangle
employment area in Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. Ridership in 2040 is forecasted at approximately
34,000 average weekday boardings. The project will interline with the METRO
Green Line, which will provide a one-seat ride to destinations such as the
University of Minnesota, state Capitol and downtown St. Paul. It will be part
of an integrated system of transitways, including connections to the METRO Blue
Line, the proposed METRO Blue Line Extension, the Northstar Commuter Rail line,
a variety of major bus routes along the alignment, and proposed future
transitway and rail lines. The Metropolitan Council will be the grantee of
federal funds. The regional government agency is charged with building the line
in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The Southwest
Corridor Management Committee, which includes commissioners from Hennepin
County and the mayors of Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Edina, Hopkins,
Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie, provides advice and oversight. Funding is
provided by the Federal Transit Administration, Counties Transit Improvement
Board (CTIB), state of Minnesota and Hennepin County Regional Railroad
Authority (HCRRA) and other project partners. The Southwest LRT Project
website is www.swlrt.org
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