City of Hopkins: Light Rail Transit Work Continues

(The made the following announcement in this week’s "Connections" e-mail newsletter. Click here to sign up to receive the newsletter.)

 

In spite of the Southwest LRT’s exclusion from the 2012 bonding bill, planning for the SW LRT continues and will soon be entering preliminary engineering. This work will bring the plans for the line to 30% completion and will involve the process of securing municipal consent from all five partner cities, including Hopkins.

Sufficient funds are in place to begin work on this important milestone, but during the next legislative session it will be imperative that additional state funds are committed to the project for it to remain competitive for Federal Transportation Administration funds which would equal $9 for every $1 in state bonding investment. The TwinWest Chamber of Commerce and other members of the business community have been strong supporters of the SW LRT line, and will need to continue in their advocacy efforts.

The Metropolitan Council has developed a fly-over perspective on the line from its start in Eden Prairie to the connection to the Central and Hiawatha lines at Target Field. You can view the video at Southwest LRT Project. The SW LRT is scheduled to be operational in 2018.