The pond in St. Louis Park where two children died when a car veered off a highway ramp is one of hundreds of retention basins near roadways in the Twin Cities.
New census data show the five suburban counties surrounding Minneapolis and St. Paul grew an average of 23 percent since 2000. That bucks a national trend in which most high-growth counties have been in the Sun Belt.
Twin Cities home building ended 2010 on a down note. Residential construction in the metro area fell in December 2010, compared with the same month in 2009.