Planes and Trains: Transportation is Expanding in Eden Prairie

Transportation into and out of Eden Prairie is getting easier. Flying Cloud Airport and the Southwest Light Rail Transit Project are both expected to increase the amount of business and commuter transportation serving Eden Prairie.

Proposed Southwest Transit Rail Lines

While the Southwest Light Rail Transit is still several years from completion, it is expected to add to the growing passenger rail system connecting the Twin Cities to its suburbs. Earlier this month the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority approved Route 3A for recommendation to the Metropolitan Council for the 2030 Transportation Plan.

Don’t worry; you won’t have to wait till 2030 to ride the train from Eden Prairie to Minneapolis. The Southwest rail project is projected to be completed in 2014. Route 3A will start in Eden Prairie, and head east through Eden Prairie Town Center before turning north through Hopkins and St. Louis Park, ending in Minneapolis.

If your travel plans take you further, you can now consider flying a business jet in or out of Eden Prairie’s Flying Cloud Airport. This week the airport’s expanded runway opened for air traffic. At a cost of $17 million, an additional 5000 feet was added to the south parallel runway. Prior to this a modern business jet loaded with passengers, baggage and fuel would not have been able to land or take-off at Flying Cloud.

Eden Prairie is looking better than ever for business owners and suburb loving Minneapolis workers. Combine this with quality schools, great neighborhoods, exciting recreation and friendly people and you have a community that you would love to call home.

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If you would like help buying or selling a home in Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Minnetonka, Chaska, or Bloomington, contact me, Brace Helgeson, by email or at 952-974-3466. Start your online search here!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition in the Twin Cities

There’s an Extreme Home Makeover going on in the Twin Cities this weekend. The TV show’s crew and an army of local volunteers has demolished the crumbling home of St. Paul’s Sandy Morris and is building a new home that could house her family for another 100 years.

The old house had a crumbling foundation, sinking roof, buckling walls, and a mold problem. It is a much needed rebuild, but since Sandy grew up in the house it is a bittersweet blessing. In an interview with the Star Tribune, Sandy said “It’s going to be quite emotional.”

Sandy runs a successful and very popular day care center in her home, and the new house will accommodate an expansion of her day care as well.

As in many of the Extreme Makeover Home Edition shows, the mission is to improve the neighborhood as well as the family’s home. In this case, there is a food drive, a blood bank, and a neighborhood cleanup going on which will provide benefits to everyone in the vicinity.

The crew can use all the volunteers they can get to complete all the projects in their designated 96 hour time frame. They need qualified carpenters of course, but also anyone who can help with painting, cleanup, minor repairs, etc. According to their website, they “need 100-200 volunteers a day that will be used in traffic control, clean-up, catering, shipping, and other misc. duties.”

Volunteer shifts are running every 4 hours, beginning at midnight. They request check-in to be 20 minutes prior to the start of a shift. Volunteers are especially needed in the overnight hours.

While they might end up turning people away, if you want a chance to help improve the lives of a deserving area family and improve an entire neighborhood in the process, put on your steel toed boots, grab your hammer and head on over to the site! Well, first you need to head over to their website and read all the rules and find out just how to volunteer.

Oh, and don’t forget to donate blood at the associated blood drive. You can find more information on the Red Cross website.

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If you would like help buying or selling a home in Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Minnetonka, Chaska, or Bloomington, contact me, Brace Helgeson, by email or at 952-974-3466. Start your online search here!