A Metropolitan Council employee alleges in a lawsuit that officials with the Minneapolis-area agency subverted project controls on the Metro Green Line Extension light rail project, allowing the schedule to slip years beyond the initial deadline and costs to balloon by over $85 million.
Michael Janish is a licensed engineer who was a project controls manager on the extension, which was previously known as the Southwest Light Rail Transit project, from 2015 until he was reassigned in 2022. In his suit, he accuses the Met Council and one of his bosses of retaliating against him for raising issues about problems with the project. Officials say the project’s cost has risen from $2 billion to $2.86 billion and its completion date was delayed from 2023 to 2027.
