Four years ago, I wrote about a maddening series of uncoordinated trail closures at the height of the pandemic bike boom. Unfortunately, 2025 is shaping up to be even worse. This year, we’re not just losing trails, but critical pedestrian and cyclist river crossings.
This summer, cyclists will need to plan carefully if they hope to cross the Mississippi or Minnesota rivers, which converge at the heart of the Twin Cities. I’ll run down all the closures with some suggested detours. But first, I’d like to reiterate my assertion from 2021, hoping that the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and local public works directors might listen:
“Taken individually, many of these closures may seem reasonable, but when viewed as a network of transportation infrastructure, they’re incredibly disruptive. Commutes are detoured and errands are waylaid in ways that we would never impose on motorists.”
They did not listen. And by the way, the Kenilworth and Cedar Lake trails are still closed four years later. But that’s another story. Onward!
Minneapolis River Crossings
Let’s start with the most egregious example: the twin closures of the Stone Arch Bridge and the Dinkytown Greenway’s Bridge Number 9. The Stone Arch Bridge is both a key tourist attraction and a critical pedestrian river crossing linking downtown Minneapolis with old Saint Anthony. For some reason, MnDOT decided its tuckpointing project would require two whole years to complete. These are the same people who famously reopened the 35W freeway bridge just 14 months after it collapsed. Obviously, cars and drivers merit far more urgency than cyclists and pedestrians.
As bad as the Stone Arch closure was last summer, at least the Dinkytown Greenway’s Number 9 bridge offered a safe and car-free alternative. That alternative closes this month for the rest of the year. Minneapolis Public Works will be repairing the deck, abutment, and railing.
Now, we all know what can happen when bridge maintenance is deferred. But the city’s official detour routes cyclists to the 10th Avenue bridge via University Avenue and 4th Street, where they’ll have to contend with car traffic speeding through Dinkytown and the 35W freeway ramps, protected only by paint and a few plastic flexposts.
Simply put, the decision to repair the Number 9 bridge this year instead of next year (or back in 2023) is nothing more than reckless endangerment. The city of Minneapolis is sending cyclists into harm’s way.
But wait, there’s more! The city will also be closing the Plymouth Avenue bridge from April 21 through late August. Cyclists and pedestrians will need to detour south to Hennepin Avenue, which has an unprotected bike lane and extremely fast car traffic, or try their luck without a bike lane on Broadway Avenue.
To summarize, the only safe river crossings with protected infrastructure near downtown will be:
- Franklin Avenue
- Washington Avenue
- 10th Avenue
- 3rd Avenue / Central Avenue
Of these, only Franklin Avenue connects directly with the city’s riverfront trail system.
Saint Paul’s Riverfront and I-35E
Not to be outdone, Saint Paul has needlessly closed a key river crossing at I-35E until late October. The bridge itself isn’t getting any repairs, just the trail leading up to it. Because the trail serves the bridge from both the east and west sides of I-35E, you might think the city could easily retain bridge access via one side or the other. But you’d be wrong. For unknown reasons that probably amount to nothing more than thoughtlessness, the city decided that access to a key river crossing should be cut off completely.
The city’s proposed detour routes pedestrians and cyclists miles out of the way and forces them to contend with two sets of stairs on the Highway 5 bridge and an illegally low and unsafe railing on MnDOT’s Mendota bridge. (We’re still waiting for MnDOT to explain why they built the railing so low.) Heavier eBikes or cargo bikes that can’t manage stairs will be forced to detour far upriver at the Ford Bridge.
The detour then routes cyclists through Lilydale, which in recent springs has flooded as often as not.
Zack Mensinger, co-chair of the Saint Paul Bicycle Coalition, reacted this way:
“It would be great to see any kind of consultation done with people impacted by the proposed detours before more or less final plans are in place and any changes difficult to implement. Building capacity and utilizing community wisdom should be seen as the strengths and genuine resources that they are instead of a burden or afterthought.”
To make matters worse, most of the city’s Sam Morgan Trail along the east bank of the river will also be closed this year. As Mensinger wrote to the city, “A lane of the very overly-wide Shepard Rd could be repurposed for a proper detour. . . . There is plenty of space and really no excuse to not provide a safe and direct detour.”
Instead, the city of St. Paul has proposed an extremely dangerous detour for the eastern half of the project, routing cyclists through downtown, up East 7th, and along Mounds Boulevard without even a painted bike lane for protection. Saint Paul is also sending cyclists into harm’s way.
I-494 across the Minnesota River
The busy beavers at MnDOT have also closed the I-494 trail across the Minnesota River until late October. This route was closed just a few years ago to rebuild the approach trail east of the bridge, which is already crumbling again. Car traffic, of course, will not be affected.
I have no doubt that this maintenance is necessary. However, the closure cuts off the one safe route between St. Paul and the southwest suburbs to eastern Bloomington and the Mall of America. There is no detour. To its credit, MnDOT doesn’t even attempt to offer one.
This closure highlights the need for more redundancy throughout our network of cycling routes. We desperately need a route along the south side of Highway 5 to connect Fort Snelling State Park and the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. To my mind, this is one of the biggest missing connections in the Twin Cities.
One possible detour would be via the Cedar Avenue Bridge. However, Nichols Road on the south side of the river in Eagan has been closed since January for an ongoing sewer reconstruction project. It is unclear from the project website when or if cyclist and pedestrian access to the Cedar Avenue Bridge will be restored. Proceed with caution.
Wildcard: Here Comes the Flood?
It’s no secret that climate change has already impacted Minnesota’s weather patterns. Recent years have seen less winter snowfall and heavier rains in the spring and summer. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources explains:
“Heavy rains are now more common in Minnesota and more intense than at any time on record. Long-term observation sites have seen dramatic increases in 1-inch rains, 3-inch rains, and the size of the heaviest rainfall of the year. Since 2000, Minnesota has seen a significant uptick in devastating, large-area extreme rainstorms as well.”
Unfortunately, the Twin Cities’ cycling infrastructure isn’t well adapted to these changes. In recent years, multiple heavy rain events have closed Minnesota River trail crossings at Cedar Avenue, I-35W, and Highway 169, all of which are built far below the elevated grade of the motorway. Car drivers were never impacted at all.
Cycling advocate Risa Hustad, whose commute includes crossing the river at I-35W, wrote about this issue back in 2019. Their advocacy prompted MnDOT to relocate the trail south of the river, but it still wasn’t high enough to avoid flooding last summer. For several weeks in June, there was no way to bike or walk across the Minnesota River between I-494 and Highway 101.
If the river floods again this year, the Mendota Bridge will be the only non-motorized crossing between downtown St. Paul and downtown Shakopee, a distance of over 30 miles.
Professional Incompetence or Apathy?
Back in 2021, I suggested a few ways MnDOT and public works planners could do better. They could coordinate projects to avoid multiple closures in key corridors. They could communicate closures better, design detours better, and build more redundancy to prevent the type of complete network breakdown that we’re facing this year.
But more than anything, transportation planners need to understand that transportation isn’t just about cars and drivers. Walking is transportation. Cycling is transportation. Non-motorists deserve safe routes, too.
This year, it would be easy to accuse MnDOT and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul of incompetence and/or apathy. Once again, they’ve failed to manage our cycling infrastructure as a network that depends upon reliable connections. Hopefully, none of the many cyclists they’re diverting into harm’s way this summer will pay the price for their lack of vision.
All photos by the author except as noted.