The Greenway system of bike trails may add trolleys

BY TROY PIEPER

Work hasn’t stopped on the Midtown Greenway—the more than 5-mile-long bikeway and walking path extending from the chain of lakes in South Minneapolis to the Mississippi. Last year, “Phase 3” was finished, extending the trail from Hiawatha Avenue to the river. Construction has begun this year on a $5 million bridge over Hiawatha (right now, bikers and walkers cross the busy highway at 28th Street), and the City and other entities are seeking funding for a new bridge to be built across the river, connecting the Greenway to St. Paul’s system of trails.

In addition, the Midtown Greenway Coalition (MGC) wants to bring the streetcar back to Minneapolis, which saw its fleet of trolleys destroyed decades ago to make way for a bus system. The MGC is a nonprofit group of citizens working to develop and promote the Greenway. With more light rail transit being planned for the metro area, the group has been considering how the Greenway will fit into the entire future system.

Both Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis are conducting studies that will determine whether the City will have a trolley again. The county is evaluating possible alignments between the Hiawatha Light Rail Line and the yet-to-be-built Southwest Light Rail Transit Line, which will run from downtown to Eden Prairie. A streetcar study by the City is also being conducted of seven proposed corridors in a new streetcar network.

One alignment being considered, according to the study, runs through the Kenilworth corridor (southwest of downtown Minneapolis) to Nicollet Avenue, into a tunnel under the street, emerging after I-94 and connecting with the Hiawatha line somewhere downtown. The MGC favors connecting the two lines with a streetcar running the length of the Greenway, said Matthew Lang, community organizer for the coalition. Not only would it be possible to lay the small tracks fairly inconspicuously in the grass, conserving the green space along the path, but it would be vastly cheaper to build than the alignment using Nicollet, he said.
The goal is for the Greenway to “coexist with transit and trails in a graceful, pleasant way that is best for the future of the City,” Lang said. Don Eflaun, Transportation Planner at Minneapolis Public Works, said the City’s official position is that it has not decided which alignment to build. However, Ward 6 Council Member Robert Lilligren said he supports the trolley plan, which would increase traffic on the Greenway, which is one block off the growing business district on Lake Street.

Now that Phase 3 of the Greenway has been completed, what remains to be done is to connect it with other trail systems and make general improvements. Another resolution by the MGC is to enlarge the green space along the Greenway and create park-like areas at several points adjacent to the trail, as well as increase the number of access points and make entrances more graceful. In addition, Lilligren said that a bike station with showers, lockers and a bike shop will be up and running in the Midtown Exchange building by this fall