Met Council offers bridge designs for controversial light rail span
The Metropolitan Council released three different bridge concepts for the Kenilworth channel crossing in Minneapolis Monday.
The bridges are part of the proposed Southwest Corridor light rail line between Target Field and Eden Prairie.
One of the spans would carry light rail trains and a bike trail over the narrow channel between Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake. An adjacent bridge would carry freight rail traffic.
Project manager Mark Fuhrmann says the proposals include a span with steel piers, one with arched concrete supports, and another with angled concrete piers. He says they're all meant to echo the design of the existing wooden bridge.
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"It's really the aesthetic, how they best fit into that Kenilworth channel environment," Fuhrmann said.
The concepts range in cost from $4 million to $7 million and are included in the project's nearly $1.7 billion dollar budget.
Opponents of the light rail project are suing in federal court in an effort to block it.
The nonprofit Lakes and Parks Alliance of Minneapolis argues in the suit that appropriate environmental review hasn't been conducted on the route through the Kenilworth Corridor — a popular recreation area.
