Politics & Government
With Deep Bore Tunnel Off Table, Minneapolis-St. Louis Park Consensus Unlikely
Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman said she worries that without a better plan, "we won't have a project after all of these years."
With a Metropolitan Council committee putting the kibosh last week on a deep bore tunnel option that would have sent freight rail below ground in the Kenilworth neighborhood, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that Minneapolis and St. Louis Park will be able to come to a peaceful agreement over the route of the Southwest Light Rail Transitway.
The Met Council could make a decision on the proposed 16-mile, $1.2 billion line by Oct. 9, but that date has already been postponed three times in the last month, partially in response to the vitriol and concerns of St. Louis Park and Minneapolis residents.
Municipal consent is required from all five cities touching the line, though the Met Council has the option of overriding objections. The lack of an affordable, acceptable route for the line—the deep bore tunnel would have cost an additional $300 million—has led the Met Council to commission alternatives from Transportation Technology Center, Inc., of Pueblo, Colo.
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Safety in the Park, the St. Louis Park neighborhood advocacy group, has put out a statement condemning the potential alternatives, which include a modified Brunswick Central Plan.
“The continued inclusion of the Brunswick Central option violates the Met Council’s criteria for removing freight plans from the table by leaving Brunswick Central—with the two story high berms, multiple property takes and strong public opposition—as the only non-tunnel option still being given serious consideration,” the group wrote. “All St. Louis Park relocation options must be removed from contention.”
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Some stakeholders, such as Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman, a former mayor of St. Louis Park, have expressed doubts as to whether the project can proceed amid the polarized municipal conflict.
"We haven't quite come up with a viable scenario where all of the communities feel like they're fairly sharing the burden," she told Minnesota Public Radio. "That's where we need to focus over the next few weeks. Otherwise, we won't have a project after all of these years."Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.