The following article by Janet Moore was published in the September 16, 2015 edition of the Star Tribune.

Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Hopkins Approve Scaled-back SWLRT Plans

PHOTO: RENEE JONES SCHNEIDER

The Kenilworth Trail alongside a current freight train track that has been a proposed route for the Southwest Corridor light-rail line.

The scaled-down plans move through second approvals.

Three cities along the Southwest light-rail line have approved scaled-back plans for the controversial $1.77 billion transit project this week.

The public hearings and council votes were prompted by changes to the 14 ½-mile line, which will connect downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie beginning in 2020. Adjustments were necessary because the project’s budget ballooned last spring, prompting $250 million in cuts to get the line back on track.

State law requires that Hennepin County and the cities along the line — Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie — approve the changes and hold public hearings, after undergoing a similar process last year.

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