Green Line Extension - Southwest LRT

[Bakken2016]

https://twitter.com/ByJanetMoore/status ... 91XbrMyf_A

Bill calling for audit of SWLRT just unanimously passed MN Senate Transpo committee, now on to the State Government Finance and Policy and Elections Committee.

[DanPatchToget]

Maybe we should go with Bob "Again" Carney Jr.'s plan. (sarcasm 100% intended)

[commissioner]

Considering how far along the project is, I highly doubt they will stop the whole thing, especially considering the feds are paying for half of it. Delayed, maybe but I doubt it will be stopped.

[COLSLAW5]

The Met Council has managed 2 light rail projects to completion and MnDot 0, what am I missing here (re: Dibble's response)? Perhaps MnDot would still do a better job, but the fact is they have no experience with light rail transit.

Pretty sure MnDot was responsible for building the blue line actually

[Bakken2016]

The Met Council has managed 2 light rail projects to completion and MnDot 0, what am I missing here (re: Dibble's response)? Perhaps MnDot would still do a better job, but the fact is they have no experience with light rail transit.

Pretty sure MnDot was responsible for building the blue line actually

Yeah that’s true actually, it was confirmed by the Met Council and Janet Moore yesterday.


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[phop]

Ah, didn't know that, interesting!

[commissioner]

If I remember right, all the contracts for both the blue and green lines were signed before construction began or soon after, what happened this time that the project is delayed again?

[DanPatchToget]

This is may be painfully obvious, and probably belongs in the SWLRT thread, but can you imagine how frustrating it's going to be when you miss your train to work because of a slow moving freight train?

Assuming the light rail is running every 10 minutes then it's not a huge deal, but there is the safety concern with people trying to beat a freight train to get to the station.

[TroyGBiv]

The issue is the GOP wants to pull the mgmt and direction of metro transit to a state level so that if they win house, senate and governorship then can control it. They hate it and shave always wanted to scrap it and will never allow the system to expand…

[commissioner]

The issue is the GOP wants to pull the mgmt and direction of metro transit to a state level so that if they win house, senate and governorship then can control it. They hate it and shave always wanted to scrap it and will never allow the system to expand…

I seem to remember that when Pawlenty got elected he said the same thing about the blue line and that got him nowhere.

[Trademark]

LA just released the cost estimate of the Gold line extension to Whittier. For 3.2 miles of tunneled light rail with 2 stations, the cost projections are $4.5-$5 billion.
https://la.streetsblog.org/2022/02/17/m ... -whittier/

Or the West Santa Ana Branch. 12.2 miles at grade in a freight corridor. 2.6 miles aerial for a total of 14.8 miles for $8.6 billion
https://la.streetsblog.org/2022/02/02/m ... d-phasing/

Or the west Seattle Ballard project with mostly underground and aerial alignments 11.8 miles for $12 billion.

Numbers like this make the Southwest line look frugal in comparison.

[twincitizen]

Seems like our Southwest budget projections were made based on our incredibly cost-efficient and on-budget successes building the Blue and Green Lines, rather than based on similarly challenging light rail projects from around the country.

[DanPatchToget]

Did the Blue Line or Green Line have any cost overruns? With the Green Line the only major engineering complications I can think of are the Washington Avenue Bridge, going through the East Bank, and going through downtown St. Paul. With the Blue Line I could see challenges with environmental cleanup and soil conditions since part of the route uses an abandoned freight corridor and rail yard. Also the airport tunnel, which I believe had issues with drainage and water freezing on the tracks in the winter. I recall there were also issues with gaps in between sections of rail that needed to be fixed.

[Tiller]

If we built SWLRT a decade ago, it probably would have cost something a lot closer to our first two LRT lines. Construction inflation seems like it's been a huge issue, like our society just doesn't have enough capacity for building stuff to go around any more.

[Bakken2016]

https://m.startribune.com/garage-floods ... 600148885/


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[thespeedmccool]

My pessimistic prediction: long-term pause on work incoming, followed by an indefinite delay.

Sigh. At this point, just buy the condos and tear them down. It'll be cheaper that way.

[DanPatchToget]

Half-joking prediction: Somehow an incident with the tunnel construction will result in the freight line being blocked, so they'll rush to get the southerly connector opened in St. Louis Park and temporarily reroute freight trains down the MN&S.

[COLSLAW5]

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... neers.html

Unlocked

Met Council hired engineers say the cracks in the building were 70-75% caused by temperature contractions

[Bakken2016]

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... neers.html

Unlocked

Met Council hired engineers say the cracks in the building were 70-75% caused by temperature contractions

Still sucks for the condo building, but at least it wasn't the construction that caused it.

[VacantLuxuries]

I'm all for adaptive reuse, but I cannot imagine how you look at a condo built in an old concrete grain elevator and go 'Yes, this seems like a solid investment that I can live in and also trust that my neighbors will regularly vote for the proper maintenance such an old structure will require.'

I don't even have faith in the 'neighbors choosing to vote to pay for maintenance' part in a modern condo building after Miami.