A tracked John Deere feller buncher with a yellow cutting head sits idle beside the Cedar Lake Trail in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, during early site preparation for the Southwest Light Rail Transit (LRT) extension. The machine’s “KEEP BACK 300 FT / 90 M” arm warning and the trail’s closed fencing mark the transition from a popular cycling route to an active construction corridor. In the distance, the bridge approach and industrial structures hint at the scale of redevelopment that reshaped the rail and trail landscape through Minneapolis’s western suburbs.

A John Deere 843L feller buncher sits parked near the railway tracks in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, during the early stages of construction for the Southwest Light Rail Transit (LRT) project. Designed primarily for forestry work, this heavy-duty machine—with its massive front grapple and thick treaded tires—was adapted for clearing brush and trees along the rail corridor. The mix of heavy equipment, rail infrastructure, and suburban backdrop highlights the region’s ongoing transformation as the light rail expansion reshapes Minneapolis’s western suburbs.