Bicycle activists celebrate the final leg of the Midtown Greenway
Fourteen years after a couple of lonely bicycle commuters wondered out loud why the old Midtown rail trench couldn’t be retrofitted as a bike trail, a couple of dozen bicyclists rallied on Wednesday to mark the completion of the final leg of that dream—the Midtown Greenway.
The gaggle of bicycle activists and Greenway organizers who congregated just off the newly poured and striped asphalt at Hiawatha Avenue had come together for what Matthew Lang of the Midtown Greenway Coalition called an “informal” celebration. “The formal grand opening with all the elected officials will come later in the fall,” he said. “But it was important to do something right now.”
Asked what he thought of the final stage of the bike trail, which now extends from Uptown to the river, Lang said he had “mixed” emotions. “It’s never exactly how you envision it, but there’s more highs than lows.”
Tim Springer, who worked on the project with the Coalition for some 14 years after he and former Park Board Commissioner George Puzak first considered the idea, was surprisingly low key. He said his personal commute has been shortened slightly because of the Greenway, but noted that the route now allows bicyclists from Hopkins and St. Louis Park to safely commute eastward. “Those are the people whose lives have been radically changed and improved,” he said.
Despite the length of time it took to see the project come to fruition, Springer said it was never really in doubt after about 1994, when federal money was appropriated. At that point, most of the coalition’s energies focused on raising matching funds from state and local sources. He credited Hennepin County commissioners Peter McLaughlin and Mark Andrew for their work on the project as well as City Council Member Robert Lilligren, a longtime member of the coalition, and the organization’s many volunteers.
Indeed, Springer was determined to stay in the background even as his comrades-in-bike-shorts gathered around to extend congratulations. Coalition board president Eric Hart finally took center stage, reflecting briefly on his own 11-year commitment to the Greenway, and conducted the group through a single, rather muted, “Hip hip, HOORAY!”
“Just because we now have a greenway to the river, doesn’t mean we don’t have a lot more to do,” he said, as a steady stream of bicyclists flowed past just behind him. City officials have already secured funding for bike lanes across the railway trestle bridge at 27th Street, Springer noted, a new bicycle bridge across Hiawatha could be opened by spring, and St. Paul is ready to extend the route across the river.
But Lang doesn’t want to stop there. “I want to transform 35W into a bike lane,” he said. “That’s what I’m thinking.”
At this particular moment in Minneapolis bicycling history, that dream doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
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Comments
I think the Greenway is
I think the Greenway is fantastic, and I ride it a lot. But while it was being built, other stretches of bike trail fell into disrepair. Like the trail on the west side of the river between Minnehaha Parkway and the east end of the Greenway- it’s just about unuseable at this point. So now, to get to the nice new Greenway, I ride in the street next to that cracked-up old trail.
I suppose it’s easier to raise money to build new trails than to redo old ones..And I don’t mean to detract from the success or importance of the Greenway. Now that it’s done, I’d like to keep the ball rolling and bring other trails up to the same standard.
The Greenway is fantastic
The Greenway is fantastic and I am riding further than I had previously…I will be even more enthused when there is a safe crossing over Hiawatha. The Greenway was a vision that many thought was unobtainable and the hard work of the advocates is much appreciated. I agree that 35W would be a great bike route. And 94 too…just ask the folks who used to live in the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul! Now, we all need to practice stopping at the Greenway stopsigns so we don’t get killed by each other or turning traffic. Congratulations to the visionaries. Puffinmom
Although I don't get down
Although I don’t get down there that often anymore, I appreciate the Greenway, I have used it several times and am looking forward to trying it all out. As for the paths, I would contact your Mpls. Park Board person and see if they can’t do something in much the same way they have done in my part of Mpls. (North). They have redone the path in Wirth/Victory-Memorial, and they are great! They are a part of the “Grand Rounds”. I would ask that at least, the paths to/fro from these designated pathways be treated in a like manner and up graded.
I look forward to using it in an outing or two. GOOD GOING MIDTOWN GREENWAY!!
UnusableThe disconnected,
Unusable
The disconnected, badly signed, unconnected routes, trails and unmarked
streets the make up the bicycle “network” are basically unusable as transportation.
It has been decades since people planned a bike network in the cities. Ever wonder why it is still totally unconnected and anything but a network, why are routes only
added when they are striped or a separate trail? Why are there no navigation signs, why no detours marked when a route is shut down, why no routes connect?
Because public works and the politicians do not want a bicycle network.
What are the plans for
What are the plans for crossing the river near 29th Street to the Childern’s Hospital in Mpls.? Do they indicate construction along the RR trestle with the path on top? If so, then the RR company would have to discontinue service along there (grain-shipping companies needing to go out of business), right? Personally, I would like the trains to keep running, but see the bikeway constructed UNDERNEITH the tracks (kind of where the “catwalk is now”) along a metal grid keeping us cool in summer and dry in wet/icy weather.
Hooray for the Greenway!
Hooray for the Greenway! It’s a sensible use of some abandoned land.
Not sure what “Waiting for Godot” is talking about. The path is literally straightforward and there are enough signs and contextual cues to figure out where you are, including all of the overpasses that are marked with the street names. Exit ramps are also similarly marked. Or maybe they’ve improved things since Waiting had written last autumn…
My only complaint is crossing the Hiawatha Avenue section… it would be nice, and safer, if there were an overpass or underpass. Otherwise, you’re stuck with a 3+ minute wait if you don’t happen to time the light correctly, and it’s a big division in the path. But I can live with it in the meantime.
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