Southwest light rail is coming to Eden Prairie! Approval came from the Metroplitan council, connecting Eden Prairie with downtown Minneapolis on a 14 mile route. The light rail route is known as the “kenilworth-opus-Golden Triangle” alignment. The proposed light rail will run from Eden Prairie, to Minnetonka, thru Hopkins, and St. Louis Park before reaching downtown Minneapolis. Connections will also link up to the Central corridor and the regions first light rail route, Hiawatha, at the new Target Field station. It would also connect to the recently opened Northstar commuter rail.
Click here for a map of the light rail routes.
The entire project is estimated to cost $1.25 billion. Met council officials will submit a new starts application with the Federal Transit Administration this summer and would hope to get to a preliminary engineering stage by the end of 2010.
As of now, things will be in the planning stage and then the plans will be submitted in order to receive government funding. Construction would is tentatively hoped to start in 2014 with complettion by 2015. That is if everything goes smoothly.
Who pays for this? Currently the breakdown is 50% by the Federal Transit Administration, 30% by a transit sales tax in the area, and 10% each by Hennepin county regional railroad , and the state of Minnesota.
I think this is great news to Eden Prairie and surrounding areas, connecting people and giving more alternatives to commute to downtown Minneapolis, and other suburbs as well.
What will this do to housing? In my opinion it can only help with Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Chaska and other area cities property values and increased interest. Especially when at some point we see 4 dollar gas again, or higher! It may also be a boost to economic development within the golden triangle of Eden Prairie creating more jobs.
How do you feel about light rail coming to Eden Prairie?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Well I don’t mind the Light Rail coming to EP, but I’m not happy about the LRT bike trail being taken away!!! The train will be faster, but I have so many memories on that trail that I don’t want to see it gone.
Jenny, that is definitely a negative to the LRT. I did ask, and the train will start near Mitchell Road, so it won’t run through the Fairfield neighborhood, so that is a good thing. That would be bad to have a train suddenly installed through your back yard!