Met Council’s Blue Line extension gets green light

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
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Metropolitan Council

The Metropolitan Council (Met Council), which serves the Twin Cities, received approval from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to begin engineering on the Blue Line extension.

The Blue Line Extension (Bottineau) light-rail extension is scheduled for construction in 2018 and will operate about 13 miles northwest from downtown Minneapolis, Minn., through north Minneapolis, Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, Crystal and Brooklyn Park, drawing riders northwest of Brooklyn Park.

The proposed alignment will have 11 new stations in addition to Target Field Station where it will continue as the Metro Blue Line, providing one-seat rides to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the Mall of America. It will connect Minneapolis and the region’s northwest communities with existing light rail on the Green Line, future light rail on the Green Line Extension (Southwest LRT), bus rapid transit on the Red Line, the Northstar commuter rail line and local and express bus routes.

The FTA approval of the Bottineau project comes only a month after the Southwest LRT, Green Line Extension Project received the same approval.

“Our region has a strong reputation nationally for successfully delivering on transit projects,” said Met Council Chair Adam Duininck. “We will apply in fall 2017 for the Full Funding Grant Agreement and anticipate receiving that federal commitment in early 2018. The Blue Line Extension has achieved this milestone because the project has support at the federal and local levels and from the business community, as well.”

The FTA cleared the Blue Line Extension’s environmental review in September 2016, paving the way for the project to advance designs to a 60-percent level of detail by the end of the first three months of this year.

The project has received local funding commitments from the Counties Transit Improvement Board, Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority, city of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota Department of Transportation and Hennepin County. Next steps include securing the remaining 10 percent of local funding before applying this fall for the federal funding commitment and advancing designs to a 90-percent level of detail in the third quarter and to 100 percent by the end of the year for the civil or heavy construction. The Full Funding Grant Agreement would commit the FTA to pay 49 percent of the capital costs of the project, or $753 million.

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