Met Council, Hennepin County plan to shrink Southwest LRT budget gap

A plan to close the yawning budget gap for the $2.7 billion Southwest light-rail line was put in motion Monday, but the proposed infusion of $211 million still would not be enough to see the troubled project to completion.

The Metropolitan Council's Transportation Committee on Monday unanimously recommended moving $111 million to the Southwest project, most of it taken from federal COVID-19 relief funds. That plan will require approval by the full council, which will build and maintain the line, in a vote expected next week.

Meanwhile, the Hennepin County Board is slated to vote Thursday on a measure to transfer an additional $100 million to the Southwest project, an extension of the Green Line that will link downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie.

But with project funding currently falling short by $450 million to $550 million, the Met Council would still need to find an additional $240 million to $340 million to finish the job. And it's unclear at this time where the extra money will come from.

"The Green Line extension has been in the planning for many, many, many years and will be transformative for not just the cities along the extension, and the county, but the entire state," said Met Council Member Molly Cummings.

"When we plan these things, we try to do the best we can and try to figure out the financing for something that goes out many years, with so many variables beyond our control," she said.

The budget maneuvers would give the state's most expensive public works project a much-needed financial boost, permitting construction of the 14.5-mile line to continue into 2024.

The Southwest line is more than 60% complete, with some $1.8 billion spent to date, and is expected to begin service in 2027 — at least nine years behind schedule.

Council officials said Monday they will continue to work with Hennepin County and others to make up the shortfall and look for ways to cut expenses.

"The reality is we have a problem and we're doing our best to solve it," said Council Member Kris Fredson, noting that other transit projects built by the Met Council came in on time and under budget.

The bulk of the Met Council's portion, about $100 million, would be culled from its allotment of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 signed by President Donald Trump, money that was intended to support the nation's transportation system in the wake of the pandemic outbreak in 2020. The remaining $11 million would come from other federal funds allocated to the council.

About $2 billion of the project is being funded by the Federal Transit Administration and Hennepin County, with some contributions from the former Counties Transit Improvement Board, the state and cities along the line.

News of the additional funding comes as the state's Office of the Legislative Auditor prepares to release the first part of its special review of the project in February, with a second report expected in the spring. The probe by the nonpartisan watchdog agency was prompted in 2021 by a series of cost overruns and a dwindling contingency fund to cover unexpected construction costs.

Many of the costly construction issues are related to a half-mile tunnel in the narrow Kenilworth Corridor in Minneapolis, and a $93 million crash-protection wall added late in the project to separate light-rail and freight trains west of Target Field.

The Met Council originally planned to have freight trains using the Kenilworth Corridor diverted through St. Louis Park, leaving just light-rail trains and a bike and pedestrian path along the corridor.

But St. Louis Park city officials and Twin Cities & Western Railroad officials objected, and the Met Council had to change its plans. The result is that freight and light-rail trains, along with the bike and pedestrian trail, together will share the narrow corridor.

When the current alignment through the Kenilworth Corridor, including the tunnel, was chosen in 2014, the project's price tag was $1.6 billion with a 2019 opening date.

Met Council members on Monday defended the project's potential despite the cost and delays, noting that more than $1.6 billion of investment has already been realized or planned along the Southwest corridor.

"This will be an incredible asset for our kids, their grandkids and their kids," Cummings said.