Green Line Technical Tour

Green Line Technical Tour: The APWA-MN Young Professional’s Subcommittee would like to invite you on a Technical Tour of the Light Rail Transit Green Line on Saturday, April 18, 2015! The Chapter’s YPs will be moderating a 6-stop tour from end to end of this new piece of infrastructure in the Twin Cities.  All APWA Members and Non-members are welcome. Presentation will include award winning projects, updates from our student chapter, and updates on some exciting changes in Minneapolis & St. Paul. The summary below provides an outline of the presentations during this event, and see the map of the tour.

The Metropolitan Council LRT Green Line opened for ridership in April, 2014 after 4-years of construction and over 9-years of planning and design. This 11 mile route connects downtown Minneapolis with downtown St. Paul with 23 total stations (18 of which are new).

• Target Field Station. The east most station of the green line is designated “the interchange” as this station is shared with a blue line and commuter rail station. This station recently received national awards for excellence with the development of an all season stormwater reuse system. Engineers will be presenting on this this award winning achievement.
• Downtown East Station. This station is currently seeing the most construction activity on the green line with the construction of the new Vikings stadium underway. Attendees will be able to see the progress of the new structure and have a discussion with engineers on the progress of construction.
• East Bank Station. The first station on the UofM east bank is also the closest station to the Civil Engineering building. The student chapter will be presenting a “State of the Student Chapter” for all new and returning members. This is a great opportunity to meet our upcoming Public Works youth.
• Prospect Park Station. The home of the new Surely Campus is just blocks off of this station. The new campus boast an urban designed garden and modern industrial facility in the heart of the university avenue area. This station will include a presentation of the challenges that cities are facing in the new wave of permitting and engineering around micro-breweries.
• 10^th Street Station. What kinds of things can engineers do besides patch a road…lots! This station is dedicated to the UofM Engineers who decided to branch off and do something different with their degrees.  Attendees will be able to discuss what’s it was like to take an engineering education to another level.
• Union Depot Station. The west most station on the green line, this station ends at the St. Paul rail/transit hub that was recently historically rehabilitated. The group will tour this award winning project at the end of the tour.

Members are welcome to join for the entire tour, or jump on mid-tour. The Metro Transit website can even assist scheduling bus or other light rail transit connections to the tour! Following the tour there will be a networking event at The Bulldog in St. Paul, just minutes by foot from the Depot.

Please Contact Chris LaBounty clabounty@wsbeng.com to RSVP for this event or with any questions.

Sincerely,
Eric, Emily, & Chris