Gov. Tim Walz has joined the growing list of those calling for an independent audit of the Southwest light rail project, which is projecting further delays amid mounting costs. The Star Tribune Editorial Board also supports a deep dive into why this project has been beset by difficulties.
Ground was first broken on SWLRT in 2018, with service projected to start in 2023. But the planning started long before that, with feasibility studies beginning in 2002. Despite the many years of planning, the completion date has now been pushed out a full four years, to 2027, and costs have soared from $2 billion to $2.7 billion — if nothing else goes awry.
This is the most expensive public works project in state history, and while the Editorial Board still believes it is an integral part of mass transit for the region, it is essential that we learn, through independent means and in detail, how and why this project went, in a sense, off the rails.
Republicans also want an audit, but they are seeking a halt to all work on the project until such a report is completed. The urge to pause the project is understandable but ultimately not feasible and in the long run makes little sense. Republican House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, at a legislative forum earlier this week, went further and said bluntly that "we need a pause on this permanently. This project should have never happened."
But it did happen, and we now are more than 60% of the way toward completion. Communities have planned around this line. Developers have projects that hinge on proximity to light rail. Pausing the project would only push costs even higher and threaten existing contracts and funding.
A pause also would most likely add court costs to the mix from developers and contractors seeking legal remedies. If the pause is actually a means to halt it permanently, that would mean pulling out on a critical piece of what will be an integrated Twin Cities mass transit system of rail and bus rapid transit more than 20 years in the making.
As a reminder, Southwest light rail will operate between downtown Minneapolis and Eden Prairie, passing through St. Louis Park, Hopkins and Minnetonka, with 16 stations along the way. It is designed to become part of an integrated system that connects with the Blue Line, Northstar Commuter Rail, bus routes and future transitways. Following this, a planned extension of the Blue Line would run through north Minneapolis and Robbinsdale on out to Brooklyn Park, further connecting the region.
Metropolitan Council Chair Charles Zelle, a former commissioner of the state Department of Transportation, told an editorial writer last week that he too is frustrated and disappointed at the delays and additional cost, but would welcome an audit.