![The Cedar Lake Trail alongside a current freight train track that has been a proposed site for the Southwest Corridor light rail line in St. Louis Park, Minn. on Wednesday, July 10, 2013. One proposal is to sink the LRT in a 30-foot deep tunnel under the freight line and could cost $100 million.] (RENEE JONES SCHNEIDER * reneejones@startribune.com) ORG XMIT: MIN1307102209353858](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/R2YWAK6KLFKL32M4UKN2H7S6JM.jpg?&w=1080)
By design, the Metropolitan Council prioritizes regional interests. City politics, conversely, are naturally more local, if not parochial. So it's commendable that Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and key City Council leaders thought regionally when they struck a deal with the Met Council to advance the proposed Southwest light-rail line (also called the Green Line Extension).
City officials failed in their politically expedient but unrealistic efforts to reroute freight rail out of the Kenilworth corridor. But they stayed open to compromise, and the result ultimately will benefit the city and the Twin Cities region.
Once the trains are running, Southwest light rail will further solidify downtown Minneapolis as the business hub of a multistate region. It also will increase access to the job-rich southwestern suburbs for city residents, including many who are economically disadvantaged.
The major revision to the Met Council's original plan was to jettison one of two previously planned Kenilworth corridor tunnels. Under the new agreement, light rail would run at grade north of the channel that connects Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles.
That won't please residents of the corridor, who are understandably concerned about the visual impact and noise of the trains. But it would mean less construction upheaval in the short term and more local access in the long term, because the new plan would reinstate the 21st Street station. That location is important for neighborhood residents, who after all should get access to the line considering it runs through their Kenwood neighborhood.
A tunnel south of the channel, where the corridor narrows, remains in the plan. It's essential to save residences as well as bicycle and hiking trails that are heavily used for commuting and recreation.
Eliminating the north tunnel also would cut $60 million in costs, bringing the project's total price tag to $1.653 billion. Approximately $30 million would go toward savings, while another $30 million would be slated for "pedestrian access, noise mitigation, landscape restoration and other improvements." This list isn't an "extra" for Minneapolis, but a necessity in order to maximize the benefits Southwest light rail should bring to the city.
Details are less clear on another major component of the agreement — land ownership. But both parties agree the intention is clear: The Kenilworth corridor should be publicly controlled. One benefit of that arrangement would be decreasing the odds that more freight trains, potentially with more dangerous cargo, would traverse the corridor.
