Transit boondoggles have a strong record in Golden Turkey voting and this year the committee nominated another contender, the Blue Line Extension light rail project, which will now cost a whopping $3.58 billion according to new estimates from the Metropolitan Council. For context, we put the Southwest Light Rail Transit project in the Golden Turkey Hall of Fame for spending a measly $2.86 billion. The Blue Line Extension (originally called the Bottineau LRT) is a planned 13-mile light rail project in Minnesota designed to connect downtown Minneapolis (Target Field Station) to the northwest suburbs of Brooklyn Park, passing through North Minneapolis, Robbinsdale, and Crystal.
There was a key moment in the development of the Southwest Light Rail Transit (SWLRT) project where engineering problems and cost overruns should have caused state and local leaders to pause and reevaluate whether to proceed. Unfortunately, they stubbornly forged ahead, and it became the biggest boondoggle in Minnesota history. The SWLRT is finally scheduled to open next summer, ten years late and one billion dollars over budget.
The Blue Line began the same way all transit projects do with a small grant years ago to open an office and sketch out a possible route. Once we start spending on Minnesota transit projects, they quickly enter the sunk-cost fallacy. “We’ve already spent millions, we can’t stop now!” With the Met Council recently updating the cost to $3.58 billion, (from its original $1.5 billion), the time to pause is now. Therefore our 2026 Golden Turkey Award nomination for the Blue Line Extension has two purposes. First, to point out the folly of building another light rail train that nobody will ride. And second, to put pressure on local and state leaders to terminate the project before construction begins and it joins its cousin in the Hall of Fame. Now is the time!
Minnesota House Transportation Chairman Rep. Jon Koznick agrees and issued a press release this summer when the new cost estimate came out.
“I am not at all surprised to see that the cost of the Blue Line Extension project is continuing to skyrocket out of control. It started at $1.5 billion. Out-of-control costs have been the case with previous light rail projects. For example, the Green Line Extension out to Eden Prairie went severely over budget and is not even fully operational today.
We need to scrap this next boondoggle Blue Line Extension project now, before more tax dollars are wasted! At a time of increased property taxes, to pursue the Blue Line Train is an abuse of taxpayers.”
The Blue Line has been unpopular from the start. The original plan was to partner with the BNSF Railroad and run the line along their freight tracks through Crystal, Robbinsdale and Golden Valley. But the railroad said no, sending the Met Council back to the drawing board. The new route was announced in 2022 shifting the alignment onto local streets —specifically County Road 81 in Crystal and Robbinsdale, and West Broadway Avenue in Minneapolis.
Some of the cost increases are paying for the latest trend in transit projects known as cultural placekeeping. Each station will have its own cultural placekeeping theme where a local artist will work to “reflect the identities, stories, and values of the neighborhoods the Blue Line Extension will serve.” If the Blue Line Extension wins the 2026 Golden Turkey Award that would qualify as culture, right? Maybe one of the art panels can depict our mascot.
Voting begins Thursday!