A New Transit Map for the West Side of the City

Within weeks of each other, two transportation projects redrew the map for Lowry Hill. The METRO E Line opened Dec. 6, 2025, bringing frequent bus rapid transit to the Hennepin Avenue corridor. In November 2025, the Kenilworth and Cedar Lake trails fully reopened after closing in 2019 for construction of the Metro Green Line Extension, the Southwest light rail project.

The two could hardly be more different, one a new bus line on a rebuilt avenue, the other the return of an old bike trail after a marathon closure, yet they landed in the same neighborhood months apart. For a community wrapped around the lakes, the timing amounts to a real overhaul of how people travel without a car.

Each change matters on its own. The E Line runs buses every 10 to 15 minutes from about 4:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily, making the bus a credible alternative to driving for trips to downtown, the University or Uptown. The Kenilworth corridor, before its closure, carried an estimated 2,100 cyclist trips and 400 pedestrian trips on an average day, and its reopening restored the most-missed link between Cedar Lake, downtown and the Midtown Greenway.

The trails are not entirely back to normal. Fencing still narrows the Cedar Lake Trail near Target Field, and a detour remains at the Kenilworth and Midtown Greenway connection south of Cedar Lake. But the through route is open again for the first time since 2019.

Between the two projects, a Lowry Hill resident now has a frequent bus in one direction and a protected bike corridor in another, leaving the neighborhood meaningfully better connected than it was a year ago.

Sources:;;