The Metropolitan Council adopted a policy Wednesday intended to avoid costly mishaps when planning big public transportation projects, such as the $2.7 billion Southwest light-rail line.
Council members said the new framework will help identify risks — including financial, legal and contractual — related to planning, building and maintaining multimillion-dollar bus and rail lines. If vetted in a timely manner, such risks can be minimized or resolved altogether, council staff said.
The policy was approved unanimously last month by the council's Transportation Committee. Several council members said it could help better assess Metro Transit projects as new risks emerge, such as the COVID-19 pandemic's deleterious effects on transit ridership, the bus driver shortage and community opposition.
The policy states that as transit projects advance, Metro Transit will "lead risk management activities in coordination with local governments and project partners, including assignment of roles and responsibilities for the project."
"It feels like a good government practice that should have been put in practice a long time ago," said Charles Carlson, executive director of the council's Metropolitan Transportation Services division. "Now is the perfect time to put it in place."
"Anytime the Met Council develops these transitway projects, the region is committing to a significant capital investment," said Deb Barber, chair of the council's Transportation Committee, in a recent interview. "But there are associated risks, and we really need to consider these risks before we advance these projects."
The new policy comes at a critical time for the Met Council, which plans and builds transit projects in the region.
The Southwest line's cost overruns and construction delays have given new urgency to talk at the State Capitol of the need for an elected council, and a key lawmaker said he intends to introduce a bill next year calling for Met Council members to be elected rather than appointed by the governor.