The Twin Cities will eventually have three light-rail transit routes, if the $957 billion Southwest Corridor project that the Metropolitan Council endorsed last week gets built. Finance & Commerce reports that the council opted for LRT to carry passengers between Eden Prairie and downtown Minneapolis via a 14-mile route known as the Kenilworth-Opus-Golden Triangle alignment.
"Met Council officials said they'll submit a New Starts application to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) this summer for the Southwest Corridor and hope to get permission to enter the 'preliminary engineering' stage by the end of the year.
"'World class cities have growing, vibrant transit systems," said Peter Bell, chair of the Met Council. "The selection of the mode and alignment for this corridor is an important step forward. It moves the project to the next level and continues the process of building out the region's rail corridor network.'
"The proposed path of the train would run through Minnetonka, Hopkins, and St. Louis Park on its way between downtown Minneapolis and Eden Prairie. It would link up with the Central Corridor and the region's first light rail route, Hiawatha, at the new Target Field Station. It would also connect there with the recently opened Northstar commuter rail line that goes northwest to Big Lake."
Read the full story
here.