Twin Cities' Metropolitan Council unveils environmental statement for Green Line Extension

The Twin Cities' Metropolitan Council yesterday released a supplemental draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for a 16-mile extension of the Green Line light-rail system.

The supplemental document is necessary because design adjustments were made after the release of the initial draft EIS in October 2012, Met Council officials said in a statement.

The document focuses on two light-rail segments in Eden Prairie and St. Louis Park, Minn., as well as a proposed operations and maintenance facility in Hopkins, Minn.

The extension project would require minor adjustments to existing freight-rail lines, although these changes "would not result in long-term impacts to freight rail operations," council officials said in the executive summary.

The extension line would pass through the southern suburbs of St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie, Minn., on a route to downtown Minneapolis. The alignment would have 17 new stations and 3,800 additional park-and-ride spaces.