Northside Greenway coming – just not where folks voted for it
02/01/2013
The City of Minneapolis is continuing with plans to convert a Northside low-traffic street into to a beautiful, safe, accessible route for bicyclists and pedestrians. Residents had a chance to have their say – through meetings and online surveys - on where they wanted the route to go.
There were three routes to choose from. The city held meetings and asked for community input. Residents voted – and chose route A. But the final plan proposed now is not the one the residents voted for – and the City decided to go with a plan that wasn’t even one of the options to residents. See both the original options and the final plan on page 12.
When asked why there was a change to the plan Sarah Stewart, Healthy Living Minneapolis Project Specialist, Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support says, “Yes, the plurality of respondents preferred Route A… As I mentioned in the [Camden News] article, the final preferred route is based on community input and on recommendations from the project steering committee and SRF [the consultant hired for the project]. The preferred route does have some small stretches that vary from the original Route A: From 44th to 41st, we’re recommending that the greenway be on Irving instead of Humboldt. That is because there are some strange intersections on Humboldt at 41st and 42nd that would result in cars having poor sightlines and could potentially pose a safety threat to the bicyclists and pedestrians on the greenway. Irving has much more standard intersections and seemed like a safer alternative. From 36th to 33rd, we’re recommending that the greenway travel down Irving instead of Humboldt. This allows us to use an existing land feature (Folwell Park) to bring the greenway to Irving (which, in Route A, happened at 33rd instead). It also allows us to use space in Folwell Park for the trail instead of the street. From the intersection of Irving and 15th, we have the greenway traveling down 15th and Fremont/Emerson instead of continuing south on Irving and then on Plymouth. This was based on a recommendation from the project steering committee. The members felt that this alternative was better than having bikes cut across traffic to turn onto Plymouth.”
“All in all, the preferred route is pretty similar to the original Route A. Many of the people who selected Route A chose it because it was the most direct route, and that was a priority for them. Others liked that it connected so many parks and green spaces. The preferred route still achieves both of these things. The community engagement process we’re leading over the next month or so will give people an opportunity to weigh in on this newly proposed route.”
The City is holding a second open house on February 12 to gather more input about the North Minneapolis greenway project. Community members may drop in to give input. Tuesday, February 12, 6-7:30 p.m., at North Commons Park Rec Center, 1801 James Ave. N. Separate meetings will be held for those living on the newly proposed greenway.
The community may also give feedback until February 22 at surveymonkey.com/s/NorthMplsGreenway. More info about the greenway project is at minneapolismn.gov/ health/ship/northminneapolisgreenway.