Southwest Light Rail planners have approved a plan to build shallow tunnels under a trail and a bridge over a channel, in the latest action for the rail line that would run from downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie.
Minneapolis officials have opposed that portion of the plan, which now calls for “two shallow LRT tunnels to be built in the Kenilworth Corridor under the trail, with light rail trains emerging for about 20 seconds between them on a new at-grade LRT bridge over the channel between Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles.”
Planners for the Metropolitan Council said:
The recommendation preserves homes, businesses, a trail used by over a half-million pedestrians and cyclists a year through the Kenilworth neighborhood and railroad tracks used by freight trains carrying commodities for shippers in more than two dozen west-central Minnesota farming communities.
Also in the recommendations, announced today: “Southwest LRT alignment retains the Mitchell Road Station, adjusts the alignment through Eden Prairie to better serve the town center, and eliminates the 21st Street Station.”
The public has two changes to provide testimony in the coming days:
Wednesday, at the Corridor Management Committee meeting, public testimony will be taken from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The meeting is at Beth El Synagogue, 5224 W. 26th St., St. Louis Park.
And on April 9, the Metropolitan Council will discuss and approve the project’s scope and budget. Testimony will taken at the meeting, which starts at 4 p.m in the council chambers, 390 Robert St. N., St. Paul.
