The Green Line Extension: 14.5 Miles to Eden Prairie

The construction that closed the Kenilworth Trail for years is part of the METRO Green Line Extension, also called the Southwest light rail project. It adds 14.5 miles to the existing Green Line, which already links downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul, and runs west through St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie with 16 new stations.

The Metropolitan Council is the lead agency. The project has run years behind its original schedule and well over budget: the council estimated about $2 billion and a 2023 opening in 2018, but costs climbed to roughly $2.7 billion and the opening slid to 2027. The Office of the Legislative Auditor pointed to the Kenilworth tunnel, an extended crash wall between the light rail and BNSF freight tracks, and an added Eden Prairie station as drivers of the delays and cost overruns.

By late 2025 the project had moved from heavy construction into testing, with more than 58 miles of steel rail installed between Eden Prairie and Minneapolis and test trains running. Testing is scheduled to continue through 2026, with passenger service expected in 2027.

Much of the complexity centered on the Kenilworth corridor near the lakes, where the line runs parallel to the BNSF freight railroad through a narrow strip already carrying a heavily used bike-and-pedestrian trail. Building there required closing key segments of that trail for nearly seven years; the corridor's tight quarters are a large part of why the project took so long. The Kenilworth and Cedar Lake trails fully reopened on March 25, 2026.

When service begins, a rider will be able to travel from the southwest suburbs into downtown Minneapolis and on to St. Paul on a single connected line.