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Work in progress on 5th St. by the Armory (on left) in downtown Minneapolis. The Metrodome is behind the camera about 3 blocks.

 

The Car Barn (Yard & Shops) are under construction -- catenary lines have not yet been installed. The Minneapolis skyline is visible in the background.
 

 

Looking SE just a couple of blocks from the Metrodome. Rail is being laid on a bridge over Washington Avenue, I believe. Amazing how flexible the rail is.

 

 

Another stick of rail is repositioned. Hiawatha Ave and grain elevators are visible in background.

 

Work in progress on 5th St. by City Hall in downtown Minneapolis. The line terminates about 5 blocks ahead near the Target Center (Timberwolves arena).
 
 

 

 

Daughter testing her balance - extra stick of rail will be placed on rollers and moved into position down the line The pair of tracks are widely separated here as they approach the 38th Street station platform.

 

 

View looking NW near Cedar/Riverside with Metrodome visible in front of the Minneapolis skyline.

 

Stack of concrete ties awaiting use.  They have a cute little gadget with hydraulic 'fingers' that pick up 8 at a time, space them appropriately, and drop them into place on the ballast

 

Sticks of rail (quarter mile long) stacked along corridor (Hiawatha Ave is just to right of trees). I never did catch them in the act of placing these here - how they did it is a mystery to me.

 

 

LRT bridge under construction over Hiawatha Ave (Hwy 55).  The highway bridge on the left will connect Hwy 55 with the Crosstown (Hwy 62) passing underneath. The view is looking northeast toward Minneapolis -- the airport is directly behind us.
 
The Tunnel
One of the more interesting aspects of the LRT project is the digging of two parallel tunnels beneath the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get any pictures of the work nor the equipment. The "drill" was brought over from Europe to Duluth via ship, then trucked to the Cities.
 
According to a MnDOT website, "The tunnel will connect the Fort Snelling station with the Lindbergh station and then southward to the Humphrey Terminal. Two tunnels are being built adjacent to each other to carry northbound and southbound train traffic. To make this portion of the project a reality, the Metropolitan Airports Commission had to find a "drill" large enough and strong enough to bore through 3.4 miles of rock and soil.
 
"This "drill" is a special machine called a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), weighing more than 500 tons, 250 feet long and standing over 20 feet tall. The TBM's hydraulic motors are powered by a 13.8KV power line."