Bike trail closed (for a bit), road closed (forever)
Posted on May 20th, 2007 – 5:38 PMBy Roadguy
Alert reader Z. wrote in last week with a question:
I took my bike to work finally today [Thursday]. I bike from Highland, St. Paul to an office building near 394 & 100. It says the Cedar Trail will be closing in a few days. Is this for the new stadium? How long will it be closed for?
The next day, Roadguy miraculously received an e-mail about ballpark-related road closings, and it contained the answer to Z.’s question:
The Cedar Lake Bike Trail will close to all traffic for up to 2 months from Dunwoody Blvd./Linden Av.to 12th St. N./3rd Ave. N. while some work takes place on the ballpark. Once that work is completed, the trail will be re-established in July to its current 3rd Avenue terminus to accommodate bicycle and foot traffic. Signed detours are posted.
A map of the bike detour is here. And if you fail to avoid the closed area, your bike might end up a different color:
While the Cedar Lake Trail is closed for two months, MnDOT will use this opportunity to paint the Interstate 94 bridges located under the Cedar Lake trail. [Roadguy notes: I think they meant “over” the trail.] This part of the bridge painting project is anticipated to be completed in approximately three weeks, weather permitting.
So there’ll be some short-term pain for bikers downtown, but the long-term gain is that, eventually, Z. and anyone else will be able to bike to baseball games, light rail, and even the planned Northstar line.
However, anyone who was particularly fond of a certain stretch of 3rd Avenue North will enter a period of mourning. From the same e-mail:
At 6 a.m. Monday, May 21, 2007, 3rd Avenue North from the entrance of 394 to 7th Street North will close to all traffic, vehicle and pedestrian. This road is being removed to accommodate the building of the new Twins ballpark and will not re-open. Signed detours are posted. Anyone using 3rd Avenue North south of 5th Street North will end up on westbound I-394.
A friend of mine used to refer to that part of downtown as “Chutes and Ladders” — one wrong turn, and you’re sliding down a ramp on a one-way trip to the edges of the city.
You can keep an eye on construction in the area at www.ballparkauthority.com.
10 Responses to "Bike trail closed (for a bit), road closed (forever)"
Wow, I came up with my OWN detour in regards to the Cedar Trail and it is the same as the detour that the city came up with!
I believe that when the trail is rebuilt, there are plans (at least funding is secured) for the trail to go all the way to the river!!
So, what, they had to close one of the best connections from downtown to the lakes area right as the warm weather starts? Thanks! Next they’ll be using that awesome sales tax to cancel bus lines to my neighbourhood or something.
What are their options, wayne? Feel free to suggestion some alternate but viable ones…
Well, I do agree with Wayne. I was thrilled when I first moved to NE Mpls because I could connect with an 800-mile trail system using very little roads.
I cannot provide a viable alternative, either, other than a general change of attitude. I have gone beyond the city’s detour and within the morning have come up with a way to use non-busy streets or streets with bike lanes to connect via Kenwood Parkway.
So, I may not be using trails, but I have found a way that I can use and enjoy new scenery for a few months until the trail is back up and running. It will be worth it, in my opinion, if/when they go through with extending the trail to the river in the end!!
So, the summer fun begins. I have always felt like a rat in a maze, trying to navigate around downtown on my bike. Finding the trail connections is not intuitive. Maybe with detour signs posted it will be easier for a change.
Can’t say I ever want to, or ever will, go to the ball park. But, I hope everyone else does, so there’ll be less traffic and more road for me!
Sounds to me like somebody’s not too excited about the ability to one day ride a bike to the park and enjoy an outdoor ballgame. I can appreciate a conservative perspective on taxes, Wayne. The way this society was designed though, we are all free to avoid the tax by avoiding downtown, Hennepin county, and/or the state of MN if we so choose.
Without a doubt, the stadium is moving forward now, so I find myself less concerned with the tax but genuinely looking forward to the new park.
I am happy that in just a few years, I will be able to take my kids to a real ballgame (outdoors.) I am happy to ride my bike down new and different avenues and even to pay my extra $25 in sales tax per year to achieve this. Life is about changes and how we respond. How do you choose to respond? Will you embrace it, or fight it to the end? Me, I’m on my way to the store to get my peanuts and sunscreen so I’m ready for opening day 2010.
At the very least, this trail was closed, but a well-marked detour was put in place. It could have been just a dead-end at the construction site…
Sean, I bike from NE to General Mills. What is your detour? Have you considered posting it to bikely.com?
Thanks!
In the meantime, while you are waiting for the Ballpark to open, take your kids to some HS ball games instead. I was riding past Cretin-Durham hall today, and it was just great to see all the cars pulled over to watch, and the dads and old guys hanging over the fence. Not too many ballgames are played right up the sidewalk of a busy street, so it is traffic stopping.
Doesn’t matter what team you watch. Afterall, who knows what budding star you will get to see. Just pick a game near you. I doubt if your kids will have any less fun with you, if it is free or not.
There is also a detour on the Cedar Lake Trail in St Louis Park, from Virginia Ave to 31st St. See St Louis Park city site for more info
I also want to know what the recc are for getting to the University from the West
