Report: The Dakota County River-to-River Greenway is Complete

• September 20, 2021

You can now ride across Dakota County between Lilydale and South St. Paul on trails the whole way – about eight miles. I just rode the newly widened and paved stretch through the woods in Garlough Park and Marthaler Park which then connects to the NEW TUNNEL UNDER ROBERT STREET. It then winds through the woods behind the Wentworth Library before connecting to the existing trail along Wentworth Avenue.

Images: West St. Paul Reader, used with permission.

I did not explore further east where the section of trail connects from the Thompson Avenue/Oakdale Avenue intersection over to Thompson Lake Park. That bit, while it is off road, is pretty sketchy – narrow and rough.

This map does not show the new tunnel, which replaces most of the stretches in red. And of course, the new connection from South St Paul to Plato Blvd completes the trail to Lilydale along the river – about seven miles.

The route through Dakota County. Image: West St. Paul Reader, used with permission.

Mark Brauer

About Mark Brauer

Mark is a lifelong Saint Paul resident. He got a bike for his 7th birthday and basically never got off, cycle commuting to grade school, high school, college, and every job since (rode the MTC bus in the winter.) He has ridden most everywhere in the Twin Cities area. Mark was a cartographer at MnDOT for 15 years and produced the first digital maps of the Seven County Metro Area, trying (unsuccessfully) to convince MnDOT that existing digital data about roads could be linked for graphic display on the digital maps - this was a couple years before the term GIS was came into general use. He also did the cartography on the first Minnesota Bikeways maps.