Green Line Extension - Southwest LRT

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
MattW
Rice Park
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby MattW » November 24th, 2020, 4:57 pm

Some construction updates based on what I've seen recently:
-the foundations for the following stations can be seen: Golden Triangle, Opus, Shady Oak, and Hopkins
-lot of electrical and utility lines can be seen where the EP Town Center and 21st Street stations will be
-the new freight rail alignment is complete between Belt Line Boulevard and Wooddale Avenue, and track has been laid between Wooddale Avenue and Blake Road
-railroad crossing panels for the light rail have been installed at 11th Avenue, the entrance to Hopkins Honda, 5th Avenue, and the entrance to Redstone Grill in Eden Prairie
-the Hopkins-Minnetonka viaduct is taking shape
-the viaduct over Prairie Center Drive looks almost done
-the trail bridge over Belt Line Boulevard looks at least half way done
-the trail tunnels under Blake Road and Wooddale Avenue look pretty much complete
-the new freight rail connection from the TC&W to the MN&S is very slowly taking shape
The section of the Cedar Lake Trail under 394 had fresh asphalt laid under the bridge. Hopefully this means the section from 394 to Van White Blvd will open soon.

DanPatchToget
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby DanPatchToget » November 29th, 2020, 10:05 am

Anyone else find the location of City West Station odd? I biked over there yesterday and the only people I can see benefiting from this are park & riders and workers at Optum who can use the train for their commute (which is probably a small number of the overall workforce).

I realize it's too late to change the alignment, but I wanted to make a map of where I think City West Station should've been located. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing

alexschief
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby alexschief » November 29th, 2020, 10:10 am

City West has always been a dubious station. It has one of the lowest projected riderships on the entire line.

tmart
Rice Park
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby tmart » November 29th, 2020, 11:55 am

Anyone else find the location of City West Station odd? I biked over there yesterday and the only people I can see benefiting from this are park & riders and workers at Optum who can use the train for their commute (which is probably a small number of the overall workforce).

I realize it's too late to change the alignment, but I wanted to make a map of where I think City West Station should've been located. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing
Yeah it's definitely the weakest of the "office park" stations, and that's saying something since none of them really have land use conducive to great ridership. I'm not sure even your suggested alignment makes things much better; the low-rise office parks and strip malls along Shady Oak aren't really going to generate trips, and I don't see Eden Prairie doing much better at TOD than Bloomington has with their many underused Blue Line stations. It feels like they decided that Optum was essentially the only meaningful trip generator in this segment, and then optimized for what would be fastest/easiest to build/least disruptive to cars--and to be fair, they're probably right about the first part.

The most baffling thing to me is that they didn't even bother to add a pedestrian bridge/tunnel across the highway to Yellow Cir Dr. Not that there's much on the other side, but still, there are some parcels that will be like 500 feet from the station as the crow flies, but over a mile walk to actually get there.

Bakken2016
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Bakken2016 » November 29th, 2020, 1:45 pm

Anyone else find the location of City West Station odd? I biked over there yesterday and the only people I can see benefiting from this are park & riders and workers at Optum who can use the train for their commute (which is probably a small number of the overall workforce).

I realize it's too late to change the alignment, but I wanted to make a map of where I think City West Station should've been located. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing
Yeah it's definitely the weakest of the "office park" stations, and that's saying something since none of them really have land use conducive to great ridership. I'm not sure even your suggested alignment makes things much better; the low-rise office parks and strip malls along Shady Oak aren't really going to generate trips, and I don't see Eden Prairie doing much better at TOD than Bloomington has with their many underused Blue Line stations. It feels like they decided that Optum was essentially the only meaningful trip generator in this segment, and then optimized for what would be fastest/easiest to build/least disruptive to cars--and to be fair, they're probably right about the first part.

The most baffling thing to me is that they didn't even bother to add a pedestrian bridge/tunnel across the highway to Yellow Cir Dr. Not that there's much on the other side, but still, there are some parcels that will be like 500 feet from the station as the crow flies, but over a mile walk to actually get there.
I think a lot of people with use SW Prime to access this station if they don’t own a car.


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DanPatchToget
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby DanPatchToget » November 29th, 2020, 2:12 pm

Anyone else find the location of City West Station odd? I biked over there yesterday and the only people I can see benefiting from this are park & riders and workers at Optum who can use the train for their commute (which is probably a small number of the overall workforce).

