Republicans seek LRT spending halt until Southwest project is complete
News | Published on February 25, 2025 at 3:49pm GMT+0000 | Author: Tucker Henderson
0Elias Thomas
Report for Minnesota
Republicans in the Minnesota House want to pause any work on a $3.2 billion proposed extension of the Blue Line light rail transit line north of Minneapolis until work is completed on the much delayed and over-budget Southwest line.
A bill proposed by Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, would pause any work on the blue line extension, also known as the Bottineau line, until the Southwest line is complete, which is now expected to be in 2027.
“This is an attempt to save taxpayers money by pausing the construction of the Blue Line light rail extension until the Southwest light rail line is complete,” said Robbins. “Then we can evaluate whether Blue Line still makes sense.”
Despite some opposition at a recent House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee meeting, an 8-7 partisan vote means the bill is headed to the House floor. Those who spoke against the bill said the planned line is important to connect Minneapolis commuters to Robbinsdale, Crystal and Brooklyn Park.
The 14.5 mile Southwest line was initially proposed in 2011 and was estimated to cost $1.25 billion with completion in 2018. The line runs from Target Field south and west to St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. After multiple delays, the project is now scheduled to be completed in 2027 with a total cost estimated to be $2.9 billion.
The blue line extension project is estimated to cost $3.2 billion with a completion date of 2030.
Metropolitan Council Government Affairs Director Judd Schetnan said at the committee meeting that if the bill delays the blue line project for at least two years as proposed, it would become even more costly.
“We anticipate that for a project this size that the cost of delay is in the about $100 million a year range just based on inflation,” Schetnan said. “Looking at a two-year pause, we would expect that the inflationary costs of this would be at least in the $200 million range that goes against what the council is interested in.”
The blue line extension, first proposed in 2014, has faced many delays due to realignments aimed at limiting construction interruptions for businesses along the route.
Minneapolis City Council Member Jeremiah Ellison reminded the committee how much work has been put in by the cities along the extension to make the project happen.
“Last fall, all the cities along the blue line extension passed municipal consent for this project,” Ellison said. “Consent is earned through a lot of public engagement, we don’t take that lightly, it’s taken many, many years to get to this point.”
Rep. Robbins mentioned a bus route as an alternative to the Blue Line that would run along a similar route and only cost $75-$85 million.
Schetnan and the Metropolitan Council acknowledged that option but said the impact of the LRT project outweighs the costs that will only get higher with more delays brought on by this bill.
“We’d like to see this project move forward” Schetnan said.
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