Construction workers on the Southwest Light Rail Train Minnesota have begun laying and installing the train tracks for the project in Hopkins, Minnesota. The addition of rail tracks in the western suburbs represents a “major milestone” for Southwest, said Jim Alexander, the project director. “It sets the stage for everything else. It demonstrates that we’re putting a huge project together that will last generations,” he said. An extension of the existing Green Line, the Southwest line will connect downtown Minneapolis with Eden Prairie through Hopkins, St. Louis Park, and Minnetonka. Eleven out of 16 planned stations are either nearly completed or under construction, according to the Metropolitan Council, the regional planning agency building the line.
Also Read: New Solar farm to be constructed in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
The Downtown Hopkins Station is one of three planned for the locality. The stop will be connected by 8th Avenue to the city’s Main Street, where pedestrians and cyclists improvements are planned. The remaining stops in Hopkins will be Blake Road Station, and Shady Oak Road Station, north of Excelsior Boulevard on the Cedar Lake Regional Trail, near the Minnetonka border. The Met Council says the Southwest Light Rail Train Minnesota project has spent more than US$1.5 billion in development within a half-mile of the route.
The Met Council this week approved tapping into an additional US$200 million provided by Hennepin County to shore up its contingency fund. The additional funds “are huge for us. It gives us some level of comfort” moving forward, Alexander said. Many of the construction issues have occurred in Minneapolis’ Kenilworth corridor, a narrow urban passage that will be shared by light-rail and freight trains, pedestrians, bicyclists, and on a path near Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake, and several residential buildings. About US$56 million in change orders have been slated to be considered or approved this summer to largely cover the construction of a tunnel for light-rail trains in the Kenilworth corridor.
