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The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

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The Minnesota Daily

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Southwest corridor light-rail cuts discussed, Mitchell Street station may be scrapped

A committee of locally elected officials must decide where to cut $341 million from the Southwest Corridor light-rail, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

 

The proposed budget of the project rose to nearly $2 billion in late April, Minnesota Public Radio reported, because of delays and poor soil conditions.

 

On Wednesday, members of the Corridor Management Committee met to make recommendations to the Metropolitan Council. They largely agreed on a proposal to cut two stations in Eden Prairie, MinnPost reported. Along with cuts to landscaping and art that would apply across the entire 16-mile line, eliminating two Eden Prairie stations would get the project closer bringing the budget back down to $1.66 billion.

 

No official decisions on where to make the cuts were made at Wednesday’s meeting, according to the Star Tribune.

 

The cut proposals aren’t as simple as eliminating stations along the line, wrote Minnpost.

 

According to MinnPost, federal transit funding protocols grade new light rail lines on how many people frequent them, how many vehicles are taken off the roads and the effectiveness on economic growth. Reducing any of the factors too much can lower the project’s grade and threaten federal funding.

 

The committee will meet again on June 24 to review more cost-cutting measures, wrote the Star Tribune.

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