U of M Bike Trail

[TheUrbanGopher]

I could not find a post about this... but the bike trail in the ditch underneath Dinkytown is currently under construction. There is some pretty interesting landscaping around the area, including nice lampposts in the ditch itself and a complete overhaul over by the TCF Stadium/Research corridor.

[mulad]

YAAY!

[RailBaronYarr]

Did they work out the ROW concerns with the RR company? Or are they putting this stuff in place for a hopeful future? Either way, great news!

[lordmoke]

Thanks for the update!

The original topic can be found here:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1314

[TheUrbanGopher]

This is what it looked like a couple weeks ago. I think they have the lanes painted now and lampposts working. I wouldnt be surprised if the Dinkyditch section opens next week officially.

[talindsay]

It's a *trench* not a *ditch*! I ran on it the other day when I was doing speed work at the U's track, it's looking better. BNSF's rent-a-cops (who oddly wear badges stating "police", I wasn't aware we'd yielded that much quasi-governmental authority to railroads) used to harass me so much about running down there, it will be nice to have a proper facility.

[FISHMANPET]

It's a *trench* not a *ditch*! I ran on it the other day when I was doing speed work at the U's track, it's looking better. BNSF's rent-a-cops (who oddly wear badges stating "police", I wasn't aware we'd yielded that much quasi-governmental authority to railroads) used to harass me so much about running down there, it will be nice to have a proper facility.

Sorry, but he was an actual police officer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_p ... ted_States

[hoffm83n]

Its a good way to get downtown but pointless for connecting to west bank since you have to down 19th ave which has construction right now,take west river parkway and up a huge hill or up the stairs by the anderson library.

[Silophant]

I was really hoping that they would make another public entrance to the Donhowe building that goes down to trench level, and let you use its stairs to get up to Dinkytown. Ah well. Maybe in the future.

[TheUrbanGopher]

I am also hoping some connection near Donhowe will happen in the future. This trail could potentially be a direct non-motorized portal to Dinkytown, but instead bypasses under it and misses the center (14th and 4th) by a couple blocks.

On another note... I would love to see BNSF sell that piece of severely underused rail and see if development could occur along the trail/access road. It could be a good compromise for developers and gung-ho opponents like those in Save Dinkytown.

[FISHMANPET]

Everytime I look down the rail trench I dream of a streetcar. I think you could do good things with something crossing the current bike bridge and going through the trench to the stadium.

[talindsay]

Everytime I look down the rail trench I dream of a streetcar. I think you could do good things with something crossing the current bike bridge and going through the trench to the stadium.

Yes, I completely concur.

[Didier]

Wasn't there a movement to route the CCLRT over that bridge rather than the Washington Bridge at one point, in an effort to minimize the construction along Washington through campus?

I've never fully understood how that areas works. Once you get to the bottom of that hill you can either cross the river on the bridge or else run through the train tracks for about 100 feet until you get to a road that leads to the Stone Arch Bridge. It's never been clear to me if the path to the Stone Arch is a true trail or if I'm just running through a railroad yard for a few feet.

[MNdible]

I agree, this area is a strange no-man's land. Google actually shows it as a legitimate path, but if you've ever been back there, you know that it feels somewhat less than legitimate.

I think this stretch is a huge missed opportunity, but on top of the bluff by the old railroad ROW, and also down at the river level between the two steam plants.

[MNdible]

Somewhat related, it looks like the University is still moving ahead with the proposal to reactivate the old Main Steamplant.

In conjunction with this, it sounds like there may someday be plans to be build a new boiler located at the northeast corner of campus and decommission the existing SE Steam Plant (at the foot of the Stone Arch Bridge).

[mattaudio]

Someday, I'm hoping we see:
1. Recreational trail
2. Intercity double-tracked mainline between Mpls and St. Paul (connecting to a double-level 6th Street transit tunnel through downtown) with a stop for Dinkytown/East Bank
3. Streetcar dipping through the northernmost part of the trench between SE 2nd St towards St. Anthony and SE 5th St towards Stadium Village

[MNdible]

That's an interesting list. The achievable sits right next to the fantastical in a very matter-of-fact way.

[mattaudio]

#2 is obviously fantastical at the current moment, but I hope we don't preclude part of the trench ROW from ever being used in such a way.
#3 is just a slight modification of the current Minneapolis plan to route a streetcar down University/4th. I'd rather see it down 2nd to Dinkytown and 5th around the stadium to Stadium Village station, since this would significantly speed up service without much additional expense.

[MNdible]

Ah, the streetcar makes more sense if you see it running down 2nd -- I had misunderstood that you intended it to run across Bridge #9, which some people have referenced previously. In that case, it's very duplicative of the Green line. Running down 2nd makes some sense, although my sense is that the Nic-Central streetcar will cross on the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, and that any future streetcar will share that river crossing, and there's no obvious way to get from Hennepin to 2nd Street SE.

Even setting that aside, I'm not sure I'd want to pull the transit so close to the river -- it's not going to serve the neighborhood as well, I'd fear.

[talindsay]

Wasn't there a movement to route the CCLRT over that bridge rather than the Washington Bridge at one point, in an effort to minimize the construction along Washington through campus?

I've never fully understood how that areas works. Once you get to the bottom of that hill you can either cross the river on the bridge or else run through the train tracks for about 100 feet until you get to a road that leads to the Stone Arch Bridge. It's never been clear to me if the path to the Stone Arch is a true trail or if I'm just running through a railroad yard for a few feet.

I can tell you that BNSF feels quite strongly that you're *NOT* allowed to go between the #9 bridge and the Stone Arch bridge down there. People do it all the time of course, and coming from the south there aren't any signs whatsoever saying you can't do it; coming from the north there are lots of ominous signs but everybody ignores them. I used to run through there all the time but after too much mall-cop BS I usually go up and around. Besides, I don't mind a longer run. But I do wish the city would work on BNSF to get an officially-allowed running/cycling path between Stone Arch and #9.