In Minnesota, the Metropolitan Council has formally approved its agreement with Minnesapolis Parks and Recreation for a bridge to handle light rail transit (LRT) crossing the Kenilworth Channel.
The two parties had tentatively reached a memorandum of understanding late last month, which provided "for a more direct Park Board role in the design of the proposed bridges over the channel and earlier involvement in any light rail transit project to address impacts to park land and park resources owned by the Park Board.
Met Council formally approved the measure on Wednesday, March 11; Minneapolis Parks and Recreation's Board of Directors approved the plan on March 5. Met Council hopes to open the $1.6 billion Southwest Light Rail Line (Green Line extension) for service in 2019, linking downtown Minneapolis (and, by extension of the Green Line, neighboring St. Paul) with Eden Prairie, Minn.
With that accomplished, a Met Council spokeswoman on Thursday, March 12, noted "the Southwest LRT Project will hold a series of public open houses" next month "to share information about station design with the public and receive feedback."
Still to be overcome are legal challenges, including a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Lakes and Park Alliance of Minneapolis, an activist group. A lawsuit insists Met Council took shortcuts with Southwest LRT approvals without proper environmental reviews.
The lawsuit also was filed against the Federal Transit Administration, but a federal judge, while allowing the core of the suit to proceed, dismissed the suits claims against the FTA. Arguments were held in federal court March 9.
A statement on the alliance's website reads, in part: "At this moment in time, the only thing that can preserve the Kenilworth Trail is a lawsuit that forces the Met Council to abide by the law and provide a DEIS for the current plan."
The Met Council spokeswoman, queried by Railway Age on the challenge, said, "The Council believes it has followed the appropriate and legal process to obtain citizen input and municipal consent for the Southwest Light Rail extension."