With a vote last week by the Minneapolis City Council, the final local consent was granted the proposed Southwest light rail project. Despite that benchmark political action, the project will not be without challenges moving forward.
"The last local approval needed for the Southwest light rail project fell into place Friday morning [August 29] with a vote from the Minneapolis City Council," reports Eric Roper.
"The $1.6 billion line, expected to open in 2019, would run from Eden Prairie to downtown Minneapolis. Click here to take a ground-level tour of the Minneapolis stops. Half of the funding is expected to come from the federal government." Roper coverage also provides more insight into the discussion and politics that surrounded the city council's vote.
In a separate article, Peter Callaghan reports on the next steps for the light rail and the region's cities as it prepares for the new project, including the realistic threat of lawsuits and the next steps in project engineering and funding. On that latter issue, "the project will submit its application for funding through the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program" next year.
FULL STORY: Minneapolis provides final local consent for Southwest light rail
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