Project Timeline

June 14, 2014: Revenue service begins.

2013: Workers install the majority of communications and electrical systems; train testing begins.

December 2012: The Project ends its busiest year of heavy construction. Overall, the Project is more than 84% complete at year's end. 

October 2012: The first Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) constructed for the Green Line/Central Corridor Project is delivered. 

September 2012: Workers connect the Green Line/Central Corridor tracks to the Blue Line/Hiawatha tracks near the Metrodome Station. 

May 2012: Construction activities reach the halfway mark on schedule. 

February 2012: The Metropolitan Council creates the METRO system to unify the region's developing network of transitways; under the new system, the Central Corridor LRT line will operate as the Green Line. 

December 2011: The Project ends the year on schedule at 45% overall completion. 

April 2011: The Project receives its Full Funding Grant Agreement, the federal government's contractual commitment to pay half the cost of building the line.

May 2010: The Federal Transit Administration approves the Project to enter final design.

September 2009: Public utility relocation begins on Fourth Street in downtown St. Paul in advance of LRT construction, which started in late summer 2010.

August 2009: The Federal Transit Administration approves the Final Environmental Impact Statement, Record of Decision and Letter of No Prejudice, allowing the Project to apply for permission to enter final design. The Metropolitan Council determines that the Final Environmental Impact Statement is adequate and approves execution of a contract for advance utility relocation.

August 27, 2008: The Metropolitan Council approves the Locally Preferred Alternative based on the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement and municipal consent received earlier in the year from the Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and from Ramsey and Hennepin counties.

February 27, 2008: The Metropolitan Council approves a project scope of $909 million. Key features include the creation of a transit-pedestrian mall on Washington Avenue on the University of Minnesota East Bank campus, selection of the front of St. Paul’s Union Depot the eastern terminus, construction of a vehicle maintenance facility on land owned by Ramsey County near Union Depot and construction of 15 stations, with infrastructure for three future stations.

October 1, 2007: The Central Corridor Project Office opens in the Griggs-Midway Building at the intersection of University Avenue and Fairview Avenue in St. Paul.

February 14, 2007: The Metropolitan Council and the Central Corridor Partnership name a Business Advisory Council to provide input from the business community.  The committee meets monthly and is co-chaired by Lori Fritts, Midway Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, and Jim Roth, a Minneapolis businessperson.

January 10, 2007: The Metropolitan Council names a Community Advisory Committee to provide input from the public. The committee meets monthly and is chaired by Jerry Blakey, former St. Paul City Council Member and small business owner.

December 13, 2006: The Federal Transit Administration gives its approval to begin preliminary engineering on Central Corridor.  During this two-year phase, approximately 60 percent of necessary engineering and design is completed. The Council and project partners finalize station locations; refine and finalize project costs, benefits and impacts; finalize management plans; demonstrate the ability to develop the project and identify and commit local funding sources.

October 11, 2006: The Council establishes a project management structure and names a Corridor Management Committee to provide oversight. The committee is initially chaired by the Metropolitan Council Chair Peter Bell.

June 30, 2006: Responsibility for the project transitions to the Metropolitan Council, which applies to the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts program for permission to begin Preliminary Engineering. 

New Starts is a discretionary program of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and is the federal government’s primary financial resource for supporting major transit capital investments that are locally planned, implemented and operated. Projects approved for the New Starts program must undergo evaluation by the FTA throughout the entire project development process. The FTA evaluates proposed New Starts projects according to several criteria: mobility improvements, environmental benefits, cost effectiveness, operating efficiencies, transit-supportive land use and future patterns, and capital and operating finances, among others.

June 28, 2006: The Council selects the “locally preferred alternative” after receiving the recommendation of the Central Corridor Coordinating Committee.

May 2006: The Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority (RCRRA) holds a series of three public hearings attended by almost 600 people. The RCRRA receives almost 1000 public comments via phone, email, letters and public testimony. See a summary of the comments (pdf).

April 21, 2006: RCRRA releases the Alternatives Analysis and Draft Environmental Impact Statement.  The DEIS is a public document prepared to provide information about the design, benefits, and costs of proposed transportation improvements. It also allows for the examination of social, economic, transportation, and environ-mental impacts that may result from the implementation of the project. See the Citizens Guide to the DEIS (pdf).

June 5, 2001: After initial planning activities that date back as far as 1981, the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority (RCRRA) gives notice of its intent to prepare an Alternatives Analysis and Environmental Impact Statement for the Central Corridor. As part of its public involvement efforts, the RCRRA holds nearly 80 meetings with Central Corridor stakeholders.