Have you heard the news today, oh boy?
(Okay, yesterday.)
The costs of the SWLRT are ballooning — up to $2B, in fact. By the math, that’s 333 Vikings pedestrian bridges, and change. Between ongoing legal and political battles from city, county and suburbs, to newly-identified soil contamination that’s worse than anticipated, to an improved economy driving up labor costs for construction…it’s a mess. Now, sure, the project started at $1.65B, which isn’t exactly peanuts, but the increase is more than a rounding error.
Here’s a look back at some past streets.mn coverage of this line:
- It’s Time for Hopkins to be Selfish (April 13, 2015)
- No Need for Vandalism on the Greenway & Kenilworth (September 27, 2014)
- A Southwest Light Rail Explainer (August 8, 2014)
- What Southwest Light Rail Conversations Get Wrong (April 30, 2014)
- SWLRT tunnel (April 30, 2014)
- Southwest LRT Routing (March 27, 2014)
- Can We Kill Two Birds with One Stone when it Comes to Light Rail Planning? (March 24, 2014)
- Southwest LRT: Triage Now, Rehabilitation Later (February 11, 2014)
- Southwest Light Rail: What Are We Trying to Accomplish? (November 2013)
- Why Minneapolis SHOULD NOT consent to the SWLRT tunnel plan (October 16, 2013)
- Why Minneapolis SHOULD Consent to the SWLRT Tunnel Plan (October 16, 2013)
- We Need to Stop the Southwest Corridor (July 21, 2013)
And we’ve mentioned it in countless other contexts, from political races to urban soccer stadiums. Streets contributors and readers have been chattering about this new development on Twitter all day. Several wonder if this opens us back up to prior alignments discarded by the wayside as “too expensive”–this alignment was chosen for its relative economy, after all. Others wonder if it’s time to look at an east metro expansion of transit.
Tell us: What do you think will happen with SWLRT?