Southwest LRT Project officials learned today its rating has climbed to medium-high. The Federal Transit Administration published the new ratings last evening, showing the project climbed from a medium in 2011, the last time it posted ratings for peer projects in the federal New Starts funding program.
“The ratings increase is a tremendous vote of confidence from the federal government regarding the project’s merits and bodes well for us to achieve our federal matching dollars. Our rating rose in large part due to the project’s ability to achieve municipal consent from all five corridor cities and the county last year, as well as total funding commitments from the Counties Transit Improvement Board and Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority,” Metropolitan Council Chair Adam Duininck said.
With the total commitments from CTIB and HCRRA and earlier funding from the state, the project has 85 percent of its local funding, which equates to $705 million.