I realize it's too late to change the alignment, but I wanted to make a map of where I think City West Station should've been located. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing
Yeah it's definitely the weakest of the "office park" stations, and that's saying something since none of them really have land use conducive to great ridership. I'm not sure even your suggested alignment makes things much better; the low-rise office parks and strip malls along Shady Oak aren't really going to generate trips, and I don't see Eden Prairie doing much better at TOD than Bloomington has with their many underused Blue Line stations. It feels like they decided that Optum was essentially the only meaningful trip generator in this segment, and then optimized for what would be fastest/easiest to build/least disruptive to cars--and to be fair, they're probably right about the first part.

The most baffling thing to me is that they didn't even bother to add a pedestrian bridge/tunnel across the highway to Yellow Cir Dr. Not that there's much on the other side, but still, there are some parcels that will be like 500 feet from the station as the crow flies, but over a mile walk to actually get there.
Good point about having access to the station across 62. There's quite a few buildings in the northwest corner of 212/62 & 169 that appear to be closer to City West Station than Opus Station.

Oreos&Milk
Landmark Center
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Oreos&Milk » December 1st, 2020, 4:05 pm

Anyone else find the location of City West Station odd? I biked over there yesterday and the only people I can see benefiting from this are park & riders and workers at Optum who can use the train for their commute (which is probably a small number of the overall workforce).

I realize it's too late to change the alignment, but I wanted to make a map of where I think City West Station should've been located. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing
A bike trail across 62 connecting into existing trail networks and expanding niceride, or electric scooters would be great improvement. Maybe they won’t be done one day one but once the line is built those upgrades seems more likely. Lots of potential for growth.

tmart
Rice Park
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby tmart » December 2nd, 2020, 9:56 am

Unfortunately it seems to me like the simplest time to get a ped/bike connection built (in terms of ease of construction, minimizing disruptions, and securing funding) would've been while building the station itself.

I hope you're right and the station can generate some political will for better connections in the future though!

Tcmetro
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Tcmetro » December 4th, 2020, 5:02 pm

Here's a photo update for the Met Council meeting next week.

https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetin ... E-PPT.aspx

DanPatchToget
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby DanPatchToget » December 4th, 2020, 8:09 pm

The photo of Opus Station appears to actually be the Golden Triangle Station.

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mckilanowski
Block E
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby mckilanowski » December 31st, 2020, 11:37 am

The photo of Opus Station appears to actually be the Golden Triangle Station.
It's Opus. You can see the Optum building on 62 in the background.
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mckilanowski
Block E
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby mckilanowski » December 31st, 2020, 11:42 am

Here's a photo update for the Met Council meeting next week.

https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetin ... E-PPT.aspx
Thanks! I liked seeing the different angle of the Shady Oak Station. I've walked past that a couple times, but you can only see it from the south. I'm looking forward to 17th being a through-street so I don't have do go so far out of my way, but I'm guessing that the station is going to be a staging area for construction materials up until the very end.
Gibb's first addition. If you know, you know.

Bakken2016
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Bakken2016 » December 31st, 2020, 12:07 pm


DanPatchToget
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby DanPatchToget » December 31st, 2020, 2:19 pm

How much, if any, construction can get done now that it looks like we finally have snow for the rest of the season?

Anondson
IDS Center
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Anondson » December 31st, 2020, 2:36 pm

Bridge beams can still be placed, right?

COLSLAW5
Nicollet Mall
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby COLSLAW5 » January 4th, 2021, 10:24 am

You can do as much as you want it just costs more and takes more time with snow clearing, frost ripping, heating the concrete etc. They are still working on the bridge in the Glenwood area and at excelsior boulevard as far as I know.

Looking at those photos though I would bet that this wont be ready by 2023 seeing as there are still quite a few bridges left and the BNSF Crash wall and they haven't even started any of the power and signals yet.

alexschief
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby alexschief » January 14th, 2021, 9:38 am

SWLRT pushing back its opening date, now 2024 at least, due to construction issues (somehow they are still discovering new soil problems on the chosen alignment).

There were some other clues that the schedule might be pushed back, now we've got confirmation.

tmart
Rice Park
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby tmart » January 14th, 2021, 9:42 am

The Kenilworth alignment is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Anondson
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Anondson » January 14th, 2021, 10:49 am

I’m shocked, shocked there are poor glacial soils here.

Bakken2016
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Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Postby Bakken2016 » January 14th, 2021, 11:01 am

SWLRT pushing back its opening date, now 2024 at least, due to construction issues (somehow they are still discovering new soil problems on the chosen alignment).

There were some other clues that the schedule might be pushed back, now we've got confirmation.
I read the official press release, and it only says potential delays, and the tweets never said 2024, I was always under the assumption the project would open Spring 2023, could it just get pushed back to Fall 2023?


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