Two downtown St. Paul transit lines suffer major setbacks

• The collapse of community support could jeopardize the project's federal funding, the Star Tribune reported.
• Opposition from White Bear Lake had already shortened the proposed route.

Context: Another transit project hubbed at Union Depot also met an abrupt end late last week.

• After nearly a decade of planning, Ramsey County officials cancelled planning for a streetcar or rapid bus line along West Seventh to MSP Airport and Mall of America.

The big picture: The West Seventh project news "is another exasperating development for downtown St. Paul and the east metro, which has received a steady stream of grim tidings over the last year," urban scholar Bill Lindeke wrote for MinnPost.