ST. PAUL, Minn – Senator Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, and Representative Cheryl Youakim, DFL-Hopkins, with seventy-one legislators across the state, penned a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao supporting the Federal New Starts program which provides funding for transit projects nationwide, including SW LRT. Continued Federal support is critical to the region’s future economic success, traffic congestion reductions, and mobility increases.
The letter dispels any notion the Minnesota Legislature opposes Light Rail Transit and Bus Rapid Transit projects and joins Governor Dayton, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, the forty-four affiliated business chamber organizations and the overwhelming majority of Minnesotans in support of transit expansion. It stresses the importance of a comprehensive transit system buildout and how LRT and BRT are instrumental to that goal. It provides clarification of the SW LRT project timeline, community input, and significant local and state investment in the two-decade development and implementation process.