Park Board members say Blue Line light-rail crossing could endanger cyclists, pedestrians in north Minneapolis

A proposed light-rail station in north Minneapolis means more than 200 trains will cross the treasured Grand Rounds bike and pedestrian trail every day — a prospect that concerns some members of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

The Lowry Station, located at the Minneapolis-Robbinsdale border, is part of the $3.2 billion Blue Line extension project, which will connect downtown Minneapolis to Brooklyn Park beginning in 2030.

The Park Board had been expected to vote Wednesday on a letter to the Metropolitan Council expressing concern about the station’s street-level design and questioning whether the regional planning body can legally build a light-rail line through parkland. But the board meeting abruptly ended after it was interrupted by striking park workers, and no action was taken.

Some Park Board members say a safer design could involve a tunnel burrowing under the Wirth/Victory Memorial Parkway Regional Trail portion of the Grand Rounds network or relocating the station closer to North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale.

The tunnel idea for the Blue Line extension was already considered and rejected. Problems with the tunnel along the Southwest light-rail line in Minneapolis’ Kenilworth Corridor caused that project’s budget to balloon to nearly $3 billion.

“I know it’s expensive, but if we’re spending billions, let’s do it right,” said Park Board Member Becka Thompson, who has proposed a resolution to oppose the station plan.

“Stay off parkland,” she said. “I will fight that to the end because you never get that back. If south Minneapolis can have a tunnel, why not the North Side?”

After the original alignment for the Blue Line extension was scrapped in 2020, the new 13-mile route was cheered by many because it better serves transit-dependent north Minneapolis. Others were heartened that a station would be close to North Memorial, seen as a win for employees and patients.

The initial plan for the Lowry Station featured an aerial bridge for light-rail trains and an elevated station above the W. Broadway and Lowry Avenue bridges.

After “strong concerns” were raised by Park Board commissioners and others, Met Council planners discarded the design and started over, according to Nick Thompson, the project’s interim director.

With input from Minneapolis, Robbinsdale, Hennepin County, the Park Board and hospital officials, the council offered seven different designs, including a tunnel. But that was quickly rejected, Thompson said.

The area near the Lowry Station is a tangle of parkland and homes adjacent to at least five streets and parkways. A prime consideration in the redesign was preserving two bridges on W. Broadway Avenue, which were recently replaced by Hennepin County to the tune of $15.5 million.

“Through a true collaborative process, it became clear that the preferred station design was the at-grade design in the current plans, and that it could be achieved with slight modifications to the bridges,” Nick Thompson said in a statement.

The current plan features the light-rail station tucked between both bridges, with trains crossing the Grand Rounds’ Wirth/Victory Memorial trail at street level every 10 minutes between 5 a.m. and midnight — about 210 trains over a 24-hour period.

When the plan was presented at a key Blue Line advisory committee meeting in December, Park Board President Meg Forney, who serves on the committee, thanked the council for its efforts and declared the design “very, very exciting.”

Now Forney says she wants the Met Council to come up with a “better solution” that entails “significant changes” to the design. The Park Board is being asked to comment on a key environmental plan required by the Federal Transit Administration, which is expected to pay about half the cost of building the Blue Line extension.

Some members say they are worried about the safety of cyclists and pedestrians navigating a train crossing, the first of its kind on the Grand Rounds.

LaTrisha Vetaw, who represents the area on the Minneapolis City Council, said the Lowry Station plan is “an extremely hurtful planning choice to the North Side. I was shocked and couldn’t believe that anyone would propose this.”

“The history and beauty of these parkways and the Grand Rounds have deep meaning to my constituents,” she said at a Park Board meeting earlier this month.

“What would you do if the Met Council and transit planners proposed an at-grade crossing at Minnehaha Parkway, Lake of the Isles Parkway, Bde Maka Ska Parkway or Lake Harriet Parkway, Stinson Boulevard or East or West River roads?” she added. “Would any of you say yes to that? Absolutely not.”

Milton Schoen,commander of the American Legion Post 1 in Minneapolis, worries the station would compromise Victory Memorial Parkway, a four-mile boulevard featuring memorial elm trees and markers dedicated to Hennepin County residents who perished in World War I.

“I’m not opposed to light rail, but we don’t want any degradation to Victory Memorial Parkway,” he said this week.

But Park Board member Tom Olsen said at the same meeting that the “reactionary takes are based around fear.”

Light-rail crossings “are not a big deal” for bikers and pedestrians, he said. While Olsen said he supports the proposed letter, he noted the Blue Line project will serve park constituents who don’t have a car.

Thompson said the council looks forward to “working closely with the Park Board, as we have at every step, to design a station that serves all members of the traveling public safely and effectively, whether they are taking the train, walking, biking, rolling or driving.”

The scrutiny comes as the Met Council prepares to seek approval of the project’s preliminary design from the four cities along the route and Hennepin County by mid-October, a state-mandated process called municipal consent. The Park Board does not have a vote.

The faceoff between the Park Board and the Met Council over the Lowry Station may seem like a case of transportation déjà vu.

When the Southwest light-rail route was being considered through the Kenilworth Corridor a decade ago, Park Board members held out for a tunnel under Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles. The option was rejected by the Met Council, which planned on a bridge instead.

The ensuing feud led to then-Gov. Mark Dayton threatening to withhold $3.7 million in state funding for the Park Board, saying its members were “obstructionist.”

An agreement was ultimately reached when the Park Board dropped its opposition to the project, with the caveat that it would be more involved in future light-rail planning — including the extension of the Blue Line.