Making transit difficult to use is the American Way. This particular routing of the new Green SWLRT on an abandoned passenger rail line satisfied both the Fed cost formula and the NIMBYs who didn't want it anywhere near them.
still completely baffled by the location of bassett creek valley station, set on a bridge above an old train yard, with no homes anywhere nearby, and the impound lot taking up so much valuable land right by it. and there's no hope of that moving soon for redevelopment since it was just renovated!
September 26, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Making transit difficult to use is the American Way. This particular routing of the new Green SWLRT on an abandoned passenger rail line satisfied both the Fed cost formula and the NIMBYs who didn't want it anywhere near them.
Metro Transit preparing to begin running testing trains on the new SWLRT route, it's really happening... 🚉
October 6, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Metro Transit preparing to begin running testing trains on the new SWLRT route, it's really happening... 🚉
Prior to MPD murdering George Floyd, I was already years into a photo project covering the new train line. Believe me when I say I wish I hadn't been... derailed.
Tomorrow, Metro Transit will announce the opening date for the SWLRT at this location, now the Louisiana Ave Green Line Station.
Tomorrow, Metro Transit will announce the opening date for the SWLRT at this location, now the Louisiana Ave Green Line Station.
September 26, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Prior to MPD murdering George Floyd, I was already years into a photo project covering the new train line. Believe me when I say I wish I hadn't been... derailed.
Tomorrow, Metro Transit will announce the opening date for the SWLRT at this location, now the Louisiana Ave Green Line Station.
Tomorrow, Metro Transit will announce the opening date for the SWLRT at this location, now the Louisiana Ave Green Line Station.
SWLRT CANNOT COME SOON ENOUGH
December 22, 2024 at 2:38 AM
SWLRT CANNOT COME SOON ENOUGH
Portland 🤝 MSP
bad SWLRT plans
bad Green Line (Extensions)
bad SWLRT plans
bad Green Line (Extensions)
September 28, 2026 at 5:20 PM
Portland 🤝 MSP
bad SWLRT plans
bad Green Line (Extensions)
bad SWLRT plans
bad Green Line (Extensions)
The fancy people don’t want the bus people on their Mall - but it was built specifically as a bus Mall. The fancy people long ago routed the SWLRT through the Kenilworth, avoiding their fancy Mall. Peavy Plaza isn’t a real MPRB parks. They’re private/public “partnerships” for Target Fancies.
disrupting transit is the entire point of these events on nicollet mall... it's not an unfortunate side effect. the city has said that these events they've been doing for several years now are their showcase for what they could do if we only remove transit
they cut transit to some nicollet mall bus stops starting at 8am today when dinner du nord isn’t until tonight and there’s absolutely no activity happening yet this far down. GET TO HENNEPIN, POORS!
September 10, 2026 at 10:44 PM
The fancy people don’t want the bus people on their Mall - but it was built specifically as a bus Mall. The fancy people long ago routed the SWLRT through the Kenilworth, avoiding their fancy Mall. Peavy Plaza isn’t a real MPRB parks. They’re private/public “partnerships” for Target Fancies.
need me some SWLRT in my bones
January 13, 2025 at 2:44 AM
need me some SWLRT in my bones
Oh to live in the timeline where they ran the SWLRT through Uptown and the Blue Line Extension wasn't a decade behind schedule. 😮💨
July 23, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Oh to live in the timeline where they ran the SWLRT through Uptown and the Blue Line Extension wasn't a decade behind schedule. 😮💨
one of the very first hearings i testified at--years ago--was about the SWLRT. A woman read out the types of trees that would be cut down; this reminds me of that. Tree canopy is important; and it's also used as a way to block infrastructure projects that will also address climate change.
July 9, 2026 at 7:54 PM
one of the very first hearings i testified at--years ago--was about the SWLRT. A woman read out the types of trees that would be cut down; this reminds me of that. Tree canopy is important; and it's also used as a way to block infrastructure projects that will also address climate change.
In a wave of awful news seeing SWLRT becoming reality is awesome.
October 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
In a wave of awful news seeing SWLRT becoming reality is awesome.
An updated flight along the SWLRT Green Line Extension from Eden Prairie to Minneapolis. They show some test vehicles operating, and one section rides on a train through a tunnel rather than going overhead
youtu.be/YsMQouYWFls
youtu.be/YsMQouYWFls
Drone Overview of the Green Line Extension Route, 2026
YouTube video by METRO Green Line Extension
youtu.be
July 10, 2026 at 7:19 PM
An updated flight along the SWLRT Green Line Extension from Eden Prairie to Minneapolis. They show some test vehicles operating, and one section rides on a train through a tunnel rather than going overhead
youtu.be/YsMQouYWFls
youtu.be/YsMQouYWFls
This begins the most annoying waiting period for those intent on using SWLRT. I lived through this with the BlueLine decades ago. Just painful to watch for *months* actual LRT cars traversing clearly completed infrastructure, devoid of actual riders.
It's arrived! The first LRV has made it to the Southwest Station area.
October 14, 2025 at 4:33 PM
This begins the most annoying waiting period for those intent on using SWLRT. I lived through this with the BlueLine decades ago. Just painful to watch for *months* actual LRT cars traversing clearly completed infrastructure, devoid of actual riders.
I pretend the SWLRT is open by biking as fast as I can down the trail #30daysofbiking
April 14, 2026 at 2:28 AM
I pretend the SWLRT is open by biking as fast as I can down the trail #30daysofbiking
Where Ken gets mad about SWLRT taking so long and being so expensive, mostly for good reasons. kbamericanrefugee.substack.com/p/the-great-...
The Great Southwest Rail Enema: How “Local Control” Blew a Billion-Dollar Hole in Minnesota’s Transit Dream
The Great Southwest Rail Enema: How “Local Control” Blew a Billion-Dollar Hole in Minnesota’s Transit Dream
kbamericanrefugee.substack.com
July 10, 2026 at 2:25 AM
Where Ken gets mad about SWLRT taking so long and being so expensive, mostly for good reasons. kbamericanrefugee.substack.com/p/the-great-...
Oh cool one of my SWLRT photos made the top 5 photos of MinnPost! www.minnpost.com/arts-culture...
The top photos on MinnPost in 2024: protests, DNC, Jamal Mitchell
The year 2024 in photos features protests at the U of M over the war in Gaza, a memorial to Officer Jamal Mitchell and the DNC.
www.minnpost.com
December 25, 2024 at 6:18 PM
Oh cool one of my SWLRT photos made the top 5 photos of MinnPost! www.minnpost.com/arts-culture...
make Midtown Greenway rail a thing and have it interline with SWLRT at West Lake to go to Eden Prairie
February 22, 2025 at 7:08 AM
make Midtown Greenway rail a thing and have it interline with SWLRT at West Lake to go to Eden Prairie
maybe we wouldn't be finding dead bodies in wooded areas outside of transit stops that are under construction if we weren't evicting encampments and chasing people to the outskirts of society. elizabeth shaffer links to a map drawing exactly where
myemail.constantcontact.com/Budget--Soo-...
myemail.constantcontact.com/Budget--Soo-...
December 5, 2025 at 10:23 PM
maybe we wouldn't be finding dead bodies in wooded areas outside of transit stops that are under construction if we weren't evicting encampments and chasing people to the outskirts of society. elizabeth shaffer links to a map drawing exactly where
myemail.constantcontact.com/Budget--Soo-...
myemail.constantcontact.com/Budget--Soo-...
Guessing this is catenary work beginning on SWLRT at Glenwood.
April 11, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Guessing this is catenary work beginning on SWLRT at Glenwood.
Q: Why is an uptown office building worth less in 2024 than in 2018? 🤔 Maybe if County leaders had put SWLRT in a tunnel through the neighborhood like they should have, this sub-market would be looking healthier. The train would probably be running by now.
August 21, 2024 at 4:26 PM
Q: Why is an uptown office building worth less in 2024 than in 2018? 🤔 Maybe if County leaders had put SWLRT in a tunnel through the neighborhood like they should have, this sub-market would be looking healthier. The train would probably be running by now.
Thinking about how to incorporate Greenway LRT as a standalone project. I think the solution is splitting the green line into separate lines that share a loop. Turn existing jct into a wye, add a platform at Lake and turn trains there.
SWLRT is now the Purple Line. That's right bitches, it's back
SWLRT is now the Purple Line. That's right bitches, it's back
August 18, 2026 at 12:52 AM
Thinking about how to incorporate Greenway LRT as a standalone project. I think the solution is splitting the green line into separate lines that share a loop. Turn existing jct into a wye, add a platform at Lake and turn trains there.
SWLRT is now the Purple Line. That's right bitches, it's back
SWLRT is now the Purple Line. That's right bitches, it's back
The @startribune.com's Eric Roper has a very good column on the lack of development prior to the opening of SWLRT. But some of this is inaccurate: Kenwood and Bryn Mawr are not really built out. Many of the houses in the area are fairly old, and have large yards. Redevelopment potential abounds here
July 18, 2025 at 4:47 PM
The @startribune.com's Eric Roper has a very good column on the lack of development prior to the opening of SWLRT. But some of this is inaccurate: Kenwood and Bryn Mawr are not really built out. Many of the houses in the area are fairly old, and have large yards. Redevelopment potential abounds here
phew, thankfully, we didn't spend $3.1 billion on SWLRT, or the NIMBY's would absolutely freak out!
Blue line extension: 👀
Blue line extension: 👀
Some updates and info on the Green Line Extension were provided to the project's Corridor Management Committee last Wednesday.
Notable: the project now claims over $3 billion of development near the line, a figure that exceeds the project cost of $2.8 billion
metrocouncil.org/getdoc/2cd97...
Notable: the project now claims over $3 billion of development near the line, a figure that exceeds the project cost of $2.8 billion
metrocouncil.org/getdoc/2cd97...
December 10, 2024 at 3:36 AM
phew, thankfully, we didn't spend $3.1 billion on SWLRT, or the NIMBY's would absolutely freak out!
Blue line extension: 👀
Blue line extension: 👀
Every time this bridge gets brought up as a Midtown Greenway extension, I'm forced to think about how to do a DMU (or these days, battery EMU) from St. Paul Union Depot to the Lake Street station (possibly also the SWLRT one via the remaining space in the Greenway/former Milwaukee Road trench)
October 14, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Every time this bridge gets brought up as a Midtown Greenway extension, I'm forced to think about how to do a DMU (or these days, battery EMU) from St. Paul Union Depot to the Lake Street station (possibly also the SWLRT one via the remaining space in the Greenway/former Milwaukee Road trench)
Animales, in the Harrison neighborhood, has a separate pay lot for $3. Harrison is the new NE, just wait for SWLRT to open and it'll really kick into high gear.
October 25, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Animales, in the Harrison neighborhood, has a separate pay lot for $3. Harrison is the new NE, just wait for SWLRT to open and it'll really kick into high gear.