Stalemate continues over funding gap on the $3.5 billion Blue Line Extension

As frustration builds over a funding gap for the Blue Line Extension, Hennepin County leaders took their fight with the Metropolitan Council on the road to a last-minute public meeting at the library in Brooklyn Park on Tuesday afternoon.

Managers of the proposed light rail project say they have to come up with an additional $224 million before they can submit an application seeking federal funding this fall.

At the standing-room-only meeting filled with both supporters and opponents of the $3.5 billion light rail line, county administrators laid out options for reducing the overall cost of the project.

They have already proposed eliminating design elements, including a pedestrian bridge and a park-and-ride. County managers also say a reduction in the nu...