Hennepin Co. commissioner: Rail traffic would block too many roads

Hennepin County has closed on a land deal that could block a proposed interconnection between two railroads in the western suburbs.

Canadian Pacific and BNSF wanted to reroute trains south through Robbinsdale. That could divert trains from a congested rail yard in Minneapolis.

But Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat said the freight traffic could block as many as five road crossings at a time in the western suburbs.

"The trains move slowly, so volunteer firefighters trying to get to a station, police cars trying to get east-west and ambulances all would have been affected by it," he said. "There aren't a lot of ways to go east-west in that part of the county."

The property in Crystal is now home to a towing company and a body shop.

A bill in the Legislature may also blunt the railroads' power of eminent domain to seize the land.