Hennepin County taps Route 3A for light rail

Hennepin commissioners take "big, big step" toward linking southwest suburbs with downtown Minneapolis.

By LAURIE BLAKE, Star Tribune

Last update: November 3, 2009 - 8:04 PM

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Calling it a "big, big step'' toward someday connecting the southwest suburbs to downtown Minneapolis via light rail, the Hennepin County Board on Tuesday chose Route 3A through Kenilworth for the proposed $1 billion rail line.

"People are hungry for transit in this corridor,'' said Commissioner Gail Dorfman of St. Louis Park. She said Route 3A is the best option for the line because it serves employment centers and neighborhoods and fits well in the existing transit system.

Route 3A runs through Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Hopkins and St. Louis Park and past Cedar Lake into downtown Minneapolis.

If the route is approved by the Metropolitan Council as expected -- it is expected to act by mid-2010 -- the county will begin two years of preliminary design for the rail line.

"This is a big, big step. It's taken a long time to get here,'' said Commissioner Peter McLaughlin of Minneapolis. "These things don't get built easily.''

Commissioner Jan Callison of Minnetonka, who studied route options when she was on the Minnetonka City Council, said 3A is "clearly the only choice when you look at it financially.''

Commission Chairman Mike Opat of Robbinsdale voted to approve the route, but only after making it clear that he would not commit the county to helping deliver a streetcar connection to the rail line via the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis. The city of Minneapolis has suggested it wants a streetcar line to connect other parts of the city to light-rail routes.

Opat is a proponent of a possible light-rail line along Bottineau Boulevard to the northwest suburbs and wants to see that corridor served next. He said he would oppose "staff time, consultant time, anything time, that has to do with the Midtown corridor.''

In response, the board voted to separate discussion of the streetcar proposal from the light-rail project.

Laurie Blake • 612-673-1711

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