Midtown Greenway
The Midtown Greenway is a sunken rail-to-trail-with-future-rail traversing the diverse (and dense, by Twin Cities standards) neighborhoods of South Minneapolis, from yuppie haven Uptown, through Midtown and past the Midtown Exchange, crossing the Hiawatha light-rail-with-trail, and eventually landing in Longfellow. The trail very nearly links two major park systems: the Chain o’ Lakes to the west and the Missisippi River on the east. Current proposals would put either LRT or a streetcar along the south half of the former freight ROW, as part of a LRT service to the near southwest suburbs.
There’s no view whatsoever — neither the babbling mountain brooks of Denver’s flood control ditches nor enchanting murals on the concrete retaining walls — and the plants have died. Still, the rhythm of all those bridges crossing overhead looks pretty neat at bicycle speeds.
As with all grade-separated trails, it’s not cheap: a good number of the bridges have been replaced, a new grade-separated crossing is underway at Hiawatha Avenue, and a CCTV/”blue light” security system had to be installed. Yet the trail is definitely encouraging new investment, like the lofts on the left.
I like this picture and this site (um, the website too, but I mean this place in MPLS).
I still hope to visit MPLS in the spring, but I think I will rent a bike instead of bring my own (Amtrak is more expensive than Mega Bus/Greyhound and they all want you to box up the bike).