New Light Rail Station Opens At Target Field
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – It's being called the Grand Central Station of Minnesota.
The newest light rail station opened Saturday at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis.
It will serve as a hub for the light rail as well as Northstar trains. Commuters can also connect to bus routes and bike trails there.
The first train rolled through the Target Field Station at the ribbon cutting Saturday.
"We've got people here having a good time. It's an incredible physical space and this is the way it's going to be from now on," Hennepin county commissioner Peter McLaughlin said.
"They thought let's not just make this a plain old transit stop, let's make this a public space," Senator Amy Klobuchar said.
The vision came true.
The roughly $85 million rail hub is complete with an amphitheater, a public plaza and soon will have retail.
"It matches the field. It's a good atmosphere for people to hang out before the game. Yeah, it's pretty neat," Ashley Vangerud, from Fargo ND., said.
The project, that took 900 workers to build. It was a massive team effort among city, county and state leaders, as well as the Minnesota Twins and Metro Transit.
"I think that this project is just more evidence that teamwork makes the dream work," representative Keith Ellison said.
"I couldn't vision this at all, actually. It was too hard to figure out exactly where everything was going to be and what it was going to look like. So this is wonderful," Barb Sykora, from Deephaven, said.
Still legislators say Target Field Station is just the beginning of a bigger effort to connect the people of Minneapolis and Minnesota.
"We have designed this for future expansion and it's going to happen," McLaughlin said.
"It really makes a great station for Minneapolis," Brenda Juneau, from Victoria, said. "It's marvelous."
The Green Line from St. Paul, which will stop at the station, will open June 14.